Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a letter that earned a strong rebuke from numerous Jewish organizations -- as well as praise from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), whose executive director openly praised Hamas' massacre of 1,200 people on October 7, 2023. For reference, CAIR was also an unindicted co-conspirator in a major federal terrorism funding case, boasting several of its current and former officials who have been exposed as Hamas supporters and virulent anti-Semites. Why would the American Academy of Pediatrics attract applause from such people, while inviting condemnation from Jewish groups? The AAP decided to weigh in on Israel's detention of a doctor in Gaza who reportedly doubled as a colonel in Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. He allegedly also admitted that Israeli hostages were held against their will at his hospital in Gaza. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the AAP neglected to mention the doctor's role with Hamas in its performative letter to former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, framing the supposed victim as an innocent medical practitioner who was unjustly targeted by Israel:
[We write] to express our disappointment and grave concern about the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) leadership’s letter to former Secretary of State Antony Blinken related to the wellbeing of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. According to Israeli authorities and other sources, Dr. Abu Safiya is a member of Hamas, the terrorist group behind the October 7th massacre and who is dedicated to Israel’s destruction, reportedly holding the rank of colonel. The AAP’s failure to acknowledge this vital detail is a serious omission, and does a disservice to AAP’s mission and values, fundamentally compromising the integrity of the Academy. AAP claims to support the professional needs of its members, but this letter represents a troubling departure from that commitment and is a deeply divisive missive focused on political activism. The letter has already been used to promote anti-Israel propaganda and is garnering widespread public attention. While we understand the AAP has framed this communication as an “inquiry,” the implications and optics of such a statement are troubling, especially given the Academy’s slow response to the kidnapping, captivity, torture, and murder of Israeli children by Hamas.
The American Academy of Pediatrics: Quick to engage in propaganda against Israel, 'slow' to condemn the vicious slaughter of Israelis (and Americans) October 7th. Quite a look. It's now emerging that a key actor behind the AAP's propaganda letter was this bigot:
Remember when the American Academy of Pediatrics sent out a letter bastardizing Israel & defending a doctor tied to Hamas?
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 25, 2025
Meet the antisemite driving that campaign - Dr. Mobeen Rathore, a pediatrician employed at the UF Health and Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville,… pic.twitter.com/ByGJufP5dC
By day, Dr. Mobeen Rathore is a decorated pediatrician and infectious disease expert in Jacksonville, Fla., where he serves as the founding director of an HIV/AIDS research center at the University of Florida and is also the statewide HIV consultant for the Children’s Medical Services of the Florida Department of Health. By night (and by weekends), Rathore spends his time scrolling on X, retweeting rabidly anti-Israel accounts. “Zionism is the root of all evil.” “We pray for the disappearance of Zionism and Israel.” This is the Holocaust.” “The truth will make you reject Zionism.” “Israel is a child killer regime.” ...These were just a handful of the dozens of posts that Rathore has shared on his public account in the year and a half since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks sparked a war in the Middle East. He usually opted to retweet others who shared his deep-seated antagonism toward Israel, rather than drafting his own tweets — except for when, on multiple occasions, he compared the Israelis held hostage by Hamas to Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons, many of whom were serving life sentences for murder. “These are innocent civilians,” Rathore wrote of the prisoners in August 2024...For years, Rathore has been an active leader within the American Academy of Pediatrics, the preeminent membership body for pediatricians, which claims to have more than 67,000 members. He serves as the diversity, equity and inclusion “champion”for the organization’s southeast division...
It would seem as though the state of Florida may need to look into whether this snarling anti-Semite should maintain any connection whatsoever with its department of health. 'Zionist' patients certainly have reason to be concerned about whether this particular doctor, and any likeminded colleagues, would treat them ethically and professionally, which should also trouble his employer. It also appears as though he's raised a fellow seething bigot, whose own anti-Semitism got him fired from a job. Like father, like son -- per a top organization countering anti-Semitism:
Update: antisemite Azeem Rathore is no longer employed with NCH Healthcare System. https://t.co/1K4Zktwapg
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) January 21, 2025
It may seem odd that the American Academy of Pediatrics would let the elder Rathore, a 'DEI champion' and aggressively hate-filled person, spearhead a public letter on the organization's behalf, but maybe it shouldn't be terribly surprising. This is an institution that is thoroughly compromised and corrupted by hard-left politics. Their adherence to extreme ideology seems to supersede other considerations, including the group's reputation and integrity, as well as the wellbeing of children. AAP is one of the leading cheerleaders for sex changes for minors, dangerous experimental 'care' that is being systematically abandoned and decelerated, even in many socially progressive Western nations, based on evidence. Ignoring the science -- some of which has been intentionally and scandalously withheld in the United States, entirely for political reasons -- AAP is fanatically committed to so-called 'gender-affirming care' (an Orwellian term of activism, not medicine) for children. They've fought against restrictions and bans on these radical interventions on children, including filing court briefs against such actions. The American Academy of Pediatrics also issued science-ignoring, absolutist guidance on masking children as young as three during COVID, including after the conclusion of the 2020-2021 academic year. This bad and arguably harmful recommendation was repeated in headlines across media, from CNN to NPR to US News:
On Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released new Covid-19 guidelines for schools that recommend universal mask requirements for students over the age of two. AAP’s recommendation applies to all students “regardless of vaccination status,” in contrast with recent CDC guidance, which leaves room for vaccinated students to go unmasked...Beyond its masking absolutism, AAP’s failure to discuss how masking could end will encourage many states and districts to ignore it...Further, AAP’s guidance doesn’t just interfere with institutions’ incentives to take responsible steps to stem the COVID threat, it also interferes with incentives for individuals.
Over the last few years, the American Academy of Pediatrics has pushed Hamas propaganda, thus lending its credentials and "legitimacy" to championing the cause of an alleged colonel in a child-murdering and -kidnapping terrorist organization. It has advocated radical gender ideology and scientifically-dubious sex changes for children that have been disavowed by other medical professionals (suicide-related demagoguery in favor of these practices has been exposed as questionable-to-debunked). And it has actively supported decrees for the forcible masking of three year olds. This is a medical association that ostensibly exists to help children, but on issue after issue, extremist politics seems to be a major animating force within the organization. Parents should be on high alert when considering any advice or guidance emanating from this group -- and at the very least, AAP has demonstrated that a second opinion is necessary.
Political leaders should also consider whether any public partnerships with AAP should remain intact. Americans deserve the very best medical recommendations and care, based on rigorous evidence, and rooted in the health and wellbeing of patients. Organizations that sacrifice truth and best practices at the altar of politics and ideology should be rejected. The politicization of the medical establishment, including creeping anti-Semitism, is a dangerous (and even deadly) trend, for which the American Academy of Pediatrics has willingly made itself a poster child.
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