Dr. Oz dances with Hebron settlers

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man July 30, 2013 | Edit

It takes especially opaque blinders, or immense willpower and ignorance to visit one of the most egregious scenes of military occupation and settler violence without noticing the injustice taking place before your eyes.

Dr. Mehmet Oz with his wife and a Jewish settler in Hebron, July 29, 2013. Behind them are Palestinian homes. (Photo: This World: The Values Network)

Even the world’s most learned minds can walk through life with blinders on.

One of the world’s most well-known physicians, Dr. Mehmet Oz, visited Hebron on Monday.

But the renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and television host did not learn about one of the most shocking and extreme iterations of military occupation and settler domination during his visit. He did not meet with local Palestinians to hear about their hardships under occupation, or even take a tour with an Israeli groups like Breaking the Silence, that try and shine light on the situation there.

No, Dr. Oz went on a tour hosted by the settler community in Hebron.

Yes, the same settler community that brought you this classic tale of coexistence:

The same settler community that maintains a shrine for mass murderer and brother in arms Baruch Goldstein and named a park for [Israeli designated] terror organization leader Meir Kahane.

These are the people with whom Dr. Oz danced with on Monday.

The Turkish-American doctor also stopped to meet Israeli soldiers stationed in Hebron – enforcers of the city’s military regime of segregation.

It’s possible they were the same soldiers who arrested a five-year-old Palestinian boy in Hebron earlier this month.

Or the ones who force Palestinians to walk in an unpaved, fenced-off dirt path, in order to keep them off of the “Jews only” street.

Dr. Oz made the trip along with his friend, failed Garden State congressional candidate and kosher sex expert Rabbi Shmueley Boteach.

The pair flew from the U.S. to Israel in order to visit one of the most egregious scenes of military occupation on Sheldon Adelson’s private jet, of course.

In a video message published before alighting the Adelsonmobile, Dr. Oz explained that he’s visiting Israel in order “to understand how the symmetry of our religions dwarfs our differences.”

Did you find that symmetry in Hebron, Dr. Oz?

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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