November 2023 — MHCE Newsletter

News from MHCE 

NOVEMBER 2023 EDITION 

New danger for Ukraine: 

Taking Israel’s side in war 

against Hamas and Gaza 

See page 20 

Monthly Newsletter 

WWW.MHCE.US 

‘A curse to be a parent in Gaza’: More than 3,600 

Palestinian children killed in just 3 weeks of war 

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — More than 3,600 

Palestinian children were killed in the first 25 days of the war 

between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run 

Health Ministry. They were hit by airstrikes, smashed by 

misfired rockets, burned by blasts and crushed by buildings, 

and among them were newborns and toddlers, avid readers, 

aspiring journalists and boys who thought they’d be safe in 

a church. 

Nearly half of the crowded strip’s 2.3 million inhabitants are 

under 18, and children account for 40% of those killed so 

far in the war. An Associated Press analysis of Gaza Health 

Ministry data released last week showed that as of Oct. 26, 

2,001 children ages 12 and under had been killed, including 

615 who were 3 or younger. 

“When houses are destroyed, they collapse on the heads 

of children,” writer Adam al-Madhoun said Wednesday as 

he comforted his 4-year-old daughter Kenzi at the Al Aqsa 

Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. 

She survived an airstrike that ripped off her right arm, 

crushed her left leg and fractured her skull. 

Israel says its airstrikes target Hamas militant sites and 

infrastructure, and it accuses the group of using civilians as 

human shields. It also says more than 500 militant rockets 

Continued on page 8

2 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us NOVEMBER 2023 EDITION

WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 3 

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contact Kyle.Stephens@mhce.us



Focus on Oversight a Key for Success at 

CoreCivic 

In the corrections industry, maintaining high standards of 

operation is imperative to meeting the needs of the individuals 

in our care. That's why CoreCivic adheres to a stringent set of 

guidelines set forth by our own standards, as well as those of our 

government partners and the American Correctional Association 

(ACA). 

Founded in 1870, the ACA is considered the national benchmark 

for the effective operation of correctional systems throughout 

the United States. To become accredited, a facility must achieve 

compliance with ACA mandatory standards and a minimum of 

90 percent non-mandatory standards. CoreCivic facilities adhere 

to ACA standards, and in 2020, CoreCivic earned an average 

ACA audit score of 99.6 percent across all facilities. 

Key ACA audit areas include facility personnel, resident reentry 

programs, resident safety, health care, and more. 

holds our facilities and staff to a high standard. To be able to 

represent our facility and receive reaccreditation in person is an 

honor." 

Adhering to ACA standards is only one part of CoreCivic's 

commitment to robust oversight. When government partners 

utilize CoreCivic's services, we are held not only to our own 

high standards and those of the ACA, but we are often held to 

the same or higher accountability of our public counterparts 

through stringent government contracts, unfettered access to 

our facilities for our partners, and hundreds of on-site quality 

assurance monitors. 

We provide access to our government partners, with most of 

our facilities having government agency employees known as 

contract monitors who are physically on-site to ensure we are 

operating in line with partner guidelines. 

Recently, the ACA held in Nashville, Tennessee, its 151st 

Congress of Corrections, an annual convention that brings 

together corrections professionals from across the country. In 

addition to various workshops and events at the convention, the 

ACA Commission on Accreditation also held panel hearings to 

award accreditation to correctional facilities that meet the ACA's 

rigorous requirements. Listed below are the seven CoreCivic 

facilities that earned reaccreditation this year, with mandatory/ 

non-mandatory scores: 

• Bent County Correctional Facility - 100/99.0 

• Citrus County Detention Facility - 100/100 

• Eloy Detention Center - 100/100 

• Lake Erie Correctional Institution - 100/99.3 

• Saguaro Correctional Center - 100/99.8 

• Stewart Detention Center - 100/100 

• Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility - 100/100 

"The accreditation process is very important," said Warden 

Fred Figueroa from Eloy Detention Center, one of the seven 

CoreCivic facilities that was awarded reaccreditation. "ACA 

To maintain our own high standards, annual on-site audits covering 

all operational areas are administered to ensure compliance with 

contractual and regulatory obligations and corporate-mandated 

requirements. Each CoreCivic Safety facility is audited by our 

internal quality assurance division, which is independent from 

our operations division. Facilities are expected to be audit-ready 

year-round, maintaining continuous compliance with numerous 

applicable standards. 

CoreCivic employs 75 staff members dedicated to quality 

assurance, including several subject matter experts with extensive 

experience from all major disciplines within our institutional 

operations. 

"A lot of hard work goes into preparing for these audits," 

Figueroa said. "Once they're complete, the staff can see their 

accomplishments and feel proud." 

Having multiple levels of oversight helps CoreCivic maintain 

a safe environment for those in our care. By holding ourselves 

accountable to our own high standards, along with our 

government partners' and ACA's standards, CoreCivic continues 

to be a trusted partner working to better the public good.


WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 7

8 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us NOVEMBER 2023 EDITION 

have misfired and landed in 

Gaza, killing an unknown 

number of Palestinians. 

More children have been 

killed in just over three 

weeks in Gaza than in all 

of the world’s conflicts 

combined in each of the 

past three years, according 

to the global charity Save 

the Children. For example, 

it said, 2,985 children were 

killed across two dozen war 

zones throughout all of last 

year. 

“Gaza has become a 

graveyard for thousands of 

children,” said James Elder, 

a spokesperson for UNICEF, 

the U.N. children’s agency. 

Images and footage of 

shell-shocked children 

being pulled from rubble 

in Gaza or writhing on 

dirty hospital gurneys have 

become commonplace and 

have fueled protests around 

the world. Scenes from 

recent airstrikes included 

a rescuer cradling a limp 

toddler in a bloodied white 

tutu, a bespectacled father 

shrieking as he clutched his 

dead child tight to his chest, 

and a dazed young boy 

covered in blood and dust 

staggering alone through 

the ruins. 

“It’s a curse to be a parent 

in Gaza,” said Ahmed 

Modawikh, a 40-year-old 

carpenter from Gaza City 

whose life was shattered by 

the death of his 8-year-old 

daughter during five days of 

fighting in May. 

Israeli children have also 

been killed. During Hamas’ 

brutal Oct. 7 rampage across 

southern Israel that sparked 

the war, its gunmen killed 

more than 1,400 people. 

Among them were babies 

and other small children, 

Israeli officials have 

said, though they haven’t 

provided exact figures. 

About 30 children were 

also among the roughly 240 

hostages Hamas took. 

As Israeli warplanes pound 

Gaza, Palestinian children 

huddle with large families 

in apartments or U.N.-run 

shelters. Although Israel 

has urged Palestinians to 

leave northern Gaza for the 

strip’s south, nowhere in 

the territory has proven safe 

from its airstrikes. 

“People are running from 

death only to find death,” 

said Yasmine Jouda, who 

lost 68 family members in 

Oct. 22 airstrikes that razed 

two four-story buildings in 

Deir al-Balah, where they 

had sought refuge from 

northern Gaza. 

The strike’s only survivor 

was Jouda’s year-old niece 

Milissa, whose mother had 

gone into labor during the 

attack and was found dead 

beneath the rubble, the 

heads of her lifeless twin 

newborns emerging from 

her birth canal. 

“What did this tiny baby do 

to deserve a life without any 

family?” Jouda said. 

Israel blames Hamas for 

Gaza’s death toll — now 

more than 8,800, according 

to Gaza’s Health Ministry — 

because the militant group 

operates from jam-packed 

residential neighborhoods. 

Palestinians point to the 

soaring casualty count as 

proof that Israeli strikes 

are indiscriminate and 

disproportionate. 

The war has injured more 

than 7,000 Palestinian 

children and left many with 

lifechanging problems, 

doctors say. 

Just before the war, Jouda’s 

niece Milissa walked a few 

paces for the first time. 

She will never walk again. 

Doctors say the airstrike 

that killed the girl’s family 

fractured her spine and 

paralyzed her from the chest 

down. Just down the hall 

from her in the teeming 

central Gaza hospital, 

4-year-old Kenzi woke up 

screaming, asking what had 

happened to her missing 

right arm. 

“It will take so much care 

and work just to get her to 

the point of having half a 

normal life,” her father said. 

Even those physically 

unscathed may be scarred 

by war’s ravages. 

For 15-year-olds in Gaza, 

it’s their fifth Israel-Hamas 

war since the militant 

group seized control of 

the enclave in 2007. All 

they’ve known is life under 

a punishing Israeli-Egyptian 

blockade that prevents them 

from traveling abroad and 

crushes their hopes for the 

future. The strip has a 70% 

youth unemployment rate, 

according to the World 

Bank. 

“There is no hope for these 

children to develop careers, 

improve their standard 

of living, access better 

healthcare and education,” 

said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, 

accountability program 

director for Defense for 

Children International in the 

Palestinian territories. 

But in this war, he added, 

“it’s about life and death.” 

And in Gaza, death is 

everywhere. 

Here are just a few of the 

3,648 Palestinian children 

and minors who have been 

killed in the war. 

ASEEL HASSAN, 13 

Aseel Hassan was an 

excellent student, said her 

father, Hazem Bin Saeed. 

She devoured classical 

Arabic poetry, memorizing 

its rigid metric and rhyme 

scheme, and reveling in its 

mystical images and florid 

metaphors. During the war, 

when Israeli bombardments 

came so close that their walls 

shook, she would regale 

her relatives by reciting 

famous verses from Abu 

Al Tayyib al-Mutanabbi, a 

10th-century Iraqi poet, her 

father said. 

“When I asked her what 

she wanted to do when she 

grew up, she would say, 

read,” said 42-year-old Bin 

Saeed. “Poems were Aseel’s 

escape.” 

An airstrike on Oct. 19 

leveled his three-story home 

in Deir al-Balah, killing 

Aseel and her 14-year-old 

brother, Anas. 

MAJD SOURI, 7


The explosions terrified 

Majd, said his father, 

45-year-old Ramez Souri. 

He missed playing soccer 

with his school friends. He 

was devastated that the war 

had canceled his Christian 

family’s much-anticipated 

trip to Nazareth, the town in 

Israel where tradition says 

Jesus grew up. 

“Baba, where can we go?” 

Majd asked again and again 

when airstrikes roared. The 

family, devout members 

of Gaza’s tiny Christian 

community, finally had an 

answer — St. Porphyrius 

Greek Orthodox Church in 

Gaza City. 

Souri said Majd calmed 

down when they arrived at 

the church, where dozens 

of Christian families had 

taken shelter. Together, they 

prayed and sang. 

Palestinian refugee 

agency, could barely speak 

Wednesday as he knelt 

over his children’s small 

shrouded bodies at the 

hospital. Gone were his 

daughters, 5-year-old Joud 

and 10-year-old Tasnim. 

Also gone were his twin 

18-month-old sons, Kenan 

and Neman. Al-Sharif 

sobbed as he hugged Kenan 

and said goodbye. Neman’s 

body was still lost beneath 

the rubble of the six-story 

tower where the family 

had sought refuge in the 

Nuseirat refugee camp, in 

central Gaza. 

“They had no time here,” 

Sami Abu Sultan, al- 

Sharif’s brother, said of the 

baby boys, a day after the 

building was destroyed. “It 

was God’s will.” 

MAHMOUD DAHDOUH, 

16 

On Oct. 25, Al Jazeera’s 

livestream caught the 

chilling moment when its 

Gaza bureau chief, Wael 

Dahdouh, discovered that 

an Israeli airstrike had 

killed his wife, 6-year-old 

daughter, infant grandson 

and 16-year-old son, 

Mahmoud. 

Swarmed by TV cameras 

at the hospital, Dahdouh 

wept over his teenage son, 

murmuring, “You wanted to 

be a journalist.” 

Mahmoud was a senior 

at the secular American 

International High School in 

Gaza City. Set on becoming 

an English-language 

reporter, he spent his time 

honing camera skills and 

posting amateur reporting 

clips on YouTube, Dahdouh 

said. 

A video that Mahmoud 

filmed days before he died 

showed charred cars, dark 

smoke and flattened homes. 

He and his sister, Kholoud, 

took turns delivering a 

monologue, straining to be 

heard over the wind. 

“This is the fiercest and 

most violent war we have 

lived in Gaza,” Mahmoud 

said, chopping the air with 

his hands. 

At the end of the clip, the 

siblings stared straight into 

the camera. 

“Help us to stay alive,” they 

said in unison. 

On Oct. 20, shrapnel crashed 

into the monastery, killing 

18 people. Among the dead 

were Majd and his siblings, 

9-year-old Julie and 15-yearold 

Soheil. Israel says it 

had been targeting a nearby 

Hamas command center. 

Majd was found beneath 

the rubble with his hands 

around his mother’s neck. 

His face was completely 

burned. 

“My children just wanted 

peace and stability,” said 

Souri, his voice cracking. 

“All I cared about was that 

they were happy.” 

KENAN AND NEMAN 

AL-SHARIF, 18 months 

Karam al-Sharif, an 

employee with the U.N.


Military suicides overall dropped in 2022 as 

active-duty rate goes up and Pentagon works on 

prevention 

WASHINGTON — The suicide rate among 

active-duty troops slightly increased in 2022 

as the overall number of suicides decreased in 

the military, according to an annual Pentagon 

report released Thursday. 

The Pentagon reported an active-duty suicide 

rate of about 25 suicide deaths for every 

100,000 service members last year, a 3% 

increase from 2021. 

“The rate difference is not statistically 

significant, so we have low confidence this is 

a true change. It could be natural variability 

or chance,” said Liz Clark, the Pentagon’s 

director of the Defense Suicide Prevention 

Office. 

Clark said this also holds true for the rate of 

decreases among the Reserve and National 

Guard troops of 12% and 18%, respectively. 

Elizabeth Foster, the executive director of the 

Pentagon’s Force Resiliency Office, said due 

to the decreasing size of the active-duty force, 

the Defense Department believes the rate of 

suicides, rather than the number of suicides, is 

a more accurate measure. 

The department’s fifth annual “Suicide in the 

Military” report showed 492 service members


died by suicide in 2022, down 

from 524 in 2021. 

For active-duty troops, there 

were 331 suicides in 2022, 

compared with 328 in 2021. Of 

those, Army suicides dropped 

from 175 in 2021 to 135 in 

2022. The Marine Corps saw 

the biggest increase, from 43 

to 61. The Air Force followed, 

which increased from 51 to 64, 

and the Navy dropped from 

59 to 71. Space Force did not 

have any suicides. 

As in previous years, the 

2022 report identifies young, 

enlisted men as the most 

vulnerable to suicide. About 

91% of active-duty suicides


were among enlisted troops, 

68% of suicides were among 

those younger than 30 years 

old and 93% were among male 

troops. 

Firearms were the most 

common method of suicide, 

the report concluded. About 

69% of suicides among activeduty 

troops were with a gun. 

The Defense Department 

in recent years has aimed 

to improve mental health 

care access for troops, amid 

increases in suicide rates 

and outcry from members of 

Congress and others. 

There were almost 29 suicides 

per 100,000 troops in 2020 

— up from 17.5 per 100,000 

in 2010, according to Defense 

Department data. That figure 

fell to 24.3 per 100,000 in 

2021, but it still represented an 

uptick in suicides compared to 

most of the 2000s and 2010s. 

In 2022, Defense Secretary 

Lloyd Austin approved the 

establishment of the Suicide 

Prevention and Response 

Independent Review 

Committee, and the group 

made 127 recommendations of 

near- and long-term solutions


to address suicides in the 

ranks. 

The independent panel 

recommended the department 

implement a series of gun safety 

measures to reduce suicides 

in the force, including waiting 

periods for the purchase of 

firearms and ammunition by 

service members on military 

property. 

The panel said the department 

should also raise the minimum 

age to 25 for service members 

to buy guns and ammunition 

and should require anyone 

living in military housing 

to register privately owned 

firearms. In addition, the panel 

said the department should 

restrict the possession and 

storage of privately owned 

firearms in military barracks 

and dorms. 

Austin released a memo 

last month outlining more 

than 100 recommendations 

to be implemented by 2030 

to address the suicide crisis 

in the military. Some of the 

recommendations included 

expanding telehealth services, 

increasing appointment 

availability by revising the 

mental health staff model, 

launching a comprehensive 

public education campaign on 

firearm safety, and updating the 

amount of suicide prevention 

training. The department 

chose not to implement the 

firearm changes at the time. 

“There is no single solution 

to preventing suicide, but I 

remain focused on actions that 

will make a real difference 

and change the culture around 

this critical challenge,” Austin 

said in a statement. “Together, 

we can prevent suicide and 

take care of every outstanding 

patriot who steps up to defend 

our country.” 

The 2022 suicide report also 

included data about military 

family suicides for 2021. 

The military family suicide 

rate is about 6.5 suicides per 

100,000 family members, a 

16% decrease from 2020.


VA Research Program 

Nears Goal of Collecting 

Genetic Information 

from 1 Million Veterans 

WASHINGTON — 

A research program 

launched more than 

12 years ago by the 

Department of Veterans 

Affairs is close to 

reaching its goal of 

collecting genetic 

information from 

blood samples on 1 

million veterans, a VA 

researcher told senators 

Wednesday. 

Called the Million 

Veteran Program, 

the initiative is being 

conducted through the 

VA’s Office of Research 

and Development 

with a mission to 

better understand how 

genetics, lifestyle, 

military service 

and environmental 

exposure impacts 

veterans’ health, 

according to Sumitra 

Muralidhar, the 

program director. 

“It is the world’s 

largest cohort right 

now. We have just 

under 8,000 [blood 

samples] to go to get to 

a million veterans. This 

is a partnership that we 

actually established 

with veterans right 

from the beginning,” 

Muralidhar told 

lawmakers at a Senate 

Veterans Affairs 

Committee hearing that 

focused on research 

underway at the VA. 

Muralidhar said 

the program, which 

launched in 2011, 

involves the voluntary 

collection of individual 

blood samples during 

20-minute visits by 

veterans at VA hospitals. 

Personal information 

on an individual’s 

background, including 

military history, also 

is collected through 

interviews and surveys. 

Veterans are asked to 

provide their consent 

before blood samples 

are drawn for the 

collection and study 

of genetic and other 

molecular data. 

Participants must 

agree to be contacted 

again and allow 

researchers access to 

their health records. 

Program officials will 

need access to health 

records “on an ongoing 

basis,” according to a 

VA website about the 

program. 

Muralidhar said the 

data collected from 

biospecimens and 

electronic health 

records is curated 

and provided to VA 

researchers through 

secure methods to 

further studies on 

diseases. 

The data is coded 

so confidential 

information is not 

shared, including 

names, birth dates 

and Social Security 

numbers. 

“We have over 100 

projects doing work 

with this data set,” 

Muralidhar said. 

As example, she noted 

one research project for 

predicting the genetic 

risk of metastatic 

prostate cancer in 

African Americans. 

“That polygenic risk 

score is now being 

tested in a clinical 

trial,” Muralidhar said. 

She said the ethnic 

diversity represented in 

the genetic information 

collected is 18% is 

African American, 8% 

Hispanic, and about 

1% Asian, Native 

American and Pacific 

Islander. 

“Our goal is after we get 

to 1 million, we will start 

diversifying the cohort 

more. We will have 

focused campaigns 

to recruit more of 

the underrepresented 

populations in this 

program,” Muralidhar 

said.


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Air Force Researching Potential Child Cancer 

Cluster at New Mexico Base 

The Air Force is reviewing whether children living at 

Cannon Air Force Base are more likely to develop a rare 

brain tumor after three cases were diagnosed at the New 

Mexico installation in the past 13 years, the service said. 

Base leaders became aware in September 2022 of a 

potential cluster of cancer known as Diffuse Midline 

Glioma/Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, or DMG/ 

DIPG. The Epidemiology Consult Service at the 

Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine began an 

assessment in January of occurrences at Cannon and is 

expected to collect the necessary data for the study by 

the end of the year. 

“Your concerns are our concerns,” Col. Brent Greer, 

deputy commander of the 27th Special Operations Wing, 

which is headquartered at the base, said in a news release 

about the research. “We appreciate your patience as we 

continue gathering and assessing data to provide you 

the most complete information we can. Our number one 

priority is the health and safety of our air commandos 

and their families, and we take the responsibility to 

investigate these risks to health very seriously. Our 

hearts continue to be with the families who have lost 

loved ones to DMG/DIPG cancer or are currently facing 

childhood cancer of any kind.” 

The children’s diagnoses came to light through a 

private spouses Facebook group, said Jozlin Molette, 

spokeswoman for the 27th Special Operations Wing. 

Base leaders felt the topic warranted attention and worked 

with the School of Aerospace Medicine to initiate the 

study. 

The American Cancer Society described a cluster as a 

greater-than-expected number of cancer cases within a 

group of people in a defined geographic region over a 

specific time. The cancers do not have to have a common 

cause, and clusters can occur by chance, according to the 

nonprofit. 

Because DMG/DIPG cancers are so rare, the study 

has been expanded to include the diagnosis rate of all 

forms of pediatric brain cancer. The Air Force said it’s 

consulting on its study with the Brain Tumor Center at


Cincinnati Children’s Hospital — leading experts on 

these tumors. It’s also consulting with the New Mexico 

Department of Health to gather rates of pediatric cancer 

in the surrounding civilian population. 

Cannon, which hosts Air Force special operations, is 

located near the city of Clovis near New Mexico’s border 

with Texas. It supports roughly 7,800 military personnel, 

civilian employees and their families, according to the 

base. Aircraft assigned to the base include the AC-130J 

Ghostrider, MC-130J Commando II, CV-22 B Osprey, 

U-28A Draco and the MQ-9 Reaper. 

Only about 300 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with 

DMG/DIPG each year and there is no known cause 

behind its formation, said Dr. Pete de Blank, co-medical 

director of Cincinnati Children’s Brain Tumor Center. 

“It seems like horrible luck,” he said. “We don’t really 

have a great idea of what sort of thing can cause DIPG.” 

Doctors have not had success using chemotherapy on 

the tumors, but instead must take a radiation approach to 

slow the growth. The average survival rate for children 

diagnosed with these tumors is about 11 months, de 

Blank said. 

He said he’s grateful for studies such as the one at Cannon 

that can possibly help find what causes these cancers to 

form. More information can help lead to better treatment 

and outcomes for future patients, he said. 

At Cannon, three children were diagnosed with DMG/ 

DIPG since 2010, the Air Force said. There were eight 

years during that time when zero cases were diagnosed. 

So far, no parallels have been found among the children, 

such as parents’ occupation or length of time on the base 

prior to diagnosis. 

While parents might want to feel protective of children 

and look for behaviors to change and prevent illness, de 

Blank said he doesn’t really see any reason to do that 

here. 

“I don’t see anything that makes me feel like something 

is causing these tumors,” he said.



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New danger for Ukraine: Taking Israel’s side in war 

against Hamas and Gaza 

KYIV — Ukraine President 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s immediate 

and forceful support for Israel in its 

fight against Hamas has imperiled 

almost a year of concerted efforts by 

Kyiv to win the support of Arab and 

Muslim nations in its war against 

Russia. 

Zelenskyy’s early statements 

backing Israel after the surprise 

attack by Hamas, in which more than 

1,400 Israelis were killed, helped 

Ukraine stay in the international 

spotlight, and placed it firmly on the 

side of the United States. 

Zelenskyy’s position also drew 

attention to the increasingly close 

relationship between Russia and 

Iran, which is a main sponsor of 

Hamas, a sworn enemy of Israel, and 

also an important supplier of drones 

and other weapons for Moscow. 

Hamas and Russia are the “same 

evil, and the only difference is that 

there is a terrorist organization that 

attacked Israel and here is a terrorist 

state that attacked Ukraine,” 

Zelenskyy said in a speech to 

NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly 

on Oct. 9. 

But with Israel’s military operation 

set to enter its fourth week, and 

Palestinian civilian casualties 

mounting, the war in Gaza is posing 

one of the most difficult diplomatic 

tests for Ukraine since Russia’s 

invasion in February 2022. 

Countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia 

and Qatar, which at times have 

provided crucial support to Ukraine, 

have accused the West of double 

standards in Gaza, alluding to the 

broad condemnation of civilian 

deaths in Ukraine compared with 

the muted criticism of Israel. 

Tension with Muslim and Arab 

nations, however, is just one risk 

facing Kyiv, which must now also 

contend with the world’s attention 

shifting largely to new war in the 

Middle East, as well as competing 

demands for U.S. military support 

at a time when House Republicans 

just elected a new speaker, Mike 

Johnson (La.), who has opposed 

sending additional aid to Ukraine. 

Some experts noted that Israel had 

already made clear it was not going 

to reciprocate with greater support 

for Ukraine.


Randa Slim, an expert in peacebuilding 

at the Middle East 

Institute, said Israel had no choice 

but to maintain its relationship 

with Moscow, in part because of 

Russia’s control over Syria, and she 

pointed out that Israel had rejected 

Zelenskyy’s offer to visit after the 

Hamas attack. 

Zelenskyy’s pro-Israel position 

“did not make sense,” Slim said, 

adding that many Arab and Muslim 

countries see more similarities 

between Israel and Russia — as 

aggressive military powers — than 

they do between Israel and Ukraine. 

“This is where the Arab region is,” 

she said. “They are not going to 

accept what Biden says, comparing 

Russia and Hamas. They are more 

comparing Russia and Israel as far 

as death toll and as far as targeting 

civilians.” 

Zelenskyy, she said, could win more 

friends if he was “ready to say what 

Russia is doing in Ukraine is what 

Israel is doing in Gaza.” But, she 

added, “I don’t see Ukraine ready to 

do that or willing to do that.” 

Just as Russian President Vladimir 

Putin initially offered no direct 

condolences to Israel and no firm 

rebuke of Hamas, Zelenskyy was 

slow to speak about the need to 

protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza 

as Israel stepped up retaliatory 

airstrikes. 

When news of the Hamas attack 

first hit, Zelenskyy and members 

of his team compared Hamas to 

Russia, saying Ukrainians had “a 

special understanding about what 

is happening” to Israelis. (There 

are large numbers of Ukrainian and 

Russian immigrants living in Israel.) 

Only 10 days later did Zelenskyy 

indirectly allude to the bombardment 

of Gaza by calling for the need to 

protect civilians and for deescalation. 

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has steered 

clear of criticizing Israeli strikes, 

despite the deaths in Gaza of 

thousands of Palestinian civilians 

and at least 21 Ukrainian citizens. 

The foreign ministers of Turkey 

and Qatar, which have played 

instrumental roles in negotiating 

between Ukraine and Russia 

on issues like prisoner-of-war 

exchanges and Russia’s blockade 

of Ukrainian grain exports, issued 

a joint statement alleging Western 

hypocrisy. 

“It is not permissible to condemn the 

killing of civilians in one context and 

justify it in another,” said Qatar’s 

Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al- 

Thani. Turkey’s Hakan Fidan added 

that the West’s failure to condemn 

the killings in Gaza “constitutes a 

very serious double standard.” 

In an interview with CNN, Queen 

Rania of Jordan also offered sharp 

Continued on page 26


Navy officer overseeing this year’s 

program. “We’re also with this mission 

able to go out and help them with some 

assessments of bridges along the way. 

So helping them address their own 

critical infrastructure needs.” 

When fully staffed, the 70,000-ton 

Mercy is a 1,000-bed hospital. While it 

was built to support wartime operations, 

taking in wounded and casualties from 

combat, the last time it did so was during 

Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91. 

Navy Hospital Ship Stops on Oahu 

Ahead of Pacific Mission 

The Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy is 

in Hawaii this week as it prepares for a 

deployment to several Oceania islands 

as part of the Navy’s Pacific Partnership 

program. 

Mercy arrived in Pearl Harbor on 

Wednesday morning after a voyage 

from San Diego and is expected to make 

stops in the Republic of the Marshall 

Islands, Solomon Islands, Palau and the 

Federated States of Micronesia. 

the region for aid programs as well as 

disaster preparedness initiatives. 

“Host nations invite us to participate, 

and we help them address critical 

infrastructure, most notably with 

schools and hospitals, community 

centers,“ said Capt. Brian Quin, the 

Capt. Jeff Feinberg, a Navy medical 

officer who has been in charge on Mercy 

since July 2021, said that while combat 

support is the ship’s primary function, 

humanitarian missions are far more 

often what it does and are something he 

said “we’re more excited about.” 

Feinberg participated in last year’s 

Pacific Partnership that traveled to 

the Solomon Islands, the Philippines, 

Vietnam and Palau. 

This is the 19th iteration of Pacific 

Partnership and about 800 service 

members are participating. The annual 

mission comes as the U.S. and China 

compete for influence with Pacific 

island nations. 

The program sprang out of the U.S. 

response to the aftermath of the 

deadly December 2004 tsunami that 

devastated parts of South and Southeast 

Asia during which the U.S. mobilized 

military assets and personnel to support 

the relief effort. Since 2006 the Navy 

has deployed medical personnel, 

engineers and other specialists around


Among new programs this 

deployment of its hospital 

Islands and Kiribati to 

when they hear one of 

year, Feinberg said, “we’re 

ship Peace Ark on its own 

reinvest in ties in island 

their popular songs in their 

excited to be doing some 

tour of Oceania. 

nations. 

language.” 

cataract surgeries, which we 

did not do last time, which 

is going to be a fantastic 

process because it’ll literally 

be giving many people the 

gift of sight.” 

He said that in the Marshall 

Islands medical personnel 

will also do a mission 

aboard the Liwatoon-mour, 

a civilian hospital ship. 

The Japanese Ministry of 

Health donated the vessel 

to the RMI last year on a 

voyage to the island nation’s 

remote atolls for a mission 

supporting tuberculosis 

eradication. 

In the Solomon Islands, 

Over the span of 79 days 

the ship and its crew visited 

Kiribati — an island nation 

south of Hawaii — as well 

as Tonga, Vanuatu, the 

Solomon Islands and East 

Timor. Chinese state-run 

news outlet Xinhua reported 

that the Peace Ark and its 

crew “used boundless love 

and superb medical skills 

to serve as messengers of 

health, peace, and friendship 

“ during what it called a 

“pragmatic “ mission. 

The U.S. has been trying to 

step up engagement in the 

Pacific islands as Chinese 

influence and investment in 

Feinberg said that one of 

the things he’s come to 

appreciate is the cultural 

aspect of his mission. 

The Pacific Fleet Band 

is traveling along and is 

learning and practicing 

songs from each of the 

countries they are visiting. 

Feinberg said that when the 

band joined the voyage in 

2022, he was “skeptical, “ 

believing they would take 

up space on a mission that 

was supposed to be about 

medicine but that “there was 

like 24, 000 people who saw 

the band, and it means a lot 

when, when other people, 

“One of the things that I 

love about the power Pacific 

Partnership is I have an 

incredibly diverse crew, “ 

said Feinberg. “Anywhere 

we go, I got somebody 

who looks like you. We 

went to Vietnam last year, 

I got sailors who speak 

Vietnamese, we went to the 

Philippines, I got a sailor 

that speaks Tagalog ... that 

means a lot because America 

is very diverse and when we 

go to other countries, we 

were very quickly able to 

show ‘hey, we’ve got a lot 

in common,‘ and it’s pretty 

fantastic.” 

service members will be 

the region has grown. 

supporting the regional 

Pacific Games, which this 

year will take place in 

Honiara. 

In 2019 Kiribati and the 

Solomon Islands cut 

diplomatic ties with Taiwan 

and established relations 

“The Solomon Islands had 

with Beijing. Both countries 

asked last year for us to 

have since joined the Belt 

come back to support the 

and Road Initiative, a 

Pacific Games,“ Feinberg 

series of Chinese-funded 

said. “We’re coming back, 

infrastructure 

projects 

we’re going to be supporting 

aimed at promoting trade 

the games themselves, 

with China. 

with over 100 man-hours 

out there supporting the 

athletes, the spectators ... as 

well as supporting the host 

nation and planning some 

disaster responses should 

that happen during the 

games.” 

Last year, Solomon Islands 

Prime Minister Manasseh 

Sogavare quietly drafted 

a defense agreement with 

China that only became 

public when it was leaked 

to local media. After years 

of focusing attention and 

Mercy’s deployment begins 

resources elsewhere, the 

not long after the Chinese 

U.S. has since opened 

navy wrapped up a summer 

embassies in the Solomon



Defense Secretary Lloyd 

Austin gave pre-deployment 

orders to about 2,000 troops 

earlier this month for a 

possible mission to the 

Middle East. Last week 900 

troops were deployed. 

Washington National 

Guard Military Police 

Detachment to Deploy to 

Middle East 

The 506th Military Police 

Detachment with the 

Washington 

National 

Guard will soon deploy 

to the Middle East for a 

nine-month tour in support 

of ongoing operations in 

Jordan. 

The detachment, composed 

of approximately 45 

military police personnel 

and support staff, will 

work for the Joint Training 

Center-Jordan. The center 

trains U.S. and Jordanian 

soldiers on combat and 

border security skills as part 

of the Jordan Operational 

Engagement Program, a 

Washington National Guard 

news release said. 

nation,” said Maj. Gen. 

Bret Daugherty, the 

state’s adjutant general 

and commander of the 

Washington 

National 

Guard. “We will miss them 

while they’re gone but are 

comforted knowing they’re 

effectively performing this 

important work.” 

Formed in September 2005, 

the 506th is headquartered at 

Joint Base Lewis-McChord 

and has deployed four times 

in 15 years, including in 

2007-2008 in support of 

Operation Iraqi Freedom, 

and 2012-2013 and again in 

2018-2019 to Afghanistan 

in support of Operation 

Enduring Freedom. 

Monday by the Pentagon. 

The 300 troops are deploying 

to “provide capabilities in 

explosive ordnance disposal, 

communications and other 

support enablers for forces 

already in the region,” 

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat 

Ryder, the Pentagon’s top 

spokesman. 

These deployments come 

as tensions have risen in the 

region following Hamas’ 

attack on Israel, which killed 

more than 1,400 people. 

More than 200 people were 

taken hostage, and Israel has 

intensified attacks on Gaza. 

None of the U.S. troops 

are deploying to Gaza, the 

Defense Department has 

previously said. 

“The 506th is comprised of 

well-trained professionals 

who will accomplish 

their mission and proudly 

represent our state and 

This deployment has been 

planned for about a year 

and is separate from a 

deployment of 300 troops to 

the Middle East announced


criticism: “Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a 

family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s okay to 

shell them to death?” 

Other experts said Zelenskyy’s efforts to draw 

comparisons were unlikely to resonate with Arab 

countries. 

Ukraine “has never been at the forefront” for the 

Arab world, said Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow at Rice 

University who has written on Ukraine-Arab relations. 

“It is a conflict that does not concern them.” 

Ulrichsen added, “Israel is taking up so much bandwidth 

that I don’t think anybody in the Middle East really is 

thinking about Ukraine right now.” 

This weekend, Ukraine was scheduled to host a third 

round of talks aimed at fostering global support for its 

“peace plan” — which calls for a unilateral withdrawal 

of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian territory and 

full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty. 

Unlike at the first Ukraine peace formula meeting in 

August, which was hosted by Saudi Arabia in Jeddah 

and attended by delegates from almost all the major 

unaligned powers, it was unclear if Saudi officials would 

attend this weekend’s event in Malta. 

Zelenskyy spoke Monday with Saudi Crown Prince 

Mohammed bin Salman, and in a readout of the call 

issued by Riyadh, there was no mention of the Malta 

conference or further help for Ukraine. 

China, which in recent days has joined Russia in calling 

for a return to a two-state solution to settle the Israeli- 

Palestinian conflict, was not attending the Malta event, 

Bloomberg News reported. 

Turkey was planning to send a delegation to Malta, but 

in recent days Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 

has spoken out forcefully against Israel and has described 

Hamas as a resistance movement — a stark contrast to 

Zelenskyy’s stated positions. 

With Russia stepping up attacks on the eastern front, 

Ukraine can hardly afford to lose any friends. This 

is especially true given increasing opposition by 

Republicans in Congress to sending more aid to Ukraine. 

President Biden has proposed an additional $60 billion 

in assistance for Ukraine, and in a recent speech tied 

that to increased funding for Israel and for strengthening 

border protection in the United States. 

But the White House must now deal with Johnson, the 

new House speaker, who has repeatedly voted against 

further Ukraine funding and told Fox News he intends 

to separate funding for Ukraine from the assistance to 

Israel. 

Johnson has said Washington will not abandon Ukraine 

but has questioned the White House’s ultimate goals. 

Meanwhile, in Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister 

Viktor Orban, who recently met Putin on the sidelines 

of a conference in China, is trying to shoot down a 50 

billion-euro aid proposal for Ukraine from the European 

Union. 

The E.U. package will be voted on in December as part of 

the bloc’s 2023-2027 budget and requires the unanimity 

of the 27 member countries to be approved. 

Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former Ukrainian economy 

minister, expressed confidence that Zelenskyy’s 

administration would come up with a plan to re-boost 

international support for Ukraine and maintain attention 

on the war in the short to medium term. 

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the Ukrainian presidential 

administration and a spokesperson for Zelenskyy did 

not respond to requests for comment on what their plan 

might entail. 

Ukraine, meanwhile, has been preparing for the 

possibility that U.S. support will taper off, according to 

Orysia Lutsevych, director of the Ukraine program at 

Chatham House, a London-based think tank. 

Ukraine’s “Plan B” — evidenced by recent joint ventures 

with German and Turkish arms companies as well as 

talks with British and American manufacturers — is to 

distance itself as much as possible from external foreign 

politics, Lutsevych said. 

“If America completely abandons Ukraine, it would be 

very difficult,” Lutsevych said. “But Ukraine will keep 

fighting with the resources it has on its own and it has 

from European allies.”


TOWER HEALTH 

Advancing Health. Transforming Lives. 

Tower Health is a regional integrated healthcare system 

that offers compassionate, high quality, leading edge 

healthcare and wellness services to communities in Berks, 

Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. With 

approximately 11,500 employees, Tower Health consists 

of Reading Hospital in West Reading; Phoenixville 

Hospital in Phoenixville; Pottstown Hospital in Pottstown; 

and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, 

in partnership with Drexel University. Tower Health is 

strongly committed to academic medicine and training, 

including multiple residency and fellowship programs, the 

Drexel University College of Medicine at Tower Health, 

and the Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences in 

West Reading. The system also includes Reading Hospital 

Rehabilitation at Wyomissing; home healthcare provided 

by Tower Health at Home; TowerDirect ambulance and 

emergency response; Tower Health Medical Group; Tower 

Health Providers, our clinically integrated network; and 25 

Tower Health Urgent Care facilities across our service area. 

For more information, visit towerhealth.org. 

Reading Hospital is a 697-bed nonprofit teaching hospital 

that provides high quality healthcare, cutting-edge 

technology, and experienced, caring medical professionals. 

As the nationally recognized, Magnet-designated flagship 

institution of Tower Health, Reading Hospital is home to 

many top-tier specialty care centers and services, including 

the McGlinn Cancer Institute, Miller Regional Heart Center, 

one of the state’s busiest Emergency Departments and a 

Level I Trauma Center, and Beginnings Maternity Center, 

which houses the region’s only Level III Neonatal Intensive 

Care Unit (NICU). Reading Hospital was named one of 

America’s 50 Best Hospitals for 2023 by Healthgrades. 

This is the second year in a row (2022-2023) that Reading 

Hospital has been in the top 1 percent of hospitals 

nationwide for overall clinical performance. Reading 

Hospital has also been ranked as one of the Top Ten 

Hospitals by U.S. News and World Report the second year 

in a row. 

Reading Hospital has a long history of medical teaching, 

offering more than 20 residency and fellowship programs 

approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate 

Medical Education and the American Osteopathic 

Association. To further demonstrate our commitment to 

academic excellence and medical education, Tower Health 

has partnered with Drexel University College of Medicine to 

open a new medical school one-half mile walking distance 

from Reading Hospital, a regional medical campus for 

Drexel University College of Medicine at Tower Health. The 

school opened in 2021 and has begun its second academic 

year of 200 medical students, Class of 2024. To learn more, 

go to TowerHealth.org. 

To explore career opportunities, scan the 

QR Code or go to Careers.TowerHealth.org!


Marine Corps Commandant 

Eric Smith in Stable 

Condition at DC Hospital 

WASHINGTON – Gen. 

Eric Smith, new Marine 

Corps 

commandant, 

remained in the hospital 

Wednesday but in 

stable condition after 

experiencing a medical 

emergency near his home 

three days ago, the service 

said. 

Smith was near his home 

at the Marine Barracks in 

southeastern Washington 

on Sunday when the 

emergency occurred and 

was taken to a nearby 

hospital, officials said. 

Earlier in the day, he 

attended the Marine Corps 

Marathon. 

The New York Times 

reported earlier this week 

that Smith suffered a heart 

attack while jogging near 

his home, but the Marine 

Corps has declined to 

describe the nature of 

the medical emergency 

at the request of the 

commandant’s family. 

“He is currently listed in 

stable condition and is 

recovering in a leading 

hospital in our nation’s 

capital,” the Marine Corps 

said in a statement. “His 

family has requested 

privacy at this time, as 

Gen. Smith continues his 

recovery.” 

President Joe Biden 

nominated Smith in May 

to succeed Gen. David 

Berger as the Marine 

Corps 

commandant, 

which is the top-ranking 

position in the service. 

But Smith’s appointment 

was delayed — along with 

those of hundreds of other 

top military officers — by 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, 

R-Ala., over a Pentagon 

policy that reimburses 

expenses to troops who 

want to travel to other states 

to get reproductive care, 

including abortions. Smith 

was finally confirmed in 

September. 

In recent weeks, Smith had 

been performing two jobs -- 

commandant and assistant 

commandant -- because 

the nominee to be the new 

assistant commandant, 

Lt. Gen. Christopher 

Mahoney, remains stalled 

by Tuberville. Democrats 

in the Senate are now 

working to confirm three 

of the top remaining 

nominations, including 

Mahoney. 

Military nominations 

are usually confirmed by 

voice vote in large groups, 

but Senate rules allow 

just one senator to hold 

up that process. Because 

almost 400 nominations 

have now been blocked 

by Tuberville, the only 

choice that the Senate has 

is to approve some of the 

top nominees individually. 

Along with Smith in 

September, the Senate 

confirmed Air Force Gen. 

Charles “CQ” Brown 

as chairman of the Joint 

Chiefs of Staff and Gen. 

Randy George as the Army 

chief of staff. 

“Normally Lt. Gen. 

Mahoney would have 

been able to immediately 

step in to temporarily 

serve as commandant, but 

unfortunately because of 

the blanket holds of just one 

senator — Sen. Tuberville 

— that cannot happen,” 

Senate Majority Leader 

Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., 

said Wednesday. “The 

situation at the Marine 

Corps is precisely the kind 

of avoidable emergency 

that Sen. Tuberville has 

provoked through his 

reckless holds.” 

The Marine Corps 

said further updates on 

Smith’s condition will be 

“provided as appropriate.” 

For the time being, Lt. Gen. 

Karsten Heckl, the most 

senior officer at Marine 

Corps headquarters, is 

performing Smith’s duties. 

“In typical Marine fashion, 

I am the next Marine 

up,” Heckl said. “We 

must continue the march 

forward on behalf of our 

fellow Marines and the 

nation, regardless of the 

situation or the uncertainty 

that we may face.”

November 2023 — MHCE Newsletter

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