My son graduated from his nephrology fellowship last night. A huge evening for him. A proud evening for our family.
In perhaps one of the most poetic moments for me, I found out that his mentor, one of the amazing and brilliant physicians who took the time and effort to train him is a nephrologist originally from Israel. An amazing physician who enthusiastically took my son under her wing to help him become the doctor he has grown into. A healer who will put his patients first. Always. A teacher who will train the next group of nephrologists.
So to wake up the morning after such a lovely evening and see a medical publication like the Lancet ostracize Israeli doctors hits close to home.
Israel is a medical powerhouse. A place of medical innovation that punches above its weight. When even physicians start to see their colleagues as "other" it is not just Israeli doctors or Israelis who suffer, it is patients around the world who will not benefit from their skills and knowledge. It is young doctors like my own son who learned to become a physician because a doctor who happens to be Israeli took the time, care and effort to mentor him.
What is the world coming to?
Have we lost our minds?
We cannot allow this to continue.
Israeli doctors are no more responsible for the actions and decisions of their government than an American, Chinese, French, Russian or Indian doctor is for theirs.
Publications like The Lancet cannot allow themselves to become vehicles of antisemitism. Please. Stop. Before it is too late.
The Lancet, one of the most important medical journals in the world, published a petition today calling for the suspension of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the World Medical Association (WMA).
1,150 professionals signed the petition because the IMA "failed to condemn the genocide of the Palestinians, the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, and the torture of detainees."
The IMA has, in actuality, spent the entire war advocating for Gazans, petitioning the government to ensure medical supplies were entering Gaza, and demanding that hospitals in Gaza remain safe havens.
But they're evil because they didn't use the word genocide? It doesn't matter what you do for Palestinians or how you fight for them if you don't use a certain word?
What happened to "actions speak louder than words?"