Controversy erupted at the 7th Global Mental Health Summit in Cape Town after Health Care Workers for Palestine–South Africa (HCW4P-SA) objected to the inclusion of an Israeli academic in the conference programme.

The summit, held from November 10 to 12 at Cape Town City Hall, was set to feature Dr. Galia Moran, a social work academic from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.

Her presentation, titled “Multicultural perspectives and experiences of peer support workers providing peer support in mental health services,” was withdrawn following the objection.

In a statement issued by HCW4P-SA, the group argued that Dr. Moran’s participation was “inappropriate” in light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and “the brutal apartheid policies inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and other occupied territories.”

“While Gaza’s mental health system lies in ruins and Palestinians endure genocide, Israeli academics from complicit institutions are given platforms at mental health conferences,” HCW4P-SA said. “This normalisation contradicts the very principles of mental health advocacy.”

The organisation said it had requested that summit organisers ask Dr. Moran to “publicly condemn the genocide and its catastrophic mental health impacts on Gaza’s people,” as well as Israel’s occupation policies.

However, according to the statement, summit organisers declined, stating that it would be “neither their duty nor just to force speakers to denounce their own country’s actions.”

Additionally, Dr. Moran reportedly refused to issue a condemnation and subsequently withdrew from the event.

HCW4P-SA maintained that Israeli universities are “part of the state apparatus, support the military establishment, and are complicit in denying Palestinian rights.”

The group added that allowing Israeli delegates to present without addressing the situation in Gaza was “immoral and unethical.”

The statement also referenced South Africa’s ongoing case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of committing genocide in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

“Going forward, if Israeli delegates are to attend or present at conferences in South Africa, we demand they condemn their government’s genocide and present without institutional affiliation,” HCW4P-SA said.

The organisation framed its demand within the context of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, comparing it to the international academic and cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Such a request is not a violation of academic freedom,” the group concluded. “It is a question of human rights, social justice, and freedom from oppression.”

IOL

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