Key facts
- Over 1,300 individuals and organizations have signed a petition demanding the suspension of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the World Medical Association (WMA).
- The petition alleges the IMA has failed to uphold core medical ethical standards and is complicit in human rights violations by Israel.
- Accusations include the IMA's alleged inaction regarding attacks on healthcare in Gaza and mistreatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
- The IMA denies the accusations, calling them lies or contested allegations and warning against confusing a government with a medical association.
- The WMA stated that suspending the IMA would harm international medical dialogue and set a dangerous precedent.
Calls are intensifying for the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) to be suspended from the World Medical Association (WMA), with over 1,300 individuals and organizations signing a petition demanding its removal. The petition, spearheaded by groups including The People’s Health Movement and Doctors for Gaza, alleges that the IMA has failed to uphold fundamental medical ethical standards and is complicit in serious violations of medical neutrality and human rights attributed to Israel's government and military.
Signatories accuse the IMA of inaction regarding the widespread casualties and destruction of healthcare infrastructure in Gaza, and of failing to address the alleged inhumane treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The petition specifically points to the IMA's alleged endorsement of calls to bomb Gaza's hospitals in November 2023 as evidence of complicity in what they term 'genocide'.
The IMA has refuted these claims, characterizing them as lies or highly contested allegations and warning that expelling the organization would dangerously conflate a nation's government with its medical association. The World Medical Association, in response to an article about the petition in The Lancet, stated that suspending the IMA would not foster peace or human rights but would instead damage scientific collaboration and establish a precedent for politically motivated isolation of healthcare professionals based on nationality.