In The Days

• Source: EJ Press
• Author: Jeremy Last
• News Date: 5/2/07

LONDON (EJP)—A group of 130 British doctors have called for a boycott of the Israel Medical Association and its expulsion from the World Medical Association.

“Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.”
—Jeremiah 31:10-11

In a letter to The Guardian newspaper in England last week the physicians, headed by the notoriously anti-Israel Dr Derek Summerfield and Professor Colin Green claimed “Persistent violations of medical ethics have accompanied Israel’s occupation.”

Outlining how they believe the Israeli Defence Force has “systematically flouted the fourth Geneva convention guaranteeing a civilian population unfettered access to medical services and immunity for medical staff”, the letter blamed Israel for destroying “any coherence in the (Palestinian) primary health system”.

The doctors then claimed the IMA has “refused” to protest about “war crimes” something, the doctors said they believe it “has a duty” to do.
The letter compared Israel to apartheid South Africa. “We are calling for a boycott of the Israeli Medical Association and its expulsion from the WMA. There is a precedent for this: the expulsion of the Medical Association of South Africa during the apartheid era,” it read.

“A boycott is an ethical and moral imperative when conventional channels do not function, for otherwise we are merely turning away,” the doctors added.

The letter came after 18 Palestinian health organizations appealed to fellow professionals abroad to “recognize how the IMA has forfeited its right to membership of the international medical community.”

Claims rejected

IMA chairman Dr. Yoram Blachar, who also acts as the council chair of the WMA, rejected all the claims, noting that the Palestinian Authority refused to accept from Israel drugs and dialysis solutions that it was ready to transfer.

Martin Sugarman, the head of a twinning group between Homerton Hospital in London and Haifa’s Rambam Hospital in Israel, said he was shocked by the call.

“If suicide bombers from Gaza and the West Bank never dressed as pregnant or sick patients trying to reach and blow up Israeli hospitals, if PLO ambulances did not transport terrorists and arms, then maybe there would be no need for the security fence, check points and free access to medical care by peaceful citizens,” he told London’s Jewish News. “Despite all this, Israeli hospitals still treat free, Palestinian civilians from the West Bank and Gaza, with severe illnesses and conditions.”