After being banned for life from entering Gaza by the Israeli Government the Norwegian physician, humanitarian and activist Mads Gilbert told Circus Bazaar that he will fight the ban and that there are other ways into Gaza.
Dr Mads Gilbert says he was stopped whilst trying to cross into Gaza in October. Israel cited security reasons for imposing the ban.
Dr Mads Gilbert gave a short talk and presentation in Oslo on Saturday the 15th November outlining his experiences as a Humanitarian Doctor in Gaza and used impacting footage and audio to articulate his point leaving some members of the audience in tears.
On the question of what his next moves will be after being confronted with a life time ban by Israel he told Circus Bazaar that,
“Of course I will continue to travel to Gaza. I hope that the Norwegian Government (as they said yesterday) make very clear to the Israeli Government that this is unacceptable. There are other ways into Gaza so we will continue our work. They will not be able to stop us.”
Fight the ban with political pressure.
On how he would fight the ban Dr Mads Gilbert elaberated “I hope that this ban will be lifted through political pressure”.
Israeli government view.
The BBC reported that an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Emmanuel Nahshon, described Dr Gilbert as a “Jekyll and Hyde” figure, hiding behind a cloak of being a humanitarian doctor.