As calls grow to suspend the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the World Medical Association (WMA), much of the debate has focused on the association's failure to condemn the destruction of Gaza's healthcare system and attacks on health in Lebanon and Iran.
But the problem runs deeper.
In response to the recent petition published in The Lancet calling on the WMA to suspend the IMA, the IMA argued: "The signatories' calls to expel the IMA from the WMA seem to confuse a country's government with its medical association, an extremely dangerous precedent."
The IMA has not simply failed to uphold its ethical and medical obligations by remaining silent in the face of these attacks. It has actively challenged and opposed efforts by international medical and academic associations, professional bodies and medical journals abroad to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza.
It has mobilised its professional authority to contest allegations of war crimes and genocide, and to push back against calls to end the war and hold Israel accountable.
