THE rector of a Scottish university has claimed he has been “forcibly prevented” from entering Germany to talk about his time in Gaza.
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian medic, has claimed he was invited to give a conference in Berlin about his work as a surgeon in Gaza but was denied entry to the country.
Abu-Sittah is a world-leading expert on war-injured patients and children and was also elected as Glasgow University’s rector last month.
The Palestinian doctor took to Twitter/X to claim he was being “silenced” and that by being denied entry to the country, Germany is “complicit in the ongoing massacre”.
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He said: “Invited to address a conference in Berlin about my work in Gaza hospitals during the present conflict.
“The German government has forcibly prevented me from entering the country.
“Silencing a witness to genocide before the ICJ adds to Germany's complicity in the ongoing massacre.”
Invited to address a conference in Berlin about my work in Gaza hospitals during the present conflict.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) April 12, 2024
The German government has forcibly prevented me from entering the country
Silencing a witness to genocide before the ICJ adds to Germany's complicity in the ongoing massacre.
Abu-Sittah was in Gaza in the immediate wake of the October 7 attacks on Israel.
His experience working as a medic during Israel’s siege in Gaza saw him cited in South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
His quote from the ICJ submission reads: “There was a girl with just her whole body covered in shrapnel. She was nine. I ended up having to change and clean these wounds with no anaesthetic and no analgesic. I managed to find some intravenous paracetamol to give her … her Dad was crying, I was crying, and the poor child was screaming …”
Owen Jones, a contributor to The National, has condemned the claims that Abu-Sittah has been blocked from entering Germany.
He said: “An outrage.
“Ghassan Abu Sitta is a British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon who witnessed the first month of the German-armed Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
“Now Germany has banned him from entering to stop him offering evidence of the crimes facilitated by the German state.”
Green MSP Ross Greer also shared his outrage online.
He said: "Appalled but not surprised to see the German government treat the Rector of Glasgow Uni like this.
"They can try to silence the witnesses to Israel's crimes but it only makes them more complicit."
Abu-Sittah has had an extensive career in reconstructive surgery and helping those who have been wounded by war.
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He is also an expert in children’s health and trained at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London.
He has worked in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Yemen, where he set up a program providing free cleft care for refugee children.
Abu-Sittah, who was born in Kuwait, has said that both of his parents are Palestinians who were forced to leave their homeland during the 1948 Nakba.
He has frequently worked in Gaza over the last 25 years and says he views his work in the region as “an extension of my Palestinian identity”.
The German embassy has been approached for comment.
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