Anti-Israel activity and campaigns in the medical press are unfortunately nothing new; however they have reached a new “low” in the last few months. The most recent manifestation of the anti-Israel phenomenon infecting the medical world is a letter spearheaded by Dr. Derek Summerfield and signed by 725 physicians, “publicly protesting and appealing against the recent appointment of Dr. Yoram Blachar, longstanding President of the Israeli Medical Association, as President of the World Medical Association.”
The “facts” set out in the letter are nothing new. There were allegations made against Israel of torture, but no names were provided. An effort was made by the Israeli Medical Association to speak personally with each and every physician who signed the letter. Most were never employed by, nor had any connection to, the Israeli Prison Services as claimed in the letter. All of the three physicians who were employed there vigorously denied any involvement in interrogations, torture or medical approval for the above.
The letter further states that Dr. Blachar has made statements which were untrue on at least 10 occasions in the Lancet and the BMJ. No basis is made for these claims other than the opinion of the authors.
Finally, Summerfield goes so far as to accuse the IMA ethics chairman, Prof. Avinoam Reches, of being personally involved in torture. Whatever political views one may hold, we firmly believe that politics has no place in medicine. Medicine is meant to serve as a bridge, not a divide. The intermingling of medicine and politics is dangerous, particularly when opinions, presented as facts, are printed on the pages of medical journals.
The current situation is viewed as extremely dangerous for the future of Israeli medicine, of academic freedom and international cooperation.
ACTION – IF YOU ARE INVOLVED IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION, a letter of support for Dr. Blachar, for the IMA and for Israeli medicine can be found at: http://www.petition.fm/petitions/ima
Please sign your name and country and in the ‘Notes’ section please include your title, field of medicine (or other) and place of employment. Please send this message and link to others whom you feel might be similarly interested in expressing support.
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