CAIRO: Any doctor who participates in a conference hosting Israelis will be brought before a disciplinary board, head of the Doctors' Syndicate Hamdy El-Sayed told Daily News Egypt Monday. “Israeli physicians are not allowed to enter Egypt or conduct any kind of medical activities in the country, either,” Al-Sayed added. A hematology medical conference, due to be held in Cairo from May 22-25, had invited Israeli doctors. Independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Sunday that professors of Hematology at Qasr El-Aini, Ein Shams and Alexandria medical schools expressed dissatisfaction towards the participation of two Israeli doctors in the conference. Professor at Qasr El-Aini Mona Al-Qasas told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the organizers had invited them, even though Egyptian doctors threatened to boycott the conference. "We agreed to join the meeting after we were assured that the Israelis would not be attending, only to be surprised when we received the schedule by email, indicating that two Israelis would be leading sessions," El-Qasas said. One of the two doctors was reportedly banned from entering Egypt. Israel National News, an English language Israeli news website, reported Sunday that Uri Seligsohn, Professor of Hematology at Tel HaShomer's Sheba Medical Center, was unable to obtain a visa from the Egyptian government in order to attend the conference. Seligsohn is the chairman of the Education Committee of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), the organization that sponsors the event. “The Foreign Ministry must be thanked if it took such a decision,” Al-Sayed said. Egypt has been normalizing with Israel for years after signing a peace treaty in 1979. Nevertheless, Al-Sayed has a different opinion. “Egypt on the government level has normalized with Israel but not on the people's level,” he argued. The Doctors' Syndicate's General Assembly has rejected any form of normalization with Israel since the 1970s. “We are patriotic doctors who have a cause. Israeli physicians were denounced on national and international levels for involvement in torturing Palestinians and for belonging to a racist country,” Al-Sayed concluded.
