Another Israeli doctor barred from a conference in Egypt
Remember when the Susan G. Komen Foundation held a conference in Egypt and Israeli breast cancer specialists were barred? It's happening again. Maariv correspondent Tomar Welmar reports in today’s edition that Egypt has so far refused to issue a visa to Dr. Uri Seligsohn, Professor of HematologyAnd you thought we had a peace treaty with Egypt, didn't you?
at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer so that he can attend the 56th Scientific and Standardization Committee (SSC) meeting of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) in Cairo, May 22 – 25, 2010.
Professor Seligsohn is the Chairman, Education Committee of the ISTH and supported the decision by ISTH two years ago to schedule the 2010 meeting in Cairo.
“I thought that there were ties of peace and friendship between Israel and Egypt and I thought that with the help of the conference we would be able to develop the Egyptian medical system, but unfortunately I was wrong. It is most serious that medicine is being mixed with politics, and apparently the Egyptian are uncomfortable that a Jew and an Israeli doctor should come to their conferences. Since it became known that the Egyptians refuse to approve my entry there has been a tremendous commotion among researchers and doctors around the world. I know of many researchers who have cancelled their attendance at the conference and the management of the organization has announced that this move will have serious ramifications for scientists in Egypt,” Seligsohn told Welmar.
The poster at the top is from an earlier meeting of the ISTH.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:25 AM
4 Comments:
The Egyptians hate the Jews so much that they do not want any Jew to contaminate their country. Things have not changed much in the last 3,000 years.
Right, time to take back the Sinai.
That was meant to be "land for peace" wasn't it?
NO PEACE, NO LAND!
NO MORE LAND ANYWAY!!!
No scientific or technical conference should ever be scheduled in an arab or muslim country, for many obvious and several not-so-obvious reasons.
First off, their execrable political stances, religious intolerance, hubris, and outright anti-semitism get in the way of real researchers attending.
Second, the arab and muslim world is many things. A font of enlightened learning, research, scientific freedom, and literacy ... not so much. Apart from oil, the major export from these nations is terror. And complaints about Israel, and the US. And anti-semitic cartoons. Arab and muslim societies have a serious case of believing in conspiracy theories ... the most common of which, our own tin-foil hat wearing loonies wouldn't touch with a 3 meter pole.
Third, a good number of scientists are women. Whom are, at best, second class citizens in arab and muslim countries, and at worst, are chattel property if not slaves of men in those places. Why again would women who supposedly love freedom, who love their ability to contribute to the scientific discourse, who enjoy interacting with their collegues, subject themselves to such indignities? Several women researchers at the new university in Saudi Arabia drove to a mall and were arrested for doing so. Such a common, and normal activity, and they were thrown in jail. Why again would any women researcher consider attending a conference in such a
location? Why would any consider working under such conditions?
There is no valid reason, and many valid concerns, to scheduling scientific meetings in arab or muslim countries. There aren't many scientists in these countries, and the argument that such conferences will spur growth in the scientist population, and may positively impact the government policies to become a more civilized society ... these claims are unfounded, specious, and ill-informed at best.
It's self destructive for a country that depends on revenue from tourism to drive away conventions and conferences. They punish themselves in the end.
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