Withdrawal of invitation to Israeli speaker at OSSA Congress 2025

Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine – South Africa (HCW4P-SA) applaud the decision by the

Ophthalmological Society of South Africa (OSSA) to review and amend the list of invited

speakers for the upcoming OSSA Congress, being held in February 2025. We commend OSSA

for taking the concerns of its members and colleagues seriously and translating those

concerns into decisions which are aligned with the moral and ethical standards that the

medical community, both nationally and abroad, are called to observe at this critical moment

in history. Our conduct at this time will be recorded for posterity and our legacy should be

one which continues to champion human rights for all.

Worldwide, the public and especially healthcare workers continue to watch in horror as Israel

systematically and thoroughly obliterates the healthcare system in Gaza. In addition to

infrastructure crucial to the ability to sustain life, physicians, their families and even aid

workers continue to be deliberately and systematically targeted by Israel, in flagrant violation

of international humanitarian law which serves to protect and support healthcare workers

everywhere. Numerous credible human rights organisations and legal experts have issued

official statements condemning these atrocities, which many agree are consistent with

enacting a genocide of the Palestinian people, while the Israeli healthcare sector remains

largely silent.

Whilst all healthcare organisations and professional bodies aim to maintain an apolitical

stance, disengaging academically, economically and culturally from a state that is violating

international humanitarian law and committing medical apartheid is not a political position

but a moral one. This moral position is consistent with our mandate as healthcare workers to

advocate for vulnerable persons, demonstrate our solidarity with medical colleagues facing a

catastrophic situation and reaffirms our commitment to the principles of medical ethics that

we all share.

Supporting initiatives of boycott, divestment and sanctions are a non-violent means of

applying pressure to states who are committing crimes against humanity to comply with

international law, much like the sanctions applied to apartheid-era South Africa. United

Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has recently called for the support of the

global medical community in this regard, saying “I urge medical professionals worldwide to

pursue the severance of all ties with Israel as a concrete way to forcefully denounce Israel’s

full destruction of the Palestinian healthcare system in Gaza, a critical tool of its ongoing

genocide.”

Once again, we commend OSSA for their courage in answering this call for justice. We hope

for a successful and well attended conference.

Enquiries:

Saadiq

+27 71 857 6869

info@hcw4palestine.org.za