(JNS.org) Richard Horton, the editor of the British medical journal The Lancet, said Thursday, Oct. 2, that he “deeply” regrets publishing an open letter this summer that accused Israel of a “massacre” in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.

Horton made his comments during a visit to the Haifa-based Rambam Health Care Campus, where he witnessed the hospital’s treatment of Palestinians as well as Syrians wounded in their country’s civil war.

“I need very honestly to set the record straight with you,” he said. “First, I deeply, deeply regret, the completely unnecessary polarization that publication of the letter caused. Irrespective of our intentions, which I am very happy to discuss, this outcome was definitely not my intention. Second, and contrary to some incomplete accounts of a conversation I had with a journalist recently, I was personally horrified at the offensive video [made by white supremacist David Duke] that was forwarded by two of the authors of that letter.”