Netherlands bans entry of well-known British Palestinian surgeon

ATHENS

The Netherlands banned a well-known British Palestinian surgeon from entering the country due to a Schengen-wide ban introduced by Germany, a prominent Dutch rights group announced Thursday.

“While Minister of Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot shakes hands with one Israeli official after another involved in serious crimes in Gaza, the Dutch government prohibits British Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah from entering the country. The surgeon, also rector of the University of Glasgow, witnessed the Israeli massacre in Gaza during the first months of Israel’s offensive,” said the Rights Forum, which had invited Abu-Sittah to speak at an event on May 17 in Amsterdam.

Commenting on the issue, the Rights Forum’s director Gerard Jonkman said: “It is shocking and as far as we are concerned completely unacceptable that Abu-Sittah is now also denied entry to the Netherlands. Apparently, our government considers his testimony a threat to the close relationship with Israel and Dutch complicity in the massacre in Gaza.”

“The decision is in direct violation of fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of speech,” he added.

Abu-Sitta, who currently serves as the rector of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, went to the region on Oct. 9 last year after the Israel-Hamas war began and worked in Gaza for 43 days.

He was invited to a conference in Germany in the capital Berlin in April to talk about his experiences in Gaza but was blocked from entering the country.

More recently, on May 4, Abu-Sittah was also denied entry to France. Upon arrival in Paris, where he was supposed to speak at a symposium in the Senate, he was informed that Germany had imposed a Schengen-wide “administrative ban” on him for one year.