Highlights of Dr. Alice Rothchild’s Week in the DMV

I had the pleasure of attending four events featuring Alice Rothchild, MD during her recent visit to the Greater DC area. Rothchild wears many hats as an author (of books for both adults and children), a retired OB-GYN physician, a filmmaker, and a tireless activist for Palestinian human rights. She has served for several years as a member of Jewish Voice for Peace’s Healthcare Advisory Council. Recently, she has authored two books, Old Enough to Know and Finding Melody Sullivan, for (respectively) middle grade and YA readers, and she’s become a leading advocate for including books on Palestine in the American school and youth-library systems. I attended four presentations Rothchild gave, two of which on the healthcare crisis causes by the War on Gaza. The other two were about the absence of children’s literature on Palestine in the schools and public libraries.

The Jerusalem Fund/Palestine Center

The first talk I attended was held at The Jerusalem Fund/Palestine Center. The staff there were expecting a significant crowd as they, Just World Books CEO Helena Cobban, and I worked to resume good in-person events after a long hiatus.

Rothchild’s topic at the Palestine Center was “The Absence of Palestine in Children’s Literature.” She was introduced by Said Arikat, the famous-in-many-quarters Washington Bureau Chief for Al Quds newspaper. She began by pointing out how very negatively Arabs have generally been portrayed in the U.S. pubic discourse, and how those who have pushed back against these unjust narratives, specifically the portrayal of Palestine and Palestinians, have faced relentless accusations of antisemitism.

She noted that those who are against the teaching of Palestine or against pro-Palestine demonstrations argue that these actions make Jewish students feel unsafe. But she pointed to some crucial statistics showing that Palestinian students and staff have been targeted at a much higher rate than their Jewish colleagues in terms of job action, school suspension/expulsion, and acts of racism.

She briefly described the story-lines of her two children’s books and graced the room with readings from each of them. The excerpt from Old Enough to Know was a flashback to the rich village life of Fatima, the Palestinian grandmother of a young boy and girl struggling with acceptance at their school in America. The pages she read from Finding Melody Sullivan were about a shocking realization that came to teenage Vermonter Melody, who took a trip to Palestine with her friend Yasmina, a Palestinian. While there, Melody learned that Yasmina was subject to a completely different system of law from local Jewish people, along with the Palestinians’ daily struggle for movement, livelihood, survival and keeping their homes.

Attendees engaged Rothchild with several questions and connected together over their common passion for Palestine advocacy in the United States. Full video of the event is available on The Jerusalem Fund’s YouTube channel.

The audience thanked Rothchild for putting together this detailed presentation and engaged with her on what actions they can take to advocate for Palestinians and educate the public on the harrowing reality they are subjected to. Rothchild’s book, Condition Critical, a Just World Books publication, describes the immensely challenging healthcare situation in Gaza and is available for purchase on justworldbooks.com.

The Potters House DC with The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs/Middle East Books & More.

The second event of this topic, and Rothchild’s last event her overall, took place at The Potter’s House DC, a bookstore and café. This conversation was co-organized with Middle East Books & More. Once again, Dr. Rothchild, Ms. Hanley and I were met by gracious hosts and were afforded a space to display our materials. Their drinks and pastries (I had the lemon-blueberry bread) were excellent. As the event began, we recognized a few familiar faces who had joined us at events earlier in the week, new attendees, and people who were just stopping in for a coffee, but lingered to hear Rothchild’s presentation, especially as she read the excerpts from her two books. Questions followed about what inspired the ideas for these books, Rothchild’s writing process, the reception of the books and what can be done to have them more available at schools and libraries. Several copies of each were sold by The Potter’s House. Several copies remain available there or online.

Tenley-Friendship Library with Jewish Voice for Peace – DC Metro Chapter

About halfway through the week, Rothchild spoke at DC’s Tenley-Friendship Library on the topic of “Health and Human Rights Consequences of the Gaza Genocide”. This event was organized by JVP DC metro chapter, who, like chapters across the country, have been tireless advocates for a ceasefire in Gaza. In this talk, Rothchild summed up the immense disparities in healthcare access between Palestinians and Israelis as Medical Apartheid. She noted the much higher mortality rate of Palestinians as well as Israel’s long record of purposely de-developing the Palestinian healthcare system; i.e., not allowing medical equipment to enter, not giving permits to Palestinians to enter Israel for medical treatment, cutting of power, and so on.

She also highlighted the notorious Nation State Bill, passed by the Knesset in 2018 and upheld by Israel’s Supreme Court in 2021, which institutionalized anti-Palestinian discrimination at the highest level. Moreover, she noted that the U.S. government has been compounding Palestinian suffering by barring funding to UNRWA and by being in constant conflict with the UN and their human rights committees, accusing them of bias against in Israel. Rothchild showed an array of photos of destroyed infrastructure in Gaza, which have become infamous on social media and have been viewed millions of times.

Our hearts were further broken as she described the suffering of the children of Gaza, who have been orphaned, maimed and starved. Babies have died with no name, no record of life. This war also, as she noted, created an environmental catastrophe, as bombs and their emissions have poisoned the grounds, water and air of Gaza, causing further death by disease. The mental health of countless Gazans is in a state of perpetual trauma. She also noted the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice, which declared Israel’s entire presence in the Occupied Territories as unlawful, a powerful declaration that implicated governments supporting Israel as co-conspirators in this crime.

Islamic Center of Maryland. Friday, August 2nd.

Two days later, I traveled with Dr. Rothchild and Delinda Hanley, executive director/editor of The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs to the Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg for Rothchild’s second “Health and Human Rights Consequences of the War on Gaza” presentation. This event was organized by The Noor Center (TNC) of Germantown, The Islamic Center of Maryland (ICM) in Gaithersburg, and Arab Americans of MoCo. Our trio was warmly welcomed by a few members of the Islamic Center. We walked behind the front building, across a basketball court and grassy area, to a large, beautiful building which housed their banquet hall and other multi-purpose rooms.

Our team was afforded a wonderful set up: Rothchild had a podium strategically placed at the front of the room, at the left corner which served as a focal point toward which the attendees’ chairs faced. Delinda and I were given two large tables to fill with material from our respective organizations. We were served a delicious dinner, and several members of the community came to speak with us and help us with our preparations prior to the start of the presentation. Rothchild’s remarks were once again met with shock, with sadness and empathy for the Palestinian people, and with renewed willingness to advocate for the health and human rights of Palestinians.

Moreover, questions were asked about what the best way was to deliver our voice to the ears of our congresspeople and senators or to send assistance to the people in Gaza. Rothchild encouraged the continuation of letter writing and phone calling to our representatives. It was essential that our objection to the War and US policy in this regard be kept on record. And she also gave a list of what organizations are working in Gaza giving essential and immediate assistance.

In summary, Dr. Alice Rothchild gave a deeply informative and unifying tour. She has a plethora of vital resources available on her website. Subscribe there to keep up with her next engagements and read her critical work.

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