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‘We honour the dead by fighting for the living’
Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan
We were honoured to hear from Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan, the founder and president of Health Workers 4 Palestine, at our vigil honouting the courage of our colleagues in Gaza on 27 August. He is a British Egyptian paediatric neurologist, who launched the organisation to provide support and raise awareness for the plight of health workers on the front lines in Gaza and the broader health system in Palestine.
We gather here today in the shadow of yet another atrocity: the bombing of Nasser Hospital only a few days ago. A place of healing, of refuge, reduced to rubble - with patients, medical students, and journalists among the dead. Those killed included a young medical student, standing at the threshold of a life dedicated to service. Others were journalists, doing what every democracy says it values most - telling the truth.
But let us be clear: this is not an isolated incident. The bombing of Nasser Hospital is part of a systematic campaign - to erase Gaza’s ability to heal itself, to silence its storytellers, and to break the will of its people. Hospitals have been turned into battlefields. Schools into graves. Newsrooms into morgues. This is not collateral damage. It is policy.
The killing of over 240 journalists, the destruction of Gaza’s health system - these are not random tragedies. They are the logical consequence of decades of occupation, siege, and apartheid. You cannot bomb 2.3 million people into silence unless you first strip them of their rights, their land, and their humanity.
That is the root cause. Not “conflict,” not “ancient hatreds,” but settler colonialism - maintained with British complicity. Our government still sends F-35 [warplane] parts to Israel. Our universities still partner with Israeli institutions directly involved in these crimes. And our Prime Minister has the audacity to talk about “the rules-based international order,” while turning a blind eye to the most documented genocide of our lifetimes.
And let us be clear: Keir Starmer himself is complicit. He has defended the bombing of civilians, aided and abetted a full siege on Gaza, and ensured the flow of arms continues. His silence is not neutrality. His silence is green light for more massacres. He belongs in The Hague
But let’s also speak honestly about another layer of complicity - the silence of our own professional bodies within the medical sphere . The Royal Colleges. The Royal College of Physicians. The Royal College of Surgeons. The Royal College of General Practitioners. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. One by one, they have failed to act. They have issued no meaningful statements. They have not demanded an arms embargo. They have not defended their colleagues under fire. Their silence makes them complicit. Their silence tells us that Palestinian lives are worth less to them than Ukrainian British or Israeli children.
Journalists in Gaza - like doctors, like teachers, like ordinary families - are being exterminated because they stand as witnesses. Israel knows the power of the image, the testimony, the truth. Every journalist killed is one less voice able to hold power to account. That is why the NUJ’s action today matters so much. Because silence is complicity.
Let us remember Wael al-Dahdouh, who has buried his wife, children and colleagues, and yet still reports the truth. Let us remember Maryam Abu Deqa, the rising journalist with AP who was killed by Israel at Nasser hospital uncovering the truth. Let us remember the young final year medical student Mohammed el Habiby at Nasser Hospital, whose life was cut short before it began.
And let us remember: this struggle did not begin on 7 October 2023. It began decades ago and accelerated in 1948, with the Nakba - when over 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. It has continued through decades of dispossession, occupation, and siege. The bombing of Nasser Hospital is only the latest chapter in a long story of violence. And unless we confront those root causes - unless we say clearly that apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide are unacceptable - it will not be the last.
So today, as the NUJ hands this letter in to the Prime Minister, let us be unflinching: Britain must stop arming Israel. Britain must support international investigations. Britain must stop rewarding a state that murders journalists and doctors, and instead stand on the side of life, justice, and freedom.
We honour the dead by fighting for the living. We honour Gaza’s journalists by refusing to let their stories be buried. And we honour humanity itself by saying: we will not be silent, and we will not stop until Palestine is free.
Thank you.
We honoured the courage of Gazan journalists full report
'When the only journalists are being slaughtered' teach-in report
Open letter on protecting journalists and defending truth in Gaza write to Starmer & Lammy - nuj.org.uk