European Medical Society Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

Pictured Above: A view of Jerusalem. Credit: Berthold Werner via Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS.org) The Israel Heart Society (IHS) successfully petitioned the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The recognition came through ESC’s approval of an official document that also included an apology from the organization for previously referring to Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel.

At an ESC conference next month in Barcelona, the medical association will acknowledge its recognition of Jerusalem in the “parade of capitals” of its member states, and will also designate one of the conference’s lecture venues as “Jerusalem Hall.” About 30,000 people are expected to participate in the event. 

“We are happy that we succeeded in raising the prestige of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, in the minds of the ESC and correcting this ‘political’ injustice that has no place in medicine or any other international arena,” said IHS President Prof. Ran Kornowski, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

The medical society’s move comes as a growing number of nations are recognizing Jerusalem, which Israel reunified during the 1967 Six-Day War, as the Jewish state’s capital. Recent recognitions of Jerusalem’s capital status have been made by the government of Vanuatu, the Czech Parliament and the Russian Foreign Ministry. Russia’s move only applied to western Jerusalem, rather than the portion of the city Israel captured in 1967. The U.S. does not recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.