Israel Tries to Poach UK Doctors to Work on Illegally Occupied Land

An Israeli government agency is encouraging doctors in London to emigrate to Israel and the occupied West Bank to compensate for a domestic brain drain amid the ongoing genocide and increased restrictions on the number of Palestinian doctors in its healthcare system. 

A medical fair, MedEx UK, was hosted in London last Sunday by the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, alongside Zionist groups Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency for Israel, Middle East Eye reported. 

Attendees were invited to meet Israeli hospital representatives at the event and take on site Hebrew language tests required to obtain Israeli medical licences. 

Leaflets from medical providers Terem and Clalit, which operate in illegal West Bank settlements, were offered to guests. Representatives from Leumit Health Services, which claims to run 30 establishments in the occupied West Bank, were included on a list of attendees seen by Middle East Eye. 

“They had a lot of very eminent professors there. They were only there for the day, and flew back the next day,” said an activist who infiltrated the event. They added that representatives for Clalit told guests: “Truly wherever you want to go in Israel, we can help with accommodation.”

Sunday’s MedEx event was held as part of a years-long drive to bring 2,000 doctors to Israel by 2029 as increasing numbers of its doctors go abroad. Some 1,369 medics left Israel between 2023 and 2025, marking a fivefold increase over the previous decade.

The drive to recruit British doctors also comes as the Israeli Ministry of Health intensifies its efforts to exclude Palestinian medics. In 2019, the government brought in new restrictions on the number of foreign medical schools whose graduates are allowed to sit Israel’s licensing exams. Students from occupied Palestine cannot enrol in Israeli medical schools, forcing them abroad, whilst Palestinian citizens of Israel face structural barriers to entry. 

At the same time, the Israeli government has introduced financial incentives and streamlined processes aimed at attracting suitable foreign doctors. In 2025, it was announced that doctors with 10 years of experience could waive Israel’s licensing exam, down from 14 years.

The number of Palestinian doctors in Israel has skyrocketed in the last decade, with almost 45% of newly licensed medics categorised as “Arab and Druze” in 2023. But this number is expected to plummet as Palestinian doctors who started studying at foreign medical schools in 2019 are no longer considered eligible to practice in Israel.