Israeli Health Minister Uriel Busso welcomed the decision on Tuesday by the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) to reinstate its Israeli member organization.
“This is a victory for logic, justice and morality,” he said in remarks cited by Israel’s Channel 12.
He added that “it was clear that this was an outrageous political decision that has no place in the world of medicine.”
The suspension of the Federation of Israeli Medical Students (FIMS) was reportedly overturned this week by a vote of 41-20, with 13 abstentions.
The IFMSA’s reversal was first announced by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which said in a statement on Tuesday that “Israel’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. institutions in Geneva and the International Organizations Division at the Foreign Ministry headquarters managed to persuade the World Health Organization to exert pressure on the global federation, making it clear that if the decision remained in effect, it would harm the relationship between the WHO and the student federation.”
On Aug. 6, the IFMSA’s General Assembly voted by a two-thirds majority to suspend the membership of the Israeli organization following claims of “harassment,” the association stated in a press release at the time.
“IFMSA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination, including those based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, or personal identity,” it added.
However, according to FIMS president Miri Shvimmer, the harassment claims came in response to her federation condemning a social-media posting by an IFMSA official that she said endorsed the Hamas-led terror massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The World Union of Jewish Students last year said that the move by the international federation was proof of “a disturbing and dangerous trend of discrimination against Israeli and Jewish students on a global scale.”
The suspension “not only endangers Israeli and Jewish students but also contributes to an environment of increasing hostility and intolerance that could lead to further exclusion of Jewish students from associations around the world,” it stated at the time.
