Professor Gerald M Steinberg Letter to the Editor of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
[Excerpts]
The Perspective piece “Famine in Gaza: an Example of the Global Humanitarian Crisis” by Alex de Waal,1 from the World Peace Foundation, is problematic in several dimensions. There is no doubt that the suffering in this war is tragic for millions of non-combatants—Israelis and Palestinians alike, as well as for aid workers accidentally killed and wounded in this area of intense and complex asymmetric urban warfare.
Precisely for this reason, in making accusations and assigning blame, it is important to examine and verify the claims carefully, and to avoid actions that contribute to this tragedy and the surrounding hatred.
The first issue concerns the methodology used to present factual claims in this article. Most of the sources cited are not subject to independent verification and are inaccurate or blatantly false, as they are based on statements from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
