Position of Health Workers For Palestine, Spain, against the "Rotterdam Declaration" of the World Medical Association.

The World Medical Association's “Rotterdam Declaration” of October 10, 2026: Who decides which health services “participate in acts detrimental to the enemy”? The enemy itself?

Health Workers 4 Palestine, Spain (HW4PS)

Introduction

The World Medical Association's (WMA) “Rotterdam Declaration”ⁱ is  likely a response to the international “IMA Out!” campaign, driven by coalitions of health professionals (such as the People’s Health Movement, Artsen voor Gaza, and other organizations, including HW4PS)ⁱⁱ,ⁱⁱⁱ.

This campaign demands that the WMA suspend the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) for its silence and complicity in the destruction of the health system in Gaza, attacks on medical infrastructure, and the murder, detention, and torture of Palestinian healthcare workers.

Instead of directly addressing this issue, the WMA attempts to respond with an ambiguous declaration that revolves around the concept of “medical neutrality” and exonerates the IMA, which, of course, was not expelled at the Rotterdam General Assembly in October 2026.

At no point in the declaration do words like “genocide,” “Gaza,” or “Israel” appear. These words are the elephant in the room, and their absence demonstrates the lack of practical and real substance in the “Declaration” and its continued existence in a limbo that allows for manipulation of its statements.

“Medical Neutrality”

In the “Declaration,” the WMA begins by stating that:

“Medical neutrality is a combination of the duty of the physician and other medical personnel to provide impartial care with the duty of States and de facto authorities, including parties to a conflict, to protect medical personnel and healthcare in general in times of conflict”.

In other words, in situations of conflict or war, the healthcare system has a duty to care for the entire population, including combatants on both sides, and the authorities and parties to the conflict must protect the system itself and its personnel.

This idea of ​​“medical neutrality” invoked by the “Declaration” therefore has two components.

One is linked to the idea of ​​impartiality and non-discrimination in treatment. The second component stems from the Geneva Conventions, which constitute International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and impose very strict obligations on States and belligerents in a conflict to protect healthcare personnel, patients, and healthcare facilities.

This is stated in the “Rotterdam Declaration” itself:

“In times of armed conflict, medical personnel and infrastructure benefit from the protection afforded by IHL and may be identified by the distinctive emblems of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal”.

Thus, by invoking this second component of the principle of “medical neutrality,” it would seem that the WMA is pointing the finger at the Zionist government—and at Hamas—demanding that they protect the Gazan healthcare system and its professionals and allow healthcare to be provided to all those affected by the conflict in a way that is safe for the professionals themselves.

This demand is coherent, but not sufficient.

The Achilles' heel of “medical neutrality” in practice

The “Rotterdam Declaration” states that:

“Healthcare may lose protections under international humanitarian law if engaging in acts harmful to the enemy”.

In other words, the proper protection of healthcare facilities and personnel depends on “not participating in acts harmful to the enemy”.

This is the argument the Zionist government used to justify and attempt to legally sanction, from the very beginning, its campaign to annihilate hospitals, health centers, and healthcare professionals in Gaza.

Hasbara, the powerful Zionist propaganda machine, ensured this message was disseminated through every possible media outlet, obscuring Western minds.

The result was that the entire world—including the World Media Association (WMA)—remained and continues to remain unmoved by the ruthless destruction of the Gazan healthcare system, “justified” by its alleged involvement and complicity in Hamas “terrorism.”

Many Gazan healthcare professionals were murdered or kidnapped and tortured under the accusation of being “terrorists”.

But who decides which health services “participate in acts harmful to the enemy”?

The enemy itself?

And based on what evidence?

Of course, such evidence has never existed in Gaza, except for that presented in crude propaganda fabrications.

The alleged militarization of Palestinian healthcare professionals and facilities has never been proven, and Israel has never acted in accordance with the principles of precaution and proportionality^iv,^v.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza is “a direct consequence of the disregard for International Humanitarian Law and human rights^vi”.

But none of this appears in the WMA Declaration.

Resistance to Colonialism

In general, colonial powers tend to consider all legitimate resistance to occupation as “terrorism,” and all those who actively oppose it as “terrorists.” In the case of Israel, in addition to the “terrorism” label, the arguments deployed by the Hasbara (public relations department) are always accompanied by the complementary accusation of “anti-Semitism”.

In Israel, in 2025, 76% of the Jewish population believed that there were no innocent people in Gaza^vii; of course, Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel, expressed a similar opinion: the Palestinian population supports Hamas and is collectively responsible for the armed resistance (they are all terrorists, de facto or potentially)^viii.

For Israel, neither civilians nor healthcare professionals are innocent. According to Israel, Palestinian health services “participate in acts harmful to Israel” and therefore lose “the protection afforded to them by international humanitarian law”.

In fact, since 2005, Gaza has been officially considered by Israel to be a “hostile territory,” an “enemy entity,” which is illegal and deprives its inhabitants of much of the protection afforded by International Humanitarian Law^ix.

The silence of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) regarding the genocide

The concept of “medical neutrality” invoked in the “Declaration” has nothing to do with the existence of “neutrality” and “impartiality” (ethical and political) in the face of a flagrant violation of Human Rights.

A simple reading of the WMA's Code of Medical Ethics is enough to understand that this “neutrality/impartiality” has no place in the behavior of healthcare professionals and their organizations. It is impossible to claim neutrality in the face of a genocide. Moreover, there is an ethical obligation to denounce and combat it.

The Israeli Medical Association (IMA) claims to distance itself from the actions of the Israeli government, but it has always supported government policies^x and has never denounced what was happening in Gaza, never rejected the destruction of hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the Strip, never condemned the murder, kidnapping, and torture of Gazan professionals, and never denounced the more than evident participation, by action or omission, of Israeli doctors in these acts.

On the contrary, IMA has shown itself to be yet another collaborator in the Zionist project of exterminating the Palestinian people.

Zionist ideology: from the World Health Organization (WHO) to the World Medical Association (WMA)

This expansion and penetration of Zionist ideology into healthcare environments worldwide does not only affect the WMA.

On May 28, 2024, in Geneva, at the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO), an amendment to the report on health in Palestine was approved, which reads verbatim:

“Amendment proposed by Israel to the draft decision contained in document A77/B/CONF./1. New paragraph 26. “Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza, including children, women, and the elderly, and condemns the use by armed groups of health facilities, including hospitals and ambulances, which endangers the civilian population^xi”.

During the debate on the resolution, Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, stated that “a decision that does not also condemn the militarization of health facilities by terrorists in Gaza has no intention of improving health conditions on the ground^xii”.

This approved amendment was supported by Spain, despite the fact that it “justifies” Israeli terrorism in Gaza.

Corollary

The “Rotterdam Declaration” was unanimously approved by the organizations present at the World Medical Association's annual assembly, which represents 10 million physicians from 117 countries.

Israel is a member of this Association; Palestine is not^xiii.

In other words, the colonial power (Israel) represents itself, and the colonized country (Palestine) is ignored.

Zionist ideology permeates the “Rotterdam Declaration” in a similar way to the amendment adopted in May 2024 at the World Health Assembly.

Both documents help justify Israel's policy of systematically destroying Palestinian health services (accompanied by the murder, kidnapping, torture, and imprisonment of healthcare professionals, including doctors) by alleging that they "participate in acts harmful to Israel" and have lost "the protection afforded to them by International Humanitarian Law".

Therefore, in conclusion, we reject the “Rotterdam Declaration” for providing cover for this argument and to the health genocide that Israel is committing in Gaza and, furthermore, we demand the expulsion of the Israeli Medical Association from the World Medical Association, for its complicity with this genocide and its flagrant breach of the WMA's own Code of Ethics.