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Will Israel's force-feeding law turn doctors into political tools?

The controversial force-feeding law passed in July will soon be tested by the case of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Allan as the Israel Medical Association stands firm against a practice it considers unethical.
Israeli soldiers stand guard as Palestinians hold national flags and  posters of jailed relatives during a protest in solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike,in the West Bank city of Hebron June 4, 2014. Some 120 Palestinians jailed without trial in Israel have been on an open-ended hunger strike, eating only salt and drinking water, since April 24 to demand an end to so-called "administrative detention". REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3S7JN
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Mohammed Allan, the administrative detainee who has been on hunger strike for 57 straight days now, is testing the new force-feeding law passed by the Knesset on July 30 just before breaking for summer recess. Allan was hospitalized in critical condition at Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba and on Aug. 10 was transferred to Barzilai Medical Center in the town of Ashkelon. In the three weeks since his transfer to the hospital, he has been under the supervision of senior physicians there. After the Knesset passed the bill, his doctors — under advisement from the Israel Medical Association — decided that they would not be used as political pawns and would not force-feed him. As far as they’re concerned, the Hippocratic Oath overrides the controversial law.

Two days after the Knesset passed the law, Dr. Tamar Karni, chairman of the IMA’s ethics committee, showed up at the Soroka ward in support of its physicians, who are complying with Allan’s wish not to be fed under any circumstances as long as he is conscious and refuses to eat of his own free will. Karni told Al-Monitor that the state has pressured the doctors, expecting them to do its job.

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