Call for medical boycott of Israel short-sighted

An alliance of anti-Israel groups are now calling for a “total medical boycott” of Israel because the Ophthalmological Society of South Africa (OSSA) ignored their demand to disinvite Israeli ocular oncology expert Professor Ido “Didi” Fabian from its congress in Johannesburg this week.

Though this isn’t the first time such a call has been made since the 7 October 2023 massacre in Israel, experts have warned that such a boycott could devastate South Africa’s ability to tackle medical problems for those most in need, and harm those the protesters purport to want to help. This follows United Nations Palestinian territories envoy Francesca Albanese calling for such a boycott at the beginning of January.

South African Jewish Board of Deputies National Chairperson Wendy Kahn says, “These narrow focused anti-Israel lobby groups attempt to deprive South Africans of exposure to technology and learning that can improve the lives of our fellow citizens. It’s a tribute to the OSSA that it stood up to these bullies. Such protests make no contribution to peace-building.”

A new report titled “Israel’s Medical Field: A Force for Global Good in the Face of Misguided Boycott Calls” by French political analyst Catherine Perez-Shakdam notes that “a medical boycott would harm the very populations Albanese claims to champion. In hospitals like Sheba Medical Center and Hadassah Medical Center, Israeli doctors treat thousands of Palestinian patients annually, providing advanced care that is often unavailable in the Palestinian territories.”

Such a medical boycott would deny patients the use of Israeli inventions like the PillCam, a pill that allows doctors to see inside the gastrointestinal tract, and the ReWalk robotic exoskeleton, which empowers individuals with spinal cord injuries to regain mobility.

It would also deny more basic medical services invented by Israelis, such as computerised, no-radiation imaging for breast cancer, and telemedicine. A total medical boycott would demand that parents stop using Babysense, a monitor that detects apnoea in infants, and emergency responders stop using the Israeli bandage, which stops blood loss from haemorrhagic wounds.

While anti-Israel protesters scream for a “total medical boycott” on the streets of Sandton, “Israeli medical institutions train Palestinian healthcare professionals, equipping them with skills to strengthen their communities’ healthcare systems. This collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians demonstrates the potential for human connection even in the most challenging of geopolitical contexts,” writes Perez-Shakdam.

Protest groups threatened that “OSSA repeatedly fails to heed the warnings of colleagues” to disinvite Fabian, a world-renowned ocular oncology expert, and they plan to protest outside the Sandton Convention Centre on 13 February, where the congress is taking place from 12-15 February. “Your colleagues deserve better,” stated the protest poster as a warning to OSSA.

Fabian, who is now in South Africa for the conference, will be speaking on various topics, including “The diagnosis and management of retinoblastoma from basic to advanced.” Retinoblastoma is the most common childhood eye cancer, and Fabian has treated Israeli, Palestinian, and African children with the disease.

Professor Nagib Du Toit, the chairperson and head of the ophthalmology division at the University of Cape Town (UCT), told local anti-Israel radio station Salaamedia that this was “health-washing”. He said some participants at the congress would wear keffiyehs and stage walkouts during Fabian’s presentations.

Dr Dory Neu-Ner, of the South African Society of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, invited Fabian to be keynote speaker. Now, he says, “It’s too late for the anti-Israel groups to convince OSSA to disinvite Professor Fabian as he’s already arrived and will be presenting at the conference. So that ship has sailed.

“I don’t think anyone will be paying attention [to the protest], as we will be inside, learning from international speakers. I’m anticipating that Professor Fabian’s lectures will be the most well-attended.”

He says that the anti-Israel lobby presents “the usual one-sided and false rhetoric to slander people and rile up followers. The important thing is that OSSA members are clear that they won’t align themselves with any political view or medical boycott.”

Speaking to the SA Jewish Report in South Africa, Fabian said simply, “I’m a medical doctor, not a politician. I was invited to speak about ocular oncology and retinoblastoma, and that’s what I’m planning to do.”

More than 80% of OSSA members voted in favour of Fabian being invited to speak at the congress. Professor Grant McLaren is one of the many South African ophthalmologists who has backed Professor Fabian. Now, he says, “They are entitled to protest but we, all 82% of the OSSA membership polled, are also entitled to be heard.

“We voted resoundingly to have Professor Fabian speak at our congress. He is a highly respected authority on retinoblastoma. Those who wish to attend can, but those who don’t are free to boycott.” However, “to intimidate and ram your version of what is happening in Israel down everyone’s throat is undemocratic”. The protest is “another form of intimidation”, he says, and “the ugliness is there for all to see”.

As for a total medical boycott, McLaren says the Israeli and Jewish contribution to healthcare is so foundational and crucial, it would be impossible to extract them. For example, Israeli Dr Elie Dahan was a leading specialist in glaucoma, paediatrics, and cataract surgery, who lived and taught in South Africa for many years.

McLaren asks if Du Toit would cast aside Dahan’s expertise in his campaign for a full Israeli medical boycott, denying his patients complete medical care.

In addition, he points out that the Mauerberger Chair of Ophthalmology, bestowed by the Mauerberger Foundation Fund (MFF) to UCT in 1968, supports the division of ophthalmology at UCT Health Sciences, including training and research. The MFF also supports a wide range of Israeli initiatives, and McLaren asks if Du Toit would turn down the MFF’s support of his own department in his campaign for a “full Israeli medical boycott”.

South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) spokesperson Rolene Marks says, “The SAZF commends the OSSA for taking a principled stand. The campaign [against Fabian] was nothing more than thinly-veiled racism, targeting a respected medical professional purely due to his nationality and religion.”

A total medical boycott of Israel would exclude the care that doctors like Fabian could offer South Africans, Israelis, Palestinians, and children all over the world. For example, as the founder of the Global Retinoblastoma Study Group, Fabian has united experts from 153 countries to improve treatment for childhood eye cancer, a disease that disproportionately affects underserved regions.

He also co-launched the Asian Retinoblastoma Group; spearheaded Africa’s first International Society of Ocular Oncology conference on eye cancer; and played a critical role in providing life-saving treatment for Palestinian children, overcoming immense challenges to transport them to Israeli hospitals. He has treated children with retinoblastoma in Nigeria while training local doctors to build sustainable medical expertise.

Perez-Shakdam warns that if the global community begins to tolerate the politicisation of medicine, the consequences could be devastating. “The universal ethos of healthcare, which demands that aid be delivered without prejudice, would be compromised. The precedent set by such a boycott would embolden those who seek to turn other essential services – education, water, or food security – into tools of political warfare.”