Come listen and join his call for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) against Israel to end the seige of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine

BRIEF INTRODUCTION of DR MADS GILBERT

DR MADS GILBERT was born in 1947. He is a Norwegian physician and humanitarian activist. He is a specialist in anesthesiology and head of the emergency medicine department at the University Hospital of North Norway. He is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromsø.

Dr Gilbert has a broad range of experience in international humanitarian work. He has volunteered at a kibbutz (Israel), Angola, Myanmar, Cambodia, Lebanon etc. Since 1970s, he has been actively involved with helping the Palestinians. He has served as a doctor several times in Palestine for NORWAC (Norway Aids Committee)

His home city of Tromsø is the twin town of Gaza since 2001. Tromsø has sent more health workers to Palestine than any other in the world.

His 2009 book "Eyes in Gaza" on the Gaza War has been translated into several languages. Dr Gilbert has been lauded as a "hero" on social media for his work in Gaza.

Dr Gilbert was on emergency assignment for the Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC) with the surgeon Dr Erik Fosse to support the humanitarian effort at al-Shifa Hospital during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. During this period foreign journalists were barred from entering the Gaza Strip. As international media reported from outside the conflict zone, Dr Gilbert maintained frequent contacts with Norwegian media, CNN, BBC, ABC and Al Jazeera.

Dr Gilbert draws a clear distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. “I’m a strong anti-racist, there is not a milligram of anti-Semitism in me. But I oppose apartheid and colonialism.”

He adds "This is not a difficult conflict, it is an illegal occupation – it continues, it expands and it costs thousands of innocent Palestinian lives. These people have the right to defend themselves, the right to resist. The right to resist implies also the right to resist with arms, if you’re occupied.”

The number of people who turned up to listen to Dr Mads Gilbert was overwhelming. People were sitting on the floor and standing at the back and the sides of the hall. His talk was an eye opener to many and some were not quite prepared to see and hear what he had to reveal.

As one of VPM committee member posted on her Facebook:

I saw men cry. When Dr Mads Gilbert played a video of a little boy screaming from his injuries I saw grown men cry. The injured, the scarred, the besieged people of Gaza were seen today. The dead were heard today. In a way that will haunt us for a long time. Maybe forever.

And yet he says, "Gaza is the cradle of humanity. It's where you should go if you wanna know what it's like to be human."