Video of 12/13 Campaign Meeting

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This piece by MECC Executive Director Stanley Heller was published on 12/4/25 in the CT Hearst newspapers.  It includes many of the reasons he was given the award.

 Opinion: A Connecticut call for Israel to release Palestinian doctor  

The ceremony was featured on this TSVN program https://youtu.be/4bueCwIka2Y?si=uTJbIgVwBQR486Ty

  Sponsors:

Middle East Crisis Committee

Promoting Enduring Peace  PEPeace.org

  Cosponsors:

American Muslims for Palestine

Bridgeport Islamic Center

Community Alliance for Peace and Justice

Connecticut Palestine Alliance

CT Democratic Socialists of America

CT Civil Liberties Defense Committee

Doctors Against Genocide

Health Care Workers for Palestine

Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven

Mending Minyan

Muslim Advocacy for Rights, Unity, and Fairness - MARUF

Palestine Solidarity Committee of the UU Congregation of Danbury

Shalom United Church of Christ

Unidad Latina en Acción 

We Will Return

WesPac

Yalies for Palestine

Click here to register to watch the 11/22 ceremony in honor of Dr. Abu Safiya at 3 p.m. Eastern

Do a drawing of Dr. Abu Safiya (many images of him on the internet) with a slogan like #FreeDrAbuSafiya or a poem or a song.  Spread it around.

Make a small sign supporting him.  Have someone take a photo of you with the sign.  Post it online on many friends' and lists' pages.  

Get a few people together with large signs in front of a hospital for an hour. Scroll up for .pdf 's of pictures you could print out and post.

Send letters and opinion pieces to the corporate media

Make a YouTube "short" or a FB "reel"

Write to local medical workers unions that are part of 1199.  In Oct of 2024 the national union declared "“We call on the Biden administration to enforce the Foreign Assistance Act and suspend military assistance to Israel for its continued blockage of aid necessary to avert catastrophic famine,” One would think it's a fertile area for brining up Abu Safiya's treatment.

Write to medical associations.

Make up pins with Dr. Abu Safiya's image

Contact your members of Congress via this Physicians for Humanity page.

Join with over 17,000 others and send a letter via this Amnesty International page.

A petition in Italian, English and Arabic.

Here's a site devoted to his freedom

Appeal launched by the Movement for Justice and Peace in the Middle East

Free Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya—an icon of civil resistance in Gaza—and all illegally detained Palestinian health workers

Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and head of Kamal Adwan hospital, is one of the boldest symbols of civil resistance in Gaza. Through his work he gave a voice to the victims of Gaza and denounced the attack on the right of all Palestinians to health and life. On December 27, 2024, after months of Israeli siege of the hospital he built, Dr. Abu Safiya was illegally taken and imprisoned in Israel. That same day, Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan hospital, destroyed a number of wards, and seized doctors, nurses, and patients. 

Since then, Dr. Abu Safiya has been detained without formal charges and has been held in solitary confinement since. When his lawyer, Ghaida Qassem, finally managed to see him on February 11, 2025, she was faced with an exhausted man suffering from untreated infections and showing clear signs of torture. By her third visit on July 14, Dr. Abu Safiya had dramatically lost weight. Recent negotiations for his release have been unsuccessful; in fact, his unlawful detention has been extended again.

Shockingly, his case is not the only one. Among the thousands of Palestinians illegally detained in Israeli prisons since October 7, 2023, at least 405 are healthcare workers; dozens of them, including 16 doctors, are still being held without charge. The conditions of many of them are unknown to this day. 

At the same time, according to recent OCHA figures, Israeli forces in Gaza killed 1,722 doctors, nurses, and paramedics since October 7, 2023: it is the largest number of healthcare workers killed in recent history in a war zone and represents 8.9% of Gaza’s healthcare workforce. Currently, few of Gaza’s 36 hospitals function at all and less than 30% of its outpatient clinics are in operation. Those still functioning are in desperate condition, without electricity, anesthetics or other essential equipment for emergency care.

According to WHO, between October 2023 and May 2025 the Israeli army carried out 720 attacks on health targets in the Gaza Strip, hitting 125 medical facilities, 34 hospitals, and 186 ambulances. However, hospitals were targeted long before October 7, 2023, and not just in Gaza. WHO also reported that between 2019 and 2021 there were 563 attacks on health facilities: 288 in the West Bank, including 93 in East Jerusalem, and 275 in the Gaza Strip.

These figures do not describe a side effect of war, but a deliberate strategy: the destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and of every principle of humanitarian law. As pointed out by Dr. Safia Mahomed, a professor of bioethics and health law at the University of South Africa, hospitals, ‘traditionally regarded as sanctuaries of humanity, [have been transformed] into corridors of horror.’ 

The detention of Dr. Abu Safiya and his colleagues is an extension of the same logic: to punish healers, to obliterate the very act of healing. Every day that Palestinian doctors and health workers spend in detention in Israeli jails is another day on which the universal right to health is trampled upon and human dignity is violated.

We therefore strongly demand:

▪ the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya;

▪ the release of all illegally detained healthcare workers;

▪ an urgent intervention by the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and global medical organizations to reinstate the protection of healthcare personnel in the Gaza Strip and throughout Palestine, and the sacrosanct right to healthcare for all.

Every signature, every voice, every share is an act of civil responsibility.

Today, silence is complicity.

The Letter was organized by Massimo Amato of The Movement for Justice and Peace in the Middle East and endorsed by Professor Naftali Kaminski.

Signed by Naftali Kaminski, MD, Professor of Medicine, 

Release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is a pediatrician and neonatologist, and former director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. He continued treating children under siege, even after losing family members, including at least one child. He was detained by Israeli forces and remains imprisoned without charge or trial.

This action asks for his immediate release, or at minimum due process, medical access, and transparency, consistent with international humanitarian law and medical neutrality.

A. TAKE ACTION IN FOUR TIERS

TIER 1, CONTACT YOUR CONNECTICUT STATE LEGISLATORS

Ask your State Representative and State Senator to press Connecticut’s U.S. delegation to act.

Find your legislators

https://www.cga.ct.gov

Go to “Find Your Legislator”, enter your address or ZIP code.

Ask them to

Urge Senators Blumenthal and Murphy, and Connecticut’s U.S. Representatives, to pressure the U.S. Department of State to intervene for Dr. Abu Safiya’s release.

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TIER 2, CONTACT YOUR FEDERAL DELEGATION

Ask your members of Congress to elevate this case directly.

Find your U.S. Representative

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Find your U.S. Senators

https://www.senate.gov/senators

Ask them to

Publicly raise Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention, engage the Department of State, and demand transparency, due process, and release.

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TIER 3, CONTACT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Ask the executive branch what action is being taken.

Contact page

https://www.state.gov/contact/

Ask

Whether Dr. Abu Safiya’s case has been raised with Israeli authorities, and what steps are being taken to secure his release and ensure humane treatment.

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TIER 4, CONTACT THE ISRAELI EMBASSY IN WASHINGTON

Respectful diplomatic pressure matters.

Israeli Embassy, Washington DC

Phone: 202-364-5500

Address: 3514 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008

Ask

For transparency regarding Dr. Abu Safiya’s legal status, treatment, and immediate release.

You only need to take ONE action today.

Calls and emails from constituents are logged and counted.

B. 30-SECOND SCRIPTS (CUSTOMIZED BY TIER)

1. Script for State Legislators (CT Rep or Senator)

> Dear State ____________________, my name is ___, and I am a constituent from ___.

I am calling to ask you to contact Connecticut’s U.S. Senators and Representatives regarding the detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician who was detained while providing medical care in Gaza and is being held without charge or trial.

Please urge our federal delegation to press the U.S. Department of State to intervene for his release and to uphold medical neutrality and due process.

Thank you for your service and attention to this urgent humanitarian matter.

2. Script for U.S. Senators or U.S. Representatives

> Dear US ____________________, my name is ___, and I am a constituent from ___.

I am calling to urge you to raise the case of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and hospital director detained while providing medical care and currently held without charge or trial.

I ask that you press the Department of State to engage Israeli authorities, demand transparency, ensure medical access, and advocate for his immediate release.

Medical professionals must be protected under international humanitarian law. Thank you.

Optional email closing sentence:

> I would appreciate learning what actions your office is taking on this case.

3. Script for the U.S. Department of State

> Hello, my name is ___, and I am calling regarding the detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician detained while providing medical care in Gaza.

I am asking whether his case has been raised with Israeli authorities and what actions the Department is taking to secure his release, or at minimum due process and humane treatment.

Medical neutrality is a core principle of international humanitarian law, and I urge the Department to act accordingly. Thank you.

4. Script for the Israeli Embassy

> To whom this may be of concern, my name is ___, and I am calling to express concern regarding the detention of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician detained while providing medical care.

I respectfully request transparency regarding his legal status, access to medical care, and steps toward his immediate release, consistent with international humanitarian standards.

May you please email me anything you can about this case? Or Coul I possibly get a response to my concerns? Who should I contact and what is their contact information please?

Thank you for your time. 

“Doctors are not combatants. Hospitals are not battlefields.”

I am a former state representative for the 146th General Assembly House District. I was proud to represent areas of Stamford as Assistant Majority Whip, Co Chair of the CT Animal Advocacy Caucus, Proponent & Member of the CT Offshore Wind Commission on Environmental Standards, and I worked with Rep Maryam Kahn and the CT Palestinian Alliance on the CT Legislature’s 2024 letter for a Ceasefire. I was a member of the Environment, Planning & Development, Public Health, and Transportation Committees. I distribute European eyewear and do press photography and I am an author since recently. I am also an active member and volunteer at the National Lawyers Guild, and at the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. I also volunteer as a Legal Observer for the NLG.

David     MichelⓋ

914-843-7545

Stamford     CT 06902

Davidmichel74@gmail.com 

Subject: Asking you to be a signer of an open letter calling for freedom for Palestinian Dr. Abu Safiya

We're inviting you to be one of the signers of an open letter calling for freedom for abducted Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was taken from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza 12/27/24.  "We" are the Campaign to Free Dr. Abu Safiya started in Connecticut by the Middle East Crisis Committee, Promoting Enduring Peace and other organizations. This is not a petition.  We're hoping a letter signed by academics, doctors, cultural figures, rabbis, other clerical leaders, etc. would have the important impact.

See current signers here: https://www.FreeDrAbuSafiya.org/signers

If you don't know about Dr. Abu Safiya's case, see this piece that appeared in many Connecticut newspapers this month.  (no paywall   https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-news-times/20251205/281706915996863 )

The open letter is below.  If you'd like to sign it send me back an email (Stanley.heller@att.net)  with your full name and a line of identification. (We'll include the usual disclaimer that any institutions named are for purposes of identification of the signer.)

We the Undersigned call for Freedom for Palestinian Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya

On December 27, 2024, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital and his remaining hospital staff, finally surrendered to Israeli forces. by then, Kamal Adwan had been made inoperable by the IDF who threatened worse destruction. Dr. Abu Safiya has been in a series of Israeli prisons ever since. His attorney says he’s lost a third of his body weight and has suffered assault and beatings. He has not been charged with any crime but is being held under a dubious Israeli “Unlawful Combatants” provision. No evidence has been offered that he’s a combatant of any kind. Amnesty International calls for Abu Safiya’s release.

Abu Safiya had written several opinion pieces in the New York Times. In the last one, published a few weeks before his arrest, the Times described him as the lead physician in Gaza for the humanitarian organization MedGlobal. He’s a pediatrician but a few days earlier he had to perform the first surgery of his life. He wrote, “The human mind cannot imagine all the death and body parts and blood that surround us around the clock. But it remains our responsibility to keep on providing humanitarian services.”

In the fall of 2024, the Israeli military decided to empty the hospital. It bombarded parts of the facility and ordered it to be evacuated. Abu Safiya and his medical staff refused.  Dr. Abu Safiya said, ‘I will stay inside my hospital until the last moment." The attacks continued. His 15-year-old son Ibrahim was killed on hospital grounds by an Israeli drone. The doctor himself was seriously wounded in another attack inside the hospital suffering six shrapnel wounds to his leg. Finally, when it looked like the whole hospital would be leveled Dr. Abu Safiya agreed to leave. There’s video of him walking through rubble into the maw of an Israeli armed personnel carrier. 

Israeli authorities claim he’s being held under suspicion of being a “Hamas terrorist operator.”   Yet after a year of “investigation” and interrogations no evidence of any terrorist activity on the part of Dr. Abu Safiya has been revealed.  The doctor is as he appears to be, a person performing courageously and upholding the very best of medical ethics.

We call on the United States government, which supplies Israel with armaments, intelligence and full diplomatic backing, to insist that Dr. Abu Sufiya be freed along with other medical staff from the former Kamal Adwan Hospital.

To sign the open letter please post to Subject: agree to sign the open letter and email to mail@thestruggle.org  and include your full name and a line of identification.