Hundreds of doctors demand World Medical Association suspend Israel

Physicians accuse Israeli Medical Association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare is systematically destroyed.Hundreds of doctors have gathered outside the World Medical Association (WMA) summit in the Netherlands, calling for the suspension of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the grouping of physicians.On Saturday, 81 healthcare workers removed their scrubs and hung them in a line facing the WMA assembly in Rotterdam, each bearing the name of a Palestinian healthcare worker currently held in illegal Israeli detention.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US lawmakers call on Israel to release imprisoned doctor Hussam Abu Safialist 2 of 3A year after the ‘ceasefire’, Gaza’s healthcare is still collapsinglist 3 of 3WMA members must call for release of detained Palestinian medicsend of listIt was part of a protest against the continued membership of the Israeli association in the WMA, “despite them breaching almost every ethical principle in the WMA’s Code of Medical Ethics”, the IMA Out! coalition that organised the demonstration said in a statement.“These scrubs should not be empty. Our colleagues belong with their patients, not in Israeli prisons. Today, we literally placed their names at the WMA’s doorstep,” said Mejrem Ahmetaj, a general practitioner and member of IMA Out!.Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers and destroyed nearly all the hospitals and healthcare facilities in the enclave.The campaign accused the Israeli Medical Association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare has been systematically destroyed.“The IMA is not a bystander. It defends these attacks and blocks international condemnation while Palestinian healthcare is being destroyed. That is not medical neutrality. That is complicity,” added Ahmetaj.Empty scrubs containing names of detained Palestinian healthcare workers hang outside the WMA summit [Courtesy of IMA OUT! campaign]At a meeting of international doctors, medical leaders and human rights activists during the WMA summit on Thursday, the destruction of Palestinian healthcare and the responsibility of the international medical community were discussed, the campaign said.