US Hospital Sued for Firing Doctor Over Her Pro-Palestine Views

Dr. Fidaa Wishah, born and raised in Gaza, said in a recent Facebook post that Zionists have a "thirst to kill our Palestinian children."

Wishah posted on Facebook on Monday where she said Palestinians would "expose the #massacre and #genocide you #zionists are proud of."

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"A state based on atrocity, inhumanity, racism and cannibalism never lasts long," Wishah continued. "Hey #israel ... your end is coming sooner than you think."

The Israeli government launched a series of aggressions against the besieged Gaza Strip on May 10, following Palestinian retaliation against violent raids on worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque and Israeli plans to force a number of Palestinian families out of their homes at the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Phoenix Children's Hospital in Arizona stated on Wednesday that the hospital had fired Dr. Wishah, a pediatric radiologist, over her posts.

The hospital says on Twitter that children in its care "receive hope, healing and the best possible health care, regardless of race, color, disability, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or national origin."

Yet "after a thorough review of the facts related to this matter," the hospital said, "this individual is no longer providing care at Phoenix Children's."

Azza Abuseif, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Arizona, said in a statement Thursday that CAIR, along with several law firms, is representing Dr. Wishah, who was wrongfully terminated by the hospital.

"Her post on her personal Facebook page, while critical of the Israeli government, has intentionally been taken out of context to portray Dr. Wishah as anti-Semitic rather than what she has been known as her entire career, a civil rights advocate," Abuseif said.

The executive director said Wishah has been a medical doctor since 2010 and has spent the "vast majority" of her career as a pediatric physician.

Abuseif said that, "Despite caring for thousands of children, many of whom are Jewish, she has never been accused of discriminating against any of her patients or colleagues."

Abuseif stated the Gaza-born doctor “understandably felt compelled to speak out against those same atrocities" amid the Israeli aggression in Gaza. 

"Dr. Wishah has not, and is not, calling for the end of the State of Israel," Abuseif said. "She is calling for the Israeli government to change its brutal treatment of the Palestinian people. She believes that all Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in dignity, in peace, and free from oppression."

Abuseif said that the hospital's decision is a "shameful and an attack on freedom of speech for all Americans."