The AAP Board of Directors condemned acts of violence and hate and emphasized that all children deserve unconditional support in the commentary “Protecting Children and Condemning Hate During a Time of War” published in Pediatrics.
The commentary was written in response to the terrorist attack on Israel and the Israel-Hamas War as well as increasing violence and intimidation of Jews, Muslims and those with ties to Israel or Palestine in the U.S.
“We use our platform as the world’s largest pediatric organization to speak out against violence, hate, antisemitism, Islamophobia and enmity towards Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians and to speak up on behalf of all children suffering in armed conflict,” according to the piece, which was signed by all members of the 2023 and 2024 Board of Directors.
Board members voted Nov. 3 to reaffirm and expand the 2018 policy statement The Effects of Armed Conflict on Children amid anguish that member pediatricians expressed over the death and suffering of children in the terrorist attack on Israel and the Israel-Hamas War. The updates stress the protection of children during war and emphasize the Academy’s opposition to religious persecution.
In the Pediatrics commentary, the Board of Directors noted that many pediatricians and the families they care for have been impacted by what is happening in Israel and Gaza as well as by the increasing acts of violence and intimidation.
“The pain of our members is palpable; both the urgent desire to do all we can to protect children in Israel and Gaza and the fear and concern we are experiencing as acts of hate proliferate in the United States. Yet our common mission and the outpouring of support and solidarity among our member pediatricians reminds us there is light in the darkness,” the commentary states.
