The doctor who is afraid of the phone

As soon as Dr. Nidal Jboor’s phone rings in East Dearborn, Michigan, his heart begins to race. He was born in the West Bank and has lost many friends and colleagues in the Gaza war.

– The killing must end, says Jboor, who co-founded Doctors Against Genocide.

Outside the reception on the multi-lane main street in East Dearborn, Nidal Jboor has created a monument of sorts. Among other things, it shows an image of an American soldier setting himself on fire in protest against the Gaza war. At the top there is a Palestinian flag and in the middle above runs the text “Stop the genocide”, which is the word Jboor uses to describe what is happening in Gaza.

– Both I and my patients have difficulty sleeping, anxiety and depression. It is easy to lose faith in humanity when you witness what is happening, says the doctor, who specializes in internal medicine.

Wrote on the wall

The reception is located in the middle of the city which is home to one of the USA’s largest populations with origins in the Arab world. Consequently, almost all of Jboor’s patients have a personal relationship to the wars in the Middle East, where Israel has attacked terrorist-branded Hamas and Hezbollah but where many thousands of civilians have also been killed.

He himself was born in a village south of Hebron in the West Bank, where the family still lives. He is in close contact with relatives who live under the Israeli occupation.

In Gaza, including at the al-Shifa hospital, several of Jboor’s friends from medical school in Jordan and medical students he had tutored worked. In the past year, al-Shifa has been the subject of evacuation orders and several Israeli raids, as Israel claimed that the extremist movement Hamas used the facility to “carry out and promote terrorist activities”.

– My friends have been captured or found in mass graves. I knew some of the intensive care doctors who stayed with their patients until the last, when the hospital was attacked last spring. “We did everything we could”, they wrote on the wall in the department.

The world crumbled

For the past year, Jboor has become afraid of the phone’s messages. He tells of a Palestinian friend, a cardiologist working in Washington DC, who performed a procedure on a patient who had suffered a heart attack. When the cardiologist came out of the treatment room, he learned that 80 members of his family had been killed in a rocket attack on a block of flats in Gaza.

– His world collapsed at the same time as he saved lives. That’s what we doctors do.

It was medical ethics that once made Nidal Jboor study medicine. His original plan was to work at home in the West Bank, but the specialist courses in the USA attracted. By the time he finished, the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada had begun and he had started a family in the United States. Inwardly, he still plans to move home, but the years have turned into decades.

Founded group

But he is often back in the region and in recent years has become increasingly concerned about developments there. That led to him founding Doctors Against Genocide together with a colleague in Boston a couple of years ago. The organization saw the light of day before Hamas’ gigantic terrorist attack against Israel on October 7 last year.

– When we started reading about genocide, we saw that the early signs were also there in Gaza: the stigmatization and dehumanization of a group of people, how people were herded together in ghettos. All it took was a spark, he claims.

Before the Gaza war, Nidal Jboor was a member of a peace group with Palestinians and Israelis working for a two-state solution. He describes himself as secular, a person who has always been opposed to Hamas, and he emphasizes that all violence is evil. But he also says he understands the frustration of Gaza’s population, especially the elderly.

A precedent?

Through Doctors Against Genocide, which has gathered thousands of members in the United States, the doctor is now trying to inform the public and the ruling Congress about developments in the region and about genocide. But he finds the task frustrating.

– Many appreciate that we get in touch. But we see no “action” from the members of Congress, they make no decisions. We are all complicit in the killing of so many civilians, he says, looking away.

– This is not about Muslims and Jews, but about international law. Children are killed. The Gaza war risks becoming a terrible precedent for humanity.

Shades Biden

So what does he want to see from the US government? Like many Americans with roots in the Arab world, Jboor is fundamentally a Democrat. But he strongly opposes the White House’s military support for Israel.

– If Kamala Harris does not make a radical change, she does not deserve our support, he says about the upcoming presidential election.

Such a change would ideally consist of both a negotiated ceasefire and an arms embargo against Israel.

– The current situation casts a shadow over Joe Biden’s legacy. History will not forget his actions, says Jboor.

The opinion is echoed by almost all Americans of Arab origin TT meets in Dearborn. And since the city is located in the wave master state of Michigan, their stance can be domestically politically significant. If a large percentage of Democratic voters turn their backs on the party, Kamala Harris risks losing the state, which could tip the entire election result.

It was in Michigan that the grassroots movement Uncommitted was founded during the primary election campaign last spring, when over 100,000 Democrats actively crossed out Joe Biden’s name in protest against US support for Israel in the Gaza war. How these voters will vote on November 5, whether they go to Republican Donald Trump, vote blank or stay in the Democratic camp, is unclear.

Anxiety awaits

In the midst of the everyday life of election campaigns, sick patients and social media whose war flow never ends, Nidal Jboor is careful that his children have as normal a life as possible, with schooling and activities. But he and his wife, who are also Palestinians, are unable to take care of themselves as well.

– Now we go for adrenaline. But I know phases of anxiety await.

THE FACTS Therefore, Michigan can decide the election

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