Health BDS Campaigns
Calling on UK health institutions to sever all links with Israeli health organisations complicit in genocide.
Suspend the Israeli Medical Association from the World Medical Association
A worldwide campaign is underway to suspend the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the World Medical Association (WMA). Launched on Nakba Day 2026, it is coordinated by the People’s Health Movement, Doctors for Gaza (Netherlands), Health Workers for Palestine (Spain) and Global Health BDS (UK), and more than 1,150 health professionals and medical organisations worldwide have signed on. The call to suspend the IMA was published in The Lancet in June 2026.
The IMA has remained silent through the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system and has failed to document or investigate violations of medical ethics, including the torture and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners and detained health workers. The campaign’s figures record more than 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers killed since October 2023 and at least 185 detained.
The goal
The first phase targets the WMA Congress in Rotterdam in October 2026: getting national medical associations to formally back suspension. The WMA leadership has already said it opposes suspension, which is exactly why pressure from member associations matters.
Beyond the WMA, we call on UK health institutions, royal colleges and universities to sever bilateral links with Israeli health organisations complicit in the occupation and genocide, and to hold to account health workers who participate in, advocate or justify war crimes, torture or other breaches of medical ethics against the Palestinian people.
Take Action
Sign the Petition
Add your name to the international call to suspend the Israeli Medical Association from the World Medical Association.
Write to Your Medical Association
Health workers: ask the BMA and your royal college to formally support suspension at the WMA Congress. Template letters are available from the campaign.
Know the Demands
The Health Justice Initiative’s 8 health-related demands set out the framework for isolating Israel from the international health community until it complies with international law.
Spread the Word
Share the campaign with colleagues, raise it at work and in your union branch, and write to medical journals and the press as a health professional.
Background Reading
Keep up to date
Let us know if you’ve signed, written to your association, or want to get involved.
Email: globalhealthbds@proton.me
Instagram: @globalhealthbdsforpalestine
Links: linktr.ee/GHBDSforPal