Having planned to come to Israel in late October for a medical conference, Prof. George Breitberg, an emergency medicine specialist as well as an expert on medical toxicology and bioethics at the University of Melbourne in Australia, realized immediately after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack that the conference would likely be canceled. But wanting to show his support for Israel, he boarded the flight to Israel anyway.
During his many earlier trips to Israel, he had developed a friendship with Dr. Ahmed Nama, Hadassah Ein Kerem’s director of emergency medicine. Prof. Breitberg got in touch with his friend and within days received approval to treat patients at the hospital.
The son of Holocaust survivors, Prof. Breitberg will return to Australia to “prove to the world that Hitler lost.” In Jerusalem, he said, “I have been hearing constantly from my family and friends about the rising antisemitism in Australia and the world in general, about the hate crimes against Jews and their fear. When my mother, a Holocaust survivor, tells me about her own experiences 80 years ago, I think to myself, ‘Why does she have to be exposed to something like that again?’ It’s unimaginable.”
To read more about Prof. Breitberg’s volunteer work at Hadassah Ein Kerem, click here.