Europe’s Mental Health Chiefs Have an Israel Rethink

It seems that ENMESH, the European Network for Mental Health Service Evaluation, may reverse a recent decision not to hold a planned conference in Jerusalem due to pressure from anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions lobbyists.

Making a unilateral decision, ENMESH immediate past chairman, Professor Mike Slade of Nottingham University, UK, had announced the cancellation of Jerusalem as the venue of the organisation’s biennial 2021 conference although it had been agreed upon only several weeks before.

But Professor Slade’s move caused outrage both from fellow academics and the public, causing ENMESH to receive more than 1,000 letters of protest. The British academic has now been replaced by Professor Bernd Puschner, at the Department of Psychiatry, Ulm University, Germany. He is said to be more sympathetic to Israel than his predecessor.

However, the pro-Israel Iron Lion Zion action group warns that BDS members may yet place further pressure on ENMESH and has urged supporters:

“We need your help to convince ENMESH to take a final decision to reinstate the conference to Israel“.

© Natalie Wood (12 August 2019)