Skip to content
1981
Writing, Advocating and Resisting during Genocide
  • ISSN: 2515-8538
  • E-ISSN: 2515-8546

Abstract

In this article, we analyse the response of professional nursing in Canada and the United States to the ongoing genocide occurring in Gaza. We do this by contextualizing the nursing profession’s ties to settler-colonialism in Canada. Employing frameworks of settler-colonialism and necropolitics, we interrogate the Israeli occupation’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system or , and the pre-existing healthcare disparities. Through the framework of epistemic disobedience we analyse two case studies: the politically motivated firing of nurse Hesen Jabr by New York’s Langone hospital and the politically motivated suspension of student nurse Arij Al Khafagi at the University of Manitoba. Both were disciplined for speaking out against the genocide of Palestinians. Finally, we offer a critical perspective on nursing advocacy, contrasting the response by professional nursing to the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza. We contend that genuine advocacy is both an ethical duty and a basic nursing competency. It requires risk-taking by challenging the status quo on an individual, interpersonal and institutional level. We for nursing organizations and nursing leaders to loosen their grip on the privileges of White supremacy in order to engage in politics to protect and support all people facing war and calamity, even if there is risk in doing so.

© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jciaw_00169_1
2026-03-16
2026-04-12

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abdo, Nahla (2024), ‘Israel’s settler colonialism and the genocide in Gaza: Alternatives’, Studies in Political Economy, 105:1, pp. 94–106, https://doi.org/10.1080/07078552.2024.2325298.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Abu Salmiya, Mohammad (2024), ‘Stop the Gaza genocide immediately’, The Lancet, 403:10441, pp. 2286–87, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00135-1.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (2023), ‘Joint letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Under Secretary-General Miguel Ángel Moratinos’, 20 April, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/04/human-rights-and-other-civil-society-groups-urge-united-nations-respect-human. Accessed 19 August 2025.
  4. Ahmed, Sirwan K. (2023), ‘Addressing the effects of war on Gaza’s healthcare system’, Cureus, 15:12, pp. 1–2, https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.50036.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Al Jazeera (2025), ‘Mapping 1800 Israeli settler attacks in the West Bank since October 2023’, 22 January, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/22/mapping-1800-israeli-settler-attacks-in-the-occupied-west-bank-since-october-7. Accessed 23 June 2025.
  6. Al-Chami, Mohamad, Gifford, Wendy and Coburn, Veldon (2024), ‘A visionary platform for decolonization: The red deal’, Nursing Philosophy, 25:1, pp. 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1111/nup.12471.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Amster, Ellen (2022), ‘The past, present and future of race and colonialism in medicine’, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 194:20, pp. E708–10, https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.212103.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Angus Reid Institute (2025), ‘Two-in-three Canadians call humanitarian situation in Gaza a “moral outrage”; most say Israel is deliberately blocking aid’, 6 August, https://angusreid.org/israel-gaza-genocide-palestine-state/. Accessed 13 August 2025.
  9. Ashour, Yara, AbuJlambo, Abdallah and Hassoun, Abdo (2025), ‘Gaza’s health emergency: Unprecedented humanitarian impact of the recent war on public health’, in A. Hassoun (ed.), War on Gaza: Sustainable Development Goals Series, Cham: Springer, pp. 43–58.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Asi, Yara M., Hammoudeh, Weeam, Mills, David, Tanous, Osama and Wispelwey, Bram (2022), ‘Reassembling the pieces: Settler colonialism and the reconception of Palestinian health’, Health and Human Rights, 24:2, pp. 229–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Ayyash, M. M. Muhannad (2022), ‘The toxic other: The Palestinian critique and debates about race and racism’, Critical Sociology, 49:6, pp. 953–66, https://doi.org/10.1177/08969205221130415.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Baader, Ben (2023), ‘U of M prof’s concerns regarding nursing student suspension’, The Manitoban, 5 December, https://themanitoban.com/2023/12/u-of-m-profs-concerns-regarding-nursing-student-suspension/46337/. Accessed 1 June 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Baader, Ben (2024), ‘Words from Arij Al Khafagi’s appeal hearing’, The Manitoban, 6 February, https://themanitoban.com/2024/02/words-from-arij-al-khafagis-appeal-hearing/46732. Accessed 1 June 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Bakan, Abigail B. and Abu-Laban, Yasmeen (2021), ‘The Israel/Palestine racial contract and the challenge of anti-racism: A case study of the United Nations world conference against racism’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44:12, pp. 2167–89, https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2021.1892789.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Bakan, Abigail B. and Abu-Laban, Yasmeen (2024), ‘Anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism, and solidarity: Considerations towards an analytic of praxis’, Studies in Political Economy, 105:1, pp. 107–22, https://doi.org/10.1080/07078552.2024.2325300.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Çamcı, Melih, Hassanien, Nourhan and El Khateeb, Leen (2024), ‘The silent kill: “Medicide” as an instrument of human rights abuses in Gaza’, Anatolian Clinic the Journal of Medical Sciences, 29, pp. 80–88, https://doi.org/10.21673/anadoluklin.1569555.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (2025), ‘Letter: Ongoing crisis in Gaza’, CFNU, 13 June, https://nursesunions.ca/letter-ongoing-crisis-in-gaza/. Accessed 20 September 2025.
  18. Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) (2025), ‘Guiding Principle 5.2: Nurses advocate for the rights of all people to be free from oppression, exclusion, racism and discrimination’, 14 July, https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/nursing/regulated-nursing-in-canada/nursing-ethics/2025-coe/ethics-value-5/guiding-principle-5-2. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  19. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) Foundation (2024), ‘Suspension of nursing student Arij Al Khafagi’, 12 March, https://www.cjpmefoundation.org/2023_11_21_suspension_of_nursing_student_arij_al_khafagi. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  20. Charif, Maher (2023), ‘Sionisme: La politique de transfert des Palestiniens, des origines à nos jours’, Institute for Palestine Studies, 21 November, https://www.palestine-studies.org/fr/node/1654692. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  21. Chinn, Peggy L. and Kennedy, Maureen Shawn (2023), ‘Activism is an essential nursing role’, The American Journal of Nursing, 123:10, pp. 52–58, https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000979100.16233.cc.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Chinn, Peggy L. and Kramer, Maeona K. (2014), Knowledge Development in Nursing: Theory and Process, St-Louis, MO: Elsevier Health Sciences.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Cohen, Stanley (2001), States of Denial: Knowing about Atrocities and Suffering, Cambridge: Polity Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Collier, Roger (2017), ‘Reports of coerced sterilization of indigenous women in Canada mirrors shameful past’, Canadian Medical Association Journal, 189:33, pp. E1080–81, https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1095471.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Deprez, Miriam (2023), ‘Visual necropolitics and visual violence: Theorizing death, sight, and sovereign control of Palestine’, International Political Sociology, 17:3, pp. 1–23, https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olad016.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. DiGregorio, Sarah (2023), Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World, New York: Harper Collins.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Dillard-Wright, Jess and Jenkins, Danisha (2024), ‘Dangerous and unprofessional content: Anarchist dreams for alternate nursing futures’, Philosophies, 9:1, pp. 1–9, https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9010025.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Dugard, John and Reynolds, John (2013), ‘Apartheid, international law, and the occupied Palestinian territory’, European Journal of International Law, 24:3, pp. 867–913, https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/cht045.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. EKOS Research Associates (2017), ‘A survey on Canadians’ views toward Israel/Palestine: Most Canadians say sanctions and boycott are reasonable measures to defend Palestinian rights (survey)’, IJV, CJPME, Dimitri Lascaris and Murray Dobbin, 2 March, https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cjpme/pages/2542/attachments/original/1488424768/EKOS_Poll_Results_Report_R2_-_2017-03-02-Final-v1.pdf?1488424768. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  30. EKOS Research Associates (2020a), ‘Canadians reject branding criticism of Israel as antisemitic (survey)’, CJPME, IJV and UNJPPI, 7 October, https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cjpme/pages/5108/attachments/original/1602018473/FR_-_Survey_2020_Part_3.pdf?1602018473. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  31. EKOS Research Associates (2020b), ‘Out of touch: Canada’s foreign policy disconnected from Canadians’ views (survey)’, CJPME, IJV and UNJPPI, 15 June, https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cjpme/pages/5080/attachments/original/1600104047/Survey-2020_Israel-Palestine_-_2020-06-16-Final.pdf?1600104047. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  32. El Akkad, Omar (@omarelakkad) (2023), ‘One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too…’, X, 25 October, https://x.com/omarelakkad/status/1717082321445421056?lang=en. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  33. Erakat, Noura (2019), ‘The sovereign right to kill: A critical appraisal of Israel’s shoot-to-kill policy in Gaza’, International Criminal Law Review, 19:5, pp. 783–818, https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-01905002.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (2024), ‘Investigation must be opened into Israel’s potential use of banned thermal weapons, which cause victims’ bodies to melt or evaporate’, 30 April, https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6290/Investigation-must-be-opened-into-Israel%E2%80%99s-potential-use-of-banned-thermal-weapons,-which-cause-victims%E2%80%99-bodies-to-melt-or-evaporate. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  35. Fanon, Frantz (1963), The Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Fekete, Liz (2024), ‘Anti-Palestinian racism and the criminalisation of international solidarity in Europe’, Race & Class, 66:1, pp. 99–120, https://doi.org/10.1177/03063968241253708.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Feldman, Ilana (2015), ‘Gaza as an open-air prison’, Middle East Report, 45:275, pp. 12–14.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Filiu, Jean-Pierre (2024), Comment la Palestine fut perdue et pourquoi Israël n’a pas gagné: histoire d’un conflit XIXe-XXIe siècle, Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Flynn, Karen (2012), Moving Beyond Borders: A History of Black Canadian and Caribbean Women in the Diaspora, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Foucault, Michel (1982), ‘The subject and power’, Critical Inquiry, 8:4, pp. 777–95, https://doi.org/10.1086/448181.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Gordon, Neve (2023), ‘On antisemitism and human rights’, The International Journal of Human Rights, 28:4, pp. 578–97, https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2023.2281436.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Green, Penny and Smith, Amelia (2016), ‘Evicting Palestine’, State Crime Journal, 5:1, pp. 81–108, https://doi.org/10.13169/statecrime.5.1.0081.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW) (2024), The Killing, Detention, and Torture of Healthcare, Workers in Gaza, Gaza: Healthcare Workers Watch, https://healthcareworkerswatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/HWW-report-_The-killing-detention-and-torture-of-HCWs-in-Gaza_October-72024_Final.pdf. Accessed 16 August 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Hietkamp, Madison (2022), ‘“I wanted to be on the right side of history”: RNAO members provide compassionate care in a war zone’, Registered Nurse Journal, 34:3.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Hills, Marcia, Watson, Jane and Cara, Chantal (2021), Creating a Caring Science Curriculum: A Relational Emancipatory Pedagogy for Nursing, Cham: Springer Publishing Company.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Hine, Darlene Clark (2020), Black Women in White: Racial Conflict and Cooperation in the Nursing Profession, 1890–1950, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Human Rights Watch (2024), ‘Israel: Palestinian healthcare workers tortured’, 26 August, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/26/israel-palestinian-healthcare-workers-tortured. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  48. Insecurity Insight (n.d.), ‘Attacks on healthcare in Israel and the occupied-Palestinian territory: 30 April–13 May 2025’, https://insecurityinsight.org/projects/healthcare/monthlynewsbrief. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  49. ICN (International Council of Nurses) (2021), The ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses, Geneva: International Council of Nurses, https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/2023-06/ICN_Code-of-Ethics_EN_Web.pdf. Accessed 26 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. International Criminal Court (1998), Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Art, 7, The Hague: International Criminal Court, https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf. Accessed 26 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) (2016), ‘What is antisemitism? Holocaust remembrance’, 6 May, https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  52. Irfan, Bilal, Izzeddin, Lulu, Hamawy, Adam, Shammala, Abdallah Abu, Kullab, Susan, Fawaz, Mohamed, Sammour, Abd Al‐Karim, Khawaja, Haseeb, Alshaer, Nour, Abu-Sittah, Ghassan, Alser, Osaid, Perlmutter, Mark, Al-Shembari, Anas, Hickey, Jeremy, Nayfeh, Tariq, Tahir, Mohammed, Sultan, Muhammad Junaid, Nasser, Elias, Wajahath, Muaaz, Yaqoob, Aneela, Hasan, Ahmad, Elaydi, Ali, Ghali, Abdullah, Nasser, Mosab and Saleh, Khaled J. (2024), ‘Combating infections under siege: Healthcare challenges amidst the military assault in Gaza’, World Medical and Health Policy, 17:1, pp. 188–213, https://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.642.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Jamaluddine, Zeina, Abukmail, Hanan, Aly, Sarah, Campbell, Oona M. R. and Checchi, Francesco (2025), ‘Traumatic injury mortality in the Gaza strip from Oct 7, 2023, to June 30, 2024: A capture-recapture analysis’, The Lancet, 405:10477, pp. 469–77, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02678-3.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Kagan, Paula N., Smith, Marlaine C., Cowling III, R. William and Chinn, Peggy L. (2010), ‘A nursing manifesto: An emancipatory call for knowledge development, conscience, and praxis’, Nursing Philosophy, 11:1, pp. 67–84, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-769x.2009.00422.x.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Kanji, Azeezah (2020), ‘A how-to guide for the settler colonial present: From Canada to Palestine to Kashmir’, Yellowhead Institute Review, 5 August, https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2020/marking-the-settler-colonial-present-from-canada-to-palestine-to-kashmir/. Accessed 21 September 2025.
  56. Keith, Alexander (1844), Land of Israel: According to the Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, Edinburgh: William Whyte.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Khalidi, Rashid (2021), The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, London: Picador.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Khatib, Rasah, McKee, Martin and Yusuf, Salim (2024), ‘Counting the dead in Gaza: Difficult but essential’, The Lancet, 404:10449, pp. 237–38, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(24)01169-3.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Knight, Rosie J. (2021), ‘African Americans, slavery, and nursing in the US south’, Nursing Clio, 7 January, https://nursingclio.org/2021/01/07/african-americans-slavery-and-nursing-in-the-us-south/. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  60. Léger (2025), ‘Attitudes à l’égard des conflits au Moyen: Orient et en Ukraine Sondage auprès des Canadiens et des Américains’, Léger, 10 June, https://leger360.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Special-report-Gaza-Ukraine_June-10th_FR.pdf. Accessed 18 August 2025.
  61. Maalej, Zouheir and Zibin, Aseel (2024), ‘Metaphors they kill by: Dehumanization of Palestinians by Israeli officials and sympathizers’, International Journal of Arabic-English Studies, 25:1, pp. 1–21, https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes.v25i1.693.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. MacDonald, Noni E., Stanwick, Richard and Lynk, Andrew (2014), ‘Canada’s shameful history of nutrition research on residential school children: The need for strong medical ethics in aboriginal health research’, Paediatrics & Child Health, 19:2, pp. 64–66, https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/19.2.64.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Majid, Dania (2022), ‘Anti-Palestinian racism: Naming, framing and manifestations’, Canadian Arab Lawyers Association, 25 April, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/61db30d12e169a5c45950345/t/627dcf83fa17ad41ff217964/1652412292220/Anti-Palestinian+Racism-+Naming%2C+Framing+and+Manifestations.pdf. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  64. Malli, Anisha, Monteith, Hiliary, Hiscock, Elizabeth, Smith, Emily, Fairman, Kimberly, Galloway, Tracey and Mashford-Pringle, Angela (2023), ‘Impacts of colonization on Indigenous food systems in Canada and the United States: A scoping review’, BMC Public Health, 23:1, pp. 1–13, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16997-7.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Manitoba Nurses Union (2023), ‘Canada’s nurses raise $51,000 to support health care workers in Ukraine’, 12 July, https://www.manitobanurses.ca/news-events/article/125/canada-s-nurses-raise-51-000-to-support-health-care-workers-in-ukraine. Accessed 13 August 2025.
  66. Mann, Brian (2025), ‘Migrant family swept up by ICE allowed to return home’, NPR: All Things Considered, 8 April, https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5355128/migrant-family-swept-up-by-ice-allowed-to-return-home. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  67. Matthews, Karen (2024), ‘A nurse honored for compassion is fired after referring to Gaza “genocide” in speech’, CityNews Toronto, 29 May, https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/05/29/a-nurse-honored-for-compassion-is-fired-after-referring-in-speech-to-gaza-genocide/. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  68. Mbembe, Achille (2003a), ‘Necropolitics’ (trans. L. Meintjes), Public Culture, 15:1, pp. 11–40, https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-15-1-11.
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Mbembe, Achille (2003b), ‘Life, sovereignty, and terror in the fiction of Amos Tutuola’ (trans. R. Mitsch), Research in African Literatures, 34:4, pp. 1–26, https://doi.org/10.2979/ral.2003.34.4.1.
     [Google Scholar]
  70. McGibbon, Elizabeth and Lukeman, Sionnah (2019), ‘Critical social justice: The moral imperative for critical perspectives in nursing’, Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, 1:1, pp. 3–12, https://doi.org/10.25071/2291-5796.21.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. McKillop, Colton (2023), ‘Suspended nursing student seeks appeal’, The Manitoban, 5 December, https://themanitoban.com/2023/12/suspended-nursing-student-seeks-appeal/46353/. Accessed 26 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  72. MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians) (2023), ‘300 health workers reported killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza exceeds all countries in conflict combined in any year since 2016’, 19 December, https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1543-more-health-workers-killed-in-israelas-assault-on-gaza-than-all-countries-in-conflict-in-any-year-since-2016. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  73. Mignolo, Walter (2011), ‘Epistemic disobedience and the decolonial option: A manifesto’, Transmodernity, 1:2, pp. 43–66, https://doi.org/10.5070/T412011807.
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Mignolo, Walter (2024), ‘Gaza: A decolonial perspective on the coloniality of power today’, From the European South, 15, pp. 76–86, https://www.fesjournal.eu/numeri/general-issue-6/gaza-a-decolonial-perspective-on-the-coloniality-of-power-today/. Accessed 15 August 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Morar, Nicolae, and Vernon, W. Cisney (2016), Biopower: Foucault and Beyond, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  76. Mosby, Ian (2013), ‘Administering colonial science: Nutrition research and human biomedical experimentation in aboriginal communities and residential schools, 1942–1952’, Histoire sociale (Social History), 46:91, pp. 145–72, https://doi.org/10.1353/his.2013.0015.
     [Google Scholar]
  77. Naidu, Thirusha (2021), ‘Says who? Northern ventriloquism, or epistemic disobedience in global health scholarship’, The Lancet Global Health, 9:9, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(21)00198-4.
     [Google Scholar]
  78. Nasser, Jamal (1982), ‘The question of Palestine: Legal aspects’, The United Nations, 19 March, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-204960/. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  79. National Nurses United (@NationalNurses) (2024), ‘When nurses see human suffering, we speak out against it. We condemn @nyulangone’s decision to fire Palestinian-American nurse Hesen…’, X, 3 June, https://x.com/NationalNurses/status/1797763831273513175. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  80. OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) (2020), ‘State of Palestine (PSE): Attacks on aid operations, education, health care and IDP/Refugee camps, and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and explosive weapons incident data’, https://data.humdata.org/dataset/opt-violent-and-threatening-incidents-against-healthcare. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  81. Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (2024), ‘UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten expresses serious concerns over reported instances of rape and other forms of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees’, United Nations, 9 September, https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/press-release/un-special-representative-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-ms-pramila-patten-expresses-serious-concerns-over-reported-instances-of-rape-and-other-forms-of-sexual-violence-against-palestinian-detainee/. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  82. Owens, Brian (2013), ‘Canada used hungry indigenous children to study malnutrition’, Nature, pp. 1–2, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.13425.
     [Google Scholar]
  83. Oxfam (2024), ‘Daily death rate in Gaza higher than any other major 21st century conflict’, Oxfam International, 11 January, https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/daily-death-rate-gaza-higher-any-other-major-21st-century-conflict-oxfam. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  84. Pappe, Ilan (2015), Israel and South Africa: The Many Faces of Apartheid, London: Zed Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  85. Perugini, Nicola and Gordon, Neve (2024), ‘Medical lawfare: The Nakba and Israel’s attacks on Palestinian healthcare’, Journal of Palestine Studies, 53:1, pp. 68–91, https://doi.org/10.1080/0377919x.2024.2330366.
     [Google Scholar]
  86. Pervez, Aneeza (2025), ‘Witnessing silence: The Palestinian genocide, institutional complicity, and the politics of knowledge’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp. 1–18, https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2025.2513637.
     [Google Scholar]
  87. Proctor, Robert (2008), ‘Agnotology: The making and unmaking of ignorance’, in L. Schiebinger (ed.), Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 1–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  88. Quijano, Anibal (2007), ‘Coloniality and modernity/rationality’, Cultural Studies, 21:2–3, pp. 168–78, https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601164353.
     [Google Scholar]
  89. Reverby, Susan M. (1987), Ordered to Care: The Dilemma of American Nursing, 1850–1945, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  90. RNAO (Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario) (2025), ‘An open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney: The right to health and the protection of civilians and health-care workers in Gaza’, RNAO Newsroom, 8 August, https://rnao.ca/news/an-open-letter-to-prime-minister-mark-carney-the-right-to-health-and-the-protection-of. Accessed 20 September 2025.
  91. Rosenthal, Frank S. (2021), ‘A comparison of health indicators and social determinants of health between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories’, Global Public Health, 16:3, pp. 431–47, https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1808037.
     [Google Scholar]
  92. Rothchild, Alice (2024), ‘Can health care personnel speak out on health and human rights issues in Gaza?’, Health and Human Rights, 1 July, https://www.hhrjournal.org/2024/07/01/can-health-care-personnel-speak-out-on-health-and-human-rights-issues-in-gaza. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  93. Sadowski, Yahya (1993), ‘The new orientalism and the democracy debate’, Middle East Report, 183, https://doi.org/10.2307/3012572.
     [Google Scholar]
  94. Shoman, Hala, Ajour, Ashjan, Ababneh, Sara, Jabiri, Afaf, Pratt, Nicola, Repo, Jemina and Aldossari, Maryam (2025), ‘Feminist silences in the face of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people: A call for decolonial praxis against complicity’, Gender, Work & Organization, 32:4, pp. 1668–75, https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.13258.
     [Google Scholar]
  95. Smith, James, Kwong, Edwin Jit Leung, Hanbali, Layth, Hafez, Sali, Neilson, Aamy and Khoury, Rasha (2023), ‘Violence in Palestine demands immediate resolution of its settler colonial root causes’, BMJ Global Health, 8:10, pp. 1–3, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2023-014269.
     [Google Scholar]
  96. Smith, James, El-Solh, Sara, Hanbali, Layth, Abdulrahim, Sawsan, Hafez, Sali, Abuzerr, Samer, Wispelwey, Bram, Gilbert, Mads, Seyam, Mohammed, Hamad, Bassam Abu, Gucciardo, David, Haddad, Fahd, Khoury, Rasha, Nimerawi, Amira, Mills, David and Abu-Sittah, Ghassan (2025), ‘Realising health justice in Palestine: Beyond humanitarian voices’, Conflict and Health, 19:1, pp. 1–8, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-024-00634-0.
     [Google Scholar]
  97. Solis, Nathan and Winton, Richard (2025), ‘“Who are these people?”: Masked immigration agents challenge local police, sow fear in L.A.’, Los Angeles Times, 24 June, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-24/masked-immigration-agents-local-law-enforcement-tension. Accessed 26 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  98. Stake-Doucet, Natalie (2023), ‘White privilege and professionalization: A decolonial and critical feminist perspective on professional nursing’, Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, 5:2, pp. 26–38, https://doi.org/10.25071/2291-5796.153.
     [Google Scholar]
  99. Stewart, David (2024), International Nurses Day 2024: The Economic Power of Care, Geneva: International Council of Nurses, https://www.icn.ch/sites/default/files/2024-05/ICN_IND2024_report_EN_A4_6.1_0.pdf. Accessed 26 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  100. Stote, Karen (2012), ‘The coercive sterilization of aboriginal women in Canada’, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 36:3, pp. 117–50, https://doi.org/10.17953/aicr.36.3.7280728r6479j650.
     [Google Scholar]
  101. Symenuk, Paisly, Tisdale, Dawn, Bourque Bearskin, Danielle and Munro, Tessa (2020), ‘In search of the truth: Uncovering nursing’s involvement in colonial harms and assimilative policies five years post truth and reconciliation commission’, Witness: The Canadian Journal of Critical Nursing Discourse, 2:1, pp. 84–96, https://doi.org/10.25071/2291-5796.51.
     [Google Scholar]
  102. Tekin, Fatih Cemal and Öcal, Fatma Selcen (2023), ‘Attacks on health care worldwide: 5-year review’, Eurasian Journal of Emergency Medicine, 22:4, pp. 211–15, https://doi.org/10.4274/eajem.galenos.2023.42223.
     [Google Scholar]
  103. Thau-Eleff, Daniel (2024), ‘Re: Re: U of M Prof’s concerns regarding nursing student suspension’, The Manitoban, 9 January, https://themanitoban.com/2024/01/re-re-u-of-m-profs-concerns-regarding-nursing-student-suspension/46447/. Accessed 1 June 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  104. Thomas, Nicole A., Ersig, Anne L., Nelson, Lonnie A., Owen, Brenda, Whyte, Kyle Powys, Wispelwey, Bram and Bratzke, Lisa C. (2024), ‘Identifying settler colonial determinants of indigenous health within the United States: A discursive paper’, Public Health Nursing, 42:2, pp. 890–98, https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.13523.
     [Google Scholar]
  105. Thorne, Sally (2025), ‘We were made for these times’, Nursing Inquiry, 32:2, pp. 1–2, https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.70010.
     [Google Scholar]
  106. United Nations (2024), ‘Treatment of detainees and hostages and attacks on medical facilities and personnel (7 October 2023 to August 2024): Third Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel (A/79/232)’, UNISPAL, 24 September, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/report-of-the-independent-international-commission-of-inquiry-on-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-including-east-jerusalem-and-israel-11sep24/. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  107. United Nations (2025a), ‘Record starvation and malnutrition in Gaza: More West Bank displacement’, 12 August, https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165636. Accessed 8 September 2025.
  108. United Nations (2025b), ‘Killing of medical professionals in Gaza: UN Human Rights in Occupied Palestinian Territory’, 16 July, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ohchr-press-release-16jul25/. Accessed 3 August 2025.
  109. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2024a), ‘UN expert shocked by death of another Palestinian doctor in Israeli detention’, 24 September, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/un-expert-shocked-death-another-palestinian-doctor-israeli-detention. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  110. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2024b), ‘Israel’s escalating use of torture against Palestinians in custody a preventable crime against humanity: UN experts’, 5 August, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/08/israels-escalating-use-torture-against-palestinians-custody-preventable. Accessed 15 August 2025.
  111. Vidal, Dominique and Heilbronn, Benjamin (2019), ‘Comment Israël manipule la lutte contre l’antisémitisme’, Orient, 21:XXI, 12 February, https://orientxxi.info/magazine/comment-israel-manipule-la-lutte-contre-l-antisemitisme,2892. Accessed 26 July 2025.
     [Google Scholar]
  112. wa Thiong’o, Ngugi (1986), Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, Limited.
     [Google Scholar]
  113. Watson, Jean (1997), ‘The theory of human caring: Retrospective and prospective’, Nursing Science Quarterly, 10:1, pp. 49–52, https://doi.org/10.1177/089431849701000114.
     [Google Scholar]
  114. Wilson, Donna M., Underwook, Leah, Sungmin, Kim, Olukotun, Mary and Errasti-Ibarrondo, Begona (2022), ‘How and why nurses became involved in politics or political actions, and the outcomes or impacts of this involvement’, Nursing Outlook, 70:1, pp. 55–63, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2021.07.008.
     [Google Scholar]
  115. Wispelwey, Bram, Tanous, Osama, Asi, Yara, Hammoudeh, Weeam and Mills, David (2023), ‘Because its power remains naturalized: Introducing the settler colonial determinants of health’, Frontiers in Public Health, 11, pp. 1–17, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1137428.
     [Google Scholar]
  116. Wolfe, Patrick (2006), ‘Settler colonialism and the elimination of the native’, Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, pp. 387–409, https://doi.org/10.1080/14623520601056240.
     [Google Scholar]
  117. Wynter, Sylvia (2003), ‘Unsettling the coloniality of being/power/truth/freedom: Towards the human, after man, its overrepresentation: An argument’, CR: The New Centennial Review, 3:3, pp. 257–337, https://doi.org/10.1353/ncr.2004.0015.
     [Google Scholar]
  118. Zairul-Nizam, Z. F. and Ibrahim, N. A. (2024), ‘Deafening silence of Malaysian medical and surgical fraternities to the Gaza genocide’, Malaysian Orthopaedic Journal, 18:2, pp. 95–96, https://doi.org/10.5704/MOJ.2407.015.
     [Google Scholar]
  119. Zembylas, Michalinos (2025), ‘Decolonial pathways in education: Walter Mignolo, epistemic delinking, and the risks of ethno-essentialism’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, 10:2, pp. 1–15, https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2025.2459110.
     [Google Scholar]
  120. Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (2003), ‘Position statement: Peace, security and well-being’, September, https://rnao.ca/media/6683/download?inline. Accessed 26 July 2025.
  121. Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (n.d.), ‘Mission to help Ukraine’, RNAO, https://rnao.ca/news/mission-help-ukraine. Accessed 26 July 2025.
/content/journals/10.1386/jciaw_00169_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): colonialism; epistemic disobedience; healthcare; medicide; necropolitics; Palestine; silence

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test