31 July 2026
The British establishment has closed ranks to defend Israel from the criticisms its war crimes and ‘plausible’ genocide deserve and require. All its functionaries, from police chiefs through bank officials and Vice-Chancellors to the General Medical Council, toe the Government’s line. As often as not the infamous IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism (with no legal status, and not even a definition) is cited as justification for silencing and disciplinary jeopardy.
The government (with the ubiquitous help of Lord John Mann – who has made a political career out of seeing support for Palestine as rank antisemitism) is now cracking down on the principled pro-Palestinian activism in the NHS. But now the BMA, the doctors’ trade union, has voted to oppose the roll-out of the IHRA definition across the NHS and the Mann Reviews recommendations. BRICUP has written has written the following letter to the BMA to applaud its stand.
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13 July 2026
Dear BMACouncil secretariat, Representative Body, Medical Ethics Committee, International Committee, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group
I am writing to you to express the full support of the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine for the motions passed at the BMA Annual Representatives Meeting last month concerning the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism (IHRAWDA) and related matters.
For more than 20 years BRICUP has advocated for the universities of Palestine which have suffered continuous restrictions on their functioning by the state of Israel. In our advocacy we have with increasing frequency encountered the deliberate deployment of this ‘definition’ in attempts to undermine legitimate criticism of Israel. Although the IHRAWDA has no legal status, official bodies have too often felt the need to proceed against staff (and in universities, students) who are targeted for statements made not about Jews but about Israel.
The members of BRICUP’s Council, a significant number of whom are Jewish, are united in our defence of those unjustly targeted by accusations based on the IHRA definition, and also in our concern that the health service at all levels is now at risk of a similar silencing campaign. The adoption by the NHS of the IHRAWDA, the recommendations of the Mann Rapid Review (restricting what staff are allowed to wear!) and the decision of the Government to maintain the GMC’s right to appeal the decisions of Fitness to Practice Tribunals all point in one direction. This is to outlaw free expression on Israel/ Palestine in the health service.
What has been happening in Gaza and the West Bank (and which is still continuing) presents the most acute moral and political questions of our current era. We urge the BMA to follow through on the lead which your Annual Representatives Meeting has given. The need to defend the principle of freedom of expression has never been more urgent, and it is now the medical professions that are in the frontline.
Yours,
James Dickins
(Chair, BRICUP)
