The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMDSOM) has once again made the terrible decision to invite a high ranking representative of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to speak at its Grand Rounds on Thursday, October 9, 2025. This decision comes at a time when both the United Nations and international and Israeli human rights organizations including Amnesty International and B'Tselem have declared that Israel is actively committing genocide in Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, Israel has deliberately targeted and bombed at least 33 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza, and has for months blocked all foreign healthcare workers seeking to serve medical missions in the Strip. The United Nations has reported finding mass graves evidencing war crimes at the sites of several hospitals including the largest in Gaza, Al-Shifa Hospital.

TAKE ACTION. Join the IMAN Network in calling on UMDSOM leadership to reverse this decision and drop this speaker. It is an affront to the principles of medical ethics, human rights, and the sanctity of healthcare spaces. Email and let them know that inviting a representative of the IDF—a military body representing a government actively engaged in genocide and responsible for grave atrocities against civilians and medical professionals—contradicts the mission of saving lives and advancing care, and they should rescind this invitation immediately.