OP-ED: Dr. Mimi Syed, a board-certified emergency medicine physician, is an assistant clinical professor at University of Washington and Washington State University. She is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Syed served in Gaza from August 8 to September 5, 2024, and December 3 to December 31, 2024, at both al-Aqsa Hospital and Nasser Hospital.
An Open Letter to Representative Marilyn Strickland
Dear Representative Marilyn Strickland,
I am writing to you again because I am deeply disappointed as your constituent. I am an emergency physician who has served twice in Gaza. After you repeatedly refused to meet with me, I wrote an op-ed in BORGEN Magazine to try and get your attention. It is incredibly frustrating that you continue to ignore me and decline to hear what I witnessed firsthand.
In July 2026, you voted against the Rep. Massie (R-KY) amendment, which sought to cut $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel. I know the defense for your vote is that the amendment was “overly broad.” But that $3.3 billion funds the exact weapons being used to level hospitals, target healthcare workers, and enforce a manufactured famine. Over 100 of your Democratic colleagues found the courage to vote to halt that funding. It is disheartening that you did not join them.
I would like you to understand what these weapons actually do. I have encountered the children who survived them and those who died from them. I have held toddlers with sniper wounds to the head and chest and worked on kids with catastrophic blast injuries from bombs dropped on residential blocks. These are not tragic accidents; they are the entirely predictable outcomes of sending heavy artillery into densely packed civilian areas. When you vote to keep sending these weapons unconditionally, you are directly supporting this violence.
Even more damning is the latest United Nations Commission report detailing the deliberate targeting of children in Gaza by the Israeli military. My colleagues and I have also recently published an article in Brown University’s Costs of War, discussing the targeting of children using Israeli quadcopters, which is corroborated by the U.N.’s report.
As a physician, my job is to save lives. As my representative, your job is to listen to the people you represent. Reading policy briefs and political talking points in D.C. is easy, but it is a very different thing to try and piece a child’s body back together on a hospital floor. By refusing to meet with me, the only constituent in your district who has actually worked in Gaza during this conflict, it feels like you are making a conscious choice to remain insulated from the real-world consequences of your votes.
My first letter was a plea to your conscience. This one is a demand for accountability. The children of Gaza cannot wait for you to find the courage to face the truth.
I implore you to look at the evidence and start aligning your votes with basic human decency.
– Dr. Mimi Syed