This is the story of the suspension (in August 2024) and subsequent reinstatement (in March 2025) of the Federation of Israeli Medical Students (FIMS) into the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA).
The significance of this case: it is a successful example of fighting anti-semitism in international organizations. Even though it’s small, victories over anti-Semitism are few and far between. Moreover, as my earlier blog argues, antisemitism in the medical profession (and elsewhere) has “small beginnings” with big consequences, so “small victories” are important.
The guests on this podcast are all medical students:
Miri Shvimmer: President of the Federation of Israeli Medical Students.
Garrick Hoichman: Another leader in the Federation of Israeli Medical Students.
Amelie Belosevic: Vice-President for International Affairs of BVMD (the German medical students’ association).
The conversation was recorded on May 4, 2025.
This is my first podcast — and it’s a long one at just over 1.5 hours! But this is also an under-reported story. I don’t know anywhere else the full story has been told from the perspectives, and in the voices, of some of the people directly involved.
The video of the full episode is above. Here is the audio of the full episode:
If you don’t want to spend 1.5 hours, here is what I suggest, in 3 easy steps:
Read my earlier blog that covers the case through January 2025.
Medical students, anti-Semitism, and “small beginnings”
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In 1949, Dr Leo Alexander, a psychiatrist and consultant to the Secretary of War on the Nuremberg trials, wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine on “Medical Science under Dictatorship”:
Review below what happened in February and March 2025:
WHO Executive Board: IFMSA is in ‘official relations’ with WHO which is reviewed every 3 years. It happened to come up for renewal. The WHO Secretariat prepared a list of more than 100 organizations to be renewed by the Executive Board, including IFMSA. We can presume the Israeli Executive Board member, and maybe others, raised concerns behind the scenes. When the Executive Board session on this topic finally occurred, it began with the WHO Secretariat reading a letter from IFMSA committing to introduce a motion at the upcoming March IFMSA General Assembly to reverse the suspension of FIMS. Based on that, the Executive Board renewed IFMSA’s ‘official relations’ status. Although this gave away any further leverage WHO might have, It was clear that this entire episode caused IFMSA to realize that some of their key relationships were at stake in relation to their (mis)handling of FIMS.
IFMSA General Assembly: There was no resolution introduced about FIMS. Instead, the focus was on legal advice IFMSA had received that their process of suspending FIMS in August 2025 was hopelessly flawed and should be considered null and void. Ultimately a footnote was added to the minutes of the August 2024 meeting saying the suspension was null and void. IFMSA later issued a press release saying the suspension was “legally void” and quoting the IFMSA President apologizing to FIMS for the “improper and unfair suspension.”
Watch this 11 minute video clip from the full podcast (1h:21min mark onwards) on lessons learned:
As you will see, this is a story of leadership. Kudos to all on this podcast, and also to the current IFMSA President for reversing that organization’s position. It’s inspiring to see this leadership on the part of medical students, don’t you think?
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