After his suspension, Yipeng Ge travelled to Gaza to provide medical care and witness the Palestinian humanitarian crisis firsthand
Corné van Hoepen
·Editor, Yahoo News Canada
Tue, October 22, 2024
Dr. Yipeng Ge pictured while on a weeklong assignment in Rafah, southern Gaza during Feb. 2024. (Image courtesy: Yipeng Ge)
A former resident physician at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of medicine says his life has changed in unimaginable ways after being suspended from his program over a series of pro-Palestinian posts shared on his social media.
Dr. Yipeng Ge, 29, says the university disciplined him in November 2023 following multiple complaints about posts in which he used terms such as "apartheid" and "settler colonialism."
READ MORE: ‘Limits of allyship’ and the ‘Palestine exception’: Canadians advocating for Palestine reveal how their lives changed after Oct. 7, 2023
"They quoted a concern over professionalism when I think it's the most professional thing to be calling out war crimes and attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers," said Yipeng Ge in an interview with Yahoo News Canada.
Suspension over pro-Palestine social media posts
At the time of his suspension, Ge says he was a fourth-year public health and preventive medicine resident, completing a residency at the Public Health Agency of Canada.
With most of his research focused on anti-racism and decolonization, Ge says it was important for him to be a voice for the Palestinian cause, while also recognizing that criticism of Israel in Western countries often comes with heavy consequences.
“I was careful about how I engaged on social media after October 7... I only liked and retweeted content I believed accurately portrayed the Palestinian issue,” said Ge.
Screencaptures from Ge's Instagram account in November 2023 show a post with an individual holding up a poster with the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," along with stories with text reading "If the phrase free Palestine makes you feel uncomfortable then you probably benefit from the oppression of Palestinians."
Screengrab from Dr. Yipeng Ge's Instagram story posted in Nov. 2023. (Courtesy: Yoni Freedhoff/Substack)
According to the American Jewish Committee, the phrase "From the river to the sea" is anti-Semitic and is a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to Hamas, which called for Israel’s destruction in its original governing charter in 1988.
Palestinian activists, however, say it’s a call for peace and equality after 75 years of Israeli statehood and decades-long, open-ended Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians, according to an explainer published by the Associated Press.
When Ottawa community physician Yoni Freedhoff shared screenshots of Ge's posts on Substack, along with captions reading, "Look at this person, they are so hateful and so anti-Semitic," Ge says that's when the university stepped in.
Screengrab from Dr. Yipeng Ge's Instagram account in November 2023. (Courtesy: Yoni Freedhoff/Substack)
In response to Ge's suspension, a petition was circulated calling for his reinstatement and an inquiry into the program. The petition urged the University of Ottawa to "reverse the suspension of Dr. Yipeng Ge and issue an apology for failing to follow due process in the investigation." It garnered more than 100,000 signatures.
I got a phone call at 8 o'clock in the morning from someone within the Faculty of Medicine to tell me I've been immediately suspended.Yipeng Ge, former resident physician at the University of Ottawa
Ge says an internal investigation by the school of medicine recommended his immediate reinstatement.
"At the first sign of inconvenience, they kicked me out, and when none of the claims against me held up, they welcomed me back without an apology," Ge said. "I feel incredibly harmed by this process."
After his experience and witnessing the penalization of fellow residents who spoke out for Palestinian rights, Ge says he could no longer, in good conscience, remain at the institution.
'The people of Gaza need a tsunami of aid': Ge travels to war zone
In the wake of Hamas attacks across Israel on October 7, 2023, ongoing Israeli strikes have killed over 40,000 people and wounded nearly 100,000 more — nearly half being children — over the past year, according to Gaza's Hamas-led health authority.
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As conditions continued to deteriorate amid ongoing strikes, Ge says his suspension from his medical program presented a window of opportunity to offer life-saving measures on the ground in Gaza in February.
He connected with an aid group called Humanity Auxilium and travelled with a team of Canadian doctors to Rafah, which had been ravaged by war and under threat of an Israeli ground offensive.
The way we entered the country was completely out of the history books.Dr. Yipeng Ge
Ge says a significant number of patients he treated at the primary care clinic he was based in came seeking treatment for burns from bombings — many of them children.
Starvation due to lack of aid flowing into the region was resulting in rampant malnutrition across Gaza, he explains.
"The most striking thing was the severe malnutrition and dehydration that the majority of children had," said Ge. "I took care of patients aged nine and 10 that previously were walking that no longer were able to."
Dr. Yipeng Ge treating patients out of a Rafah primary care clinic in Gaza. (Image courtesy: Yipeng Ge)
Ge says his team brought "many suitcases" filled with medications, but it was "drop in the ocean" compared to what the need was.
"The people of Gaza need a tsunami of aid," said Ge.
Canadian officials issued fresh calls last week condemning Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attacks on civilian infrastructure in Gaza and calling for aid distribution to Palestinians.
"The increasingly dire humanitarian situation is unacceptable and continues to deteriorate due to a significant decrease of aid allowed into Gaza. An increase in humanitarian aid is desperately needed to end this suffering," reads a statement from Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.
FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
Ge also described the experience of providing medical aid to a region under constant Israeli siege, saying air strikes and seeing tanks on the ground was "normalized."
"The resilience, the courage, the perseverance that I've seen and even the joy that I've experienced with them is unparalleled," said Ge in an interview with CBC News.
Despite the challenging conditions he faced while in Gaza, Ge says he hopes to return for a second mission to the war-torn nation.
Nearly one year following his suspension from his residency at the University of Ottawa, Ge said his priorities remain the same.
"One thing is clear... I need to continue to centre people who experience social oppression — the people of Gaza, the people of Palestine," said Ge
With most of his research focused on anti-racism and decolonization, Ge says it was important for him to be a voice for the Palestinian cause, while also recognizing that criticism of Israel in Western countries often comes with heavy consequences.
“I was careful about how I engaged on social media after October 7... I only liked and retweeted content I believed accurately portrayed the Palestinian issue,” said Ge.
Screencaptures from Ge's Instagram account in November 2023 show a post with an individual holding up a poster with the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," along with stories with text reading "If the phrase free Palestine makes you feel uncomfortable then you probably benefit from the oppression of Palestinians."
Screengrab from Dr. Yipeng Ge's Instagram story posted in Nov. 2023. (Courtesy: Yoni Freedhoff/Substack)
According to the American Jewish Committee, the phrase "From the river to the sea" is anti-Semitic and is a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to Hamas, which called for Israel’s destruction in its original governing charter in 1988.
Palestinian activists, however, say it’s a call for peace and equality after 75 years of Israeli statehood and decades-long, open-ended Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians, according to an explainer published by the Associated Press.
When Ottawa community physician Yoni Freedhoff shared screenshots of Ge's posts on Substack, along with captions reading, "Look at this person, they are so hateful and so anti-Semitic," Ge says that's when the university stepped in.
Screengrab from Dr. Yipeng Ge's Instagram account in November 2023. (Courtesy: Yoni Freedhoff/Substack)
In response to Ge's suspension, a petition was circulated calling for his reinstatement and an inquiry into the program. The petition urged the University of Ottawa to "reverse the suspension of Dr. Yipeng Ge and issue an apology for failing to follow due process in the investigation." It garnered more than 100,000 signatures.
I got a phone call at 8 o'clock in the morning from someone within the Faculty of Medicine to tell me I've been immediately suspended.Yipeng Ge, former resident physician at the University of Ottawa
Ge says an internal investigation by the school of medicine recommended his immediate reinstatement.
"At the first sign of inconvenience, they kicked me out, and when none of the claims against me held up, they welcomed me back without an apology," Ge said. "I feel incredibly harmed by this process."
After his experience and witnessing the penalization of fellow residents who spoke out for Palestinian rights, Ge says he could no longer, in good conscience, remain at the institution.
'The people of Gaza need a tsunami of aid': Ge travels to war zone
In the wake of Hamas attacks across Israel on October 7, 2023, ongoing Israeli strikes have killed over 40,000 people and wounded nearly 100,000 more — nearly half being children — over the past year, according to Gaza's Hamas-led health authority.
Videos cannot play due to a network issue. Please check your Internet connection and try again.
Error Code: 400-100
Session Id: x1jdcc5d (Pls: 411eed65-3e6e-421a-8012-e34c1a7689b8)
As conditions continued to deteriorate amid ongoing strikes, Ge says his suspension from his medical program presented a window of opportunity to offer life-saving measures on the ground in Gaza in February.
He connected with an aid group called Humanity Auxilium and travelled with a team of Canadian doctors to Rafah, which had been ravaged by war and under threat of an Israeli ground offensive.
The way we entered the country was completely out of the history books.Dr. Yipeng Ge
Ge says a significant number of patients he treated at the primary care clinic he was based in came seeking treatment for burns from bombings — many of them children.
Starvation due to lack of aid flowing into the region was resulting in rampant malnutrition across Gaza, he explains.
"The most striking thing was the severe malnutrition and dehydration that the majority of children had," said Ge. "I took care of patients aged nine and 10 that previously were walking that no longer were able to."
Dr. Yipeng Ge treating patients out of a Rafah primary care clinic in Gaza. (Image courtesy: Yipeng Ge)
Ge says his team brought "many suitcases" filled with medications, but it was "drop in the ocean" compared to what the need was.
"The people of Gaza need a tsunami of aid," said Ge.
Canadian officials issued fresh calls last week condemning Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attacks on civilian infrastructure in Gaza and calling for aid distribution to Palestinians.
"The increasingly dire humanitarian situation is unacceptable and continues to deteriorate due to a significant decrease of aid allowed into Gaza. An increase in humanitarian aid is desperately needed to end this suffering," reads a statement from Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.
FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
Ge also described the experience of providing medical aid to a region under constant Israeli siege, saying air strikes and seeing tanks on the ground was "normalized."
"The resilience, the courage, the perseverance that I've seen and even the joy that I've experienced with them is unparalleled," said Ge in an interview with CBC News.
Despite the challenging conditions he faced while in Gaza, Ge says he hopes to return for a second mission to the war-torn nation.
Nearly one year following his suspension from his residency at the University of Ottawa, Ge said his priorities remain the same.
"One thing is clear... I need to continue to centre people who experience social oppression — the people of Gaza, the people of Palestine," said Ge
Opinion: Israel's war on Gaza has killed my family. I owe it to them to tell their stories.
Dana Afana, Detroit Free Press
Mon, October 21, 2024
Four days after Oct. 7, 2023 – days after the Israeli military began its deadly retaliation in Gaza – I met with my new editor.
I have family in Gaza, where my parents were born, but in this meeting, I expected to hold back and talk about my reporting on Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s political dynamic with the White House. But as my editor walked into the room, he asked how I was doing.
Tucking my head into my hands, I broke down.
I could barely catch my breath or speak. Just before our meeting, I had learned from a cousin that the Israeli military was launching airstrikes in his neighborhood and that countless bombs were dropping near his home. My parents came to the United States in the late 1980s, leaving behind big families on both sides. Before this war began, we had visited many times. I thought this would be the last time I spoke to my cousin, that I was going to lose someone I loved.
I felt helpless. My family had nowhere to go – Israel and Egypt wouldn’t allow most Palestinians in Gaza to leave, and thwarted aid from flowing in. Israel controls the borders out of the Palestinian territories. The Rafah border crossing south into Egypt has been blockaded since at least 2007, opening only periodically, and was closed early in the war.
I couldn’t escape the feeling that my family needed me. But I was here, in Detroit, mentally defeated as I watched my family in Gaza in peril.
I couldn't turn away from the horrors in Gaza
An armoured vehicle drives as damaged buildings are seen in the background, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, September 13, 2024.
I had hoped the horrors wouldn't last. But the soul-crushing images from Gaza were endlessly flooding my social media and news feeds, and I couldn’t look away, fearing I’d see a familiar face. I needed to know if my family was alive.
The impact of it all became physical. I wasn’t eating well, and some days, I felt sick, nauseous and in pain. I felt a knot in my neck every time I saw a news update. My heart would palpitate. My stomach would cramp.
Often, I had the appetite only for small snacks – cheese, crackers, a little fruit and a bowl of popcorn became a normal dinner some nights.
I lost several pounds, and my doctor demanded I gain weight. I impulsively dropped money on a hardcore personal trainer and nutrition coach – I’ve gained 10 pounds and can now lift more than my body weight.
And then it happened.
Who I lost in the Israel-Palestine conflict
In December 2023, two months after the attack, I received links to videos posted on social media of a gentleman on a stretcher with his index finger pointed to the sky – a gesture Muslims make while professing faith in God and His Messenger – and a limping woman with blood dripping down her face and neck, forcing her eyes shut as she clutched her son to guide her out of an ambulance truck and into the hospital.
Children around them were coughing from the giant plumes of dust that rose as they fled their crumbling apartment building, blood on their faces, telling the videographer how their home had been bombed as one of the younger children lay on a hospital floor, being treated by medical staff.
I cried out – a loud noise I had never made before – and froze.
Opinion: As Israel bombs everywhere around me in Gaza, my rooftop garden keeps us alive
Those were my relatives. My uncle – my mother’s brother – on the stretcher, my aunt beside him, my cousins around them, people I love as though they are my own father, mother, brothers and sisters – injured and bleeding, simply for existing.
This was the only time I would be confronted with a video, but it was not my only loss.
My aunt and uncle and their children survived, but their home was gone.
They moved in with another uncle in central Gaza, but temporarily – in early March, that house was bombed, too. My younger cousin was injured as the building collapsed, his entire right side covered in casts.
I couldn’t put my phone down until my cousins updated me on his condition. With hospital resources running dry, he couldn’t be treated in Gaza. It was nearly two months before he was finally allowed to leave for treatment outside of Gaza – he lost an appendage, and his shoulder was badly damaged.
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When I learn from family or the news which areas the Israeli military is attacking, I try to mentally prepare for the worst, and pray a little extra.
In April, six months into the war, my aunt – my father’s sister – and uncle were killed. They were at home when an airstrike destroyed multiple homes on their block.
I had spent months knowing this could happen, but when it did, I was too shocked to believe the news, too shocked to cry. All I wanted was to check on my father and spend time with my family as we processed his sister's loss. My aunt was the funny one, the bighearted one who made us feel loved, even an ocean away. I think back and laugh a little – like the time she threw a wedding in her living room with her girlfriends for my brother because she couldn’t travel to the United States to celebrate with him. Moments like those may be why I couldn’t, and cannot, believe she’s gone.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Palestinians inspect a school, which was sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Early in the war, my mother’s sister and her family had been displaced from their home in the south of Gaza, and were displaced again and again from places across the territory they had sought refuge. The chaos can make it hard to record dates. In July, they had to move twice. In early August, her son, my cousin, had gone back to the south. He was with a friend there when a blast hit.
His friend, injured, crawled to safety and notified my family that my cousin had been killed. My aunt was a mess emotionally, and it didn’t help that they couldn’t immediately find his body.
As I struggled to process another loss, my editor urged me to put my personal needs first. But my thought in that moment was to wrap up a story I was writing on Detroit’s political future – to get it off my plate while I had some mental capacity left – so I could be home with family again, and away from everything else.
Stories like those of Palestinians matter
It is a struggle to navigate the ethical and professional boundaries that discourage journalists like me from speaking publicly about the news, whether we’re covering it or not, and dealing with the death and destruction in my second home.
Opinion: Israel has killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza. Biden can end this massacre.
As a journalist, my duty is to seek and report the truth at all costs.
I entered the industry to tell stories like those of Palestinians – whose voices are often suppressed – the truth of the daily violence and oppression they face at the hands of the Israeli government and its decadeslong occupation of Palestine.
As a journalist, and as a human being, I owe that to my family and all those who are strategically undervalued.
I can’t get those images of my family and others in Gaza malnourished, displaced – or worse, dead – out of my head.
My family is like many others in Gaza. They love to cook maqluba and mandi. And my late aunt, the chef extraordinaire – may God have mercy on her soul – made the most crispy and savory fried sardines I’ll ever have. My cousins love to play soccer, and fiercely, but humorously compete at card games. My aunts and uncles love to bring home toys and candy for their grandchildren, relishing their smiles and laughter. All of them love to sit on Gaza’s breezy beaches, scattered with seashells, sipping on tea and dunking each other in the salty Mediterranean Sea. They love to look after each other.
Their lives matter. Their stories matter.
And as I watch the resilience of those who haven’t been killed try to survive Israel’s brutal decimation of Gaza, it’s a reminder that we need to work even harder to tell their stories – and the world needs to listen.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press, where this column originally appeared. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: Israeli, Palestinian conflict stole my family's lives in Gaza
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