What side do I stand by in the Hamas-Israeli War? I stand by Dr. Gabor Mate
Dr. Mate is a Canadian physician, a practising Jew and an expert on enter-general trauma and while deploring the Hamas attack on Israel also speaks of his knowledge of the Palestinians living in Gaza.
I first met Dr. Gabor Mate in 1996 when he was the attending physician in the palliative care unit in Vancouver General Hospital. He attended my twenty-nine year old daughter who was terminally ill with breast cancer. When my daughter died three weeks later she left behind a little four year old boy who , after several years, still continued to suffer the trauma of losing his mother so early, Dr. Gabor also treated him. By this time Dr .Gabor was beginning to specialize in the lingering affects of trauma especially inter-generational trauma. A couple of years later when I was incarcerated in the Maple Ridge Women’s Prison (for protesting clear logging of public BC forests) that led to criminal contempt of court convictions for me) I was given the task of being the prison librarian
As librarian I requested that Dr. Mate be allowed to come and speak to the prisoners as the prison population at the time was around 80 per cent First Nations. The prison and Dr. Mate both approved . The meeting was held in the library and was stuffed with prisoners who had also heard something of Dr. Mate and his work. After question period and it was time for Dr. Mate to go, the prisoners would hardly let him go. Dr. Mate was was describing and identifying with their lives, their feeling, their fears. They were mesmerized and called him an awesome man. And after listening to his interview by Russell Brand yesterday I am ready to also call him an awesome man, too. Please, please watch this interview and you will see why I stand by Dr. Gabor Mate in the awful conflict in the disputed lands.
Oct 16, 2023
