Australian Medical Association slammed for Soroka silence
'It was basically a war crime.There was no military operation buried under the hospital,' says Dr Green.
The President of the Victorian branch of the Australasian Jewish Medical Federation has condemned Iran’s missile strike on Israel’s Soroka Medical Centre last week as “a war crime of the highest order”.
Dr Jack Green said the strike on the 1200-bed academic medical centre in Beersheba represented a clear violation of international law, and he’s criticised the Australian Medical Association’s silence on the attack.
“That’s definitely a war crime. There was no association with, any association with Israeli military. It’s basically, it was basically a war crime. There was no military operation buried under the hospital,” Dr Green said.
Dr Green drew a stark contrast between Iran’s targeting of civilian infrastructure and Israel’s military operations.
“Iran, unlike Israel, which is attacking military installations and conducts military, their military missions according to international law, and you can see that in the targets that they’ve gone for in Iran. Iran has been hitting cities on many occasions, civilian populations,” he said.
Dr Green specifically criticised the Australian Medical Association’s (AMA’s) lack of response to the attack.
“Well, conspicuously, there’s been no comment at all. And you would have thought such a significant hospital, such a well reported incident, would have evoked some sort of comment, but I haven’t seen any,” he said.
“Iran goes and hits the major hospital in southern Israel serving both the Israeli and the Arab Israeli population and yet there’s no comment. So that is quite disappointing and is a bit of a double standard.”
The AMA has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging the Australian government to call for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza and to protect all healthcare personnel.
The World Medical Association strongly condemned the strike, with President Dr Ashok Philip stating, “Any strike on a hospital violates international law. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues at Soroka Medical Center and strongly condemn this attack.”
Israeli Medical Association President Professor Zion Hagay called for international scrutiny and accountability measures.
“The eyes of the entire world should be turned this morning to Soroka Medical Center, to understand what a war crime truly looks like,” Professor Hagay wrote to the World Medical Association.
Professor Hagay noted that only the hospital’s preparedness and prior experience with missiles from Gaza prevented a much greater disaster.
The Australian Medical Association was contacted for comment but did not respond by deadline.