Thursday, May 23, 2019
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Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Director-General, World Health Organization
WHO Headquarters in Geneva
Avenue Appia 20
1202 Geneva, Switzerland

Dear Dr. Ghebreyesus,
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We are writing to you on behalf of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights organization based in Toronto, Canada, in response to the World Health Organization’s approval yesterday of a one-sided resolution that identifies Israel – and only Israel – as a violator of health rights.
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It is particularly ironic to single out Israel in this regard considering that:

• Israel is a world leader in health care innovation, medical patents, renewable energy, agricultural technology, desalination and irrigation and environmental protection
• Israel has higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates than the US, Canada, most of Europe, and the entire Arab world
• Thousands of victims of the Syrian civil war have received lifesaving health care in Israel while Syrian hospitals have been bombed out by Russian and Syrian jets
• Israel is routinely among the first countries to deploy aid and emergency medical response teams to disaster sites around the world such as cyclone-battered Mozambique and earthquake-stricken Haiti
• Thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank receive world-class health care in Israeli hospitals every year, including Palestinian leader Jibril Rajoub who was     recently admitted to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv notwithstanding his open support for terror attacks against Israelis
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This shabby action on the part of the WHO is not merely biased and unfounded; it causes real harm to global health by diverting attention and resources away from countries where health rights are actually violated such as:

• Syria where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced, tortured, barrel bombed and subjected to chemical weapons 
• Gaza where women and children are used as human shields during violent border riots, hospitals and medical centres are used as munitions depots and homosexuals are defenestrated from buildings and thrown from rooftops
• Pakistan where hundreds of people, mostly children, were recently infected with HIV by medical practitioners who engage in unsafe practices such as reusing needles and     syringes
• Venezuela where access to basic health care has collapsed and the average adult reports having lost 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year due to food shortages

• Yemen where civil war has left millions with no access to health care whatsoever 
• The many countries across Africa and the Middle East where female genital mutilation is routinely practiced

While it is gratifying that Canada demonstrated moral leadership on this issue and opposed the WHO resolution, it is yet another example of the UN and its appendages being hijacked in order to advance an antisemitic political agenda.  This is a modern-day rebranding of the medieval trope of Jews poisoning the wells.

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Sincerely,

Dr. Mark J. Korman MD FRCSC

Division Head, Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery
William Osler Health System
Adjunct Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

Dr. PhilipSolomon MD FRCSC‍

Nasal and Facial Surgery Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery,
University of Toronto

Co-chairs, Doctors for Wiesenthal

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