Of all the fields that have fallen victim to politicization, the damage will be felt most acutely in medicine and public health. That’s where the stakes are highest, especially in the education and training of the world’s future doctors and researchers. The latest trashing of medical norms and ethics comes in service of—what else?—rank Jew-hatred. Expect to see this more and more, since faddish left-wing politics increasingly govern global professional networks, and the litmus test of all litmus tests for that ideological cohort is anti-Zionism.

Hence, on Wednesday the Israeli branch of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) sent an email notifying interested parties of “IFMSA’s decision to suspend the Israeli medical students’ organization” for two years. IFMSA, launched in 1951, is a massive cooperative body of the world’s medical students. More than 100 countries participate in its conferences and student-exchange programs.

“This suspension can only be revoked by a two-thirds majority, which is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future,” notes the letter. “Despite our submission of letters from officials at the [World Health Organization], the IFMSA chose to ignore them and proceeded with the suspension without any proof of rule violations or a formal investigation. This decision directly contravenes the IFMSA’s constitution and bylaws, which were specifically suspended to facilitate our suspension.”

According to the email, a contingent of senior pro-Hamas members got particularly aggressive on Zoom calls and other shared spaces, and when the Israelis and some of their European counterparts called for an investigation, the Israelis were suspended. The Israeli association’s president, Miri Shvimmer, told Ynet that the vote was rushed through without proper advance notice. Prompted by the Palestinian observer group, Brazil’s association made the move, according to Shvimmer.

The suspension was made, according to the report, over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the country’s supposed “lack of morals and humanitarian values.”

Which is to say, the supposedly apolitical organization has now embraced politics at its most consequential. The suspension is an explicit national-origin discrimination, and IFMSA accepted the renunciation of its raison d’etre without blinking.

The Israelis are challenging the decision, of course. Israel Medical Association chairman Professor Zion Hagay made the obvious point in a letter to IFMSA president Evangelia Roubou: “The Israeli delegation is responsible for government actions just as the Palestinian delegation is responsible for Hamas terrorism.”

By the federation’s own logic, it cannot defend the inclusion of a Palestinian delegation after October 7. This is why the organization fought to stay non-political for so long: you either hold citizens accountable for their governments or you don’t. And as soon as an organization turns political, its first act will be taken against the Jews—just as it was here, by IFMSA.

Moreover, Haggay protested, “Such a move is in direct contradiction to the goal of the federation, which is to bring together medical students from all parts of the world. If there are differences of opinion, the goal should be to discuss them, not to engage in drastic measures such as suspending an entire delegation.”

But that’s just it: Hagay is describing the values of an organization dedicated to the public good, not progressive activism. As we’ve seen repeatedly on college campuses, a student organization overtaken by progressive fad politics is constitutionally resistant to the very concepts of discussion and debate.

Finally, Hagay notes: “On a technical level, it is far from clear on what basis the Israeli delegation can be removed.”

This is true but Hagay is presuming the federation is interested in maintaining its legitimacy as a medical students organization. It is clearly not. As soon as an organization commits to the whims of the global anti-Zionist project, it cannot be governed by rules. It is governed by fear—the fear, mostly, of young adults with social media accounts.

Aside from the obvious bigotry, the dominant characteristic of anti-Israel politicization is cowardice. It’s unavoidable, because you can either have legitimate rules and regulations or you can hang your “Jews not welcome” sign, but you can’t have both. The world is going backwards, and IFMSA is just the latest to surrender to it.