A Call for Courage, Justice and Human Solidarity in a World Full of Socio-Endemic Suffering

Our world is being devastated by war, fear, incitement, injustice, greed, poverty, climate change and hatred. Violence has been normalized, politicized and weaponized; too often it is shielded by impunity rather than met with accountability.

In this powerful talk, physician, academic and humanitarian Prof. Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish offers both a diagnosis and a cure. Drawing on medicine and public health, he calls these forces by their true name: socio-endemic diseases. Like every disease humanity faces, they are preventable if we have the honesty to diagnose them and the courage to treat them.

His message rests on an extraordinary life. Born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza as the son of refugees, he became a physician. Then war entered his home. Israeli tank fire killed his daughters and his niece; one story among tens of thousands. Many expected him to choose hatred. He made a defining choice instead: I Shall Not Hate. Yet, in his view, rejecting hatred must go hand in hand with the demand for justice.

Professor Abuelaish calls on leaders, institutions, businesses and communities to recognize that health, economic development, peace and human security are inseparable. Every decision about money is a decision about human lives. His closing challenge is simple and urgent: Be brave. Have hope. And act.