Revealed: how antisemitic bigotry surged through the NHS after the October 7 atrocities

After launching an investigation, the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust now insists that it has reminded staff they must not wear partisan symbols at work. “We do not tolerate any discriminatory practice and react swiftly where there is evidence of such behaviour,” the body said in a statement.

“Our patients are our priority at all times, and we would like to reassure people of all faiths, and those of none, within our community.”

The Jewish boy who was allegedly mistreated at a hospital in Manchester[Missing Credit]

However, the JC can now reveal the extent of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudice among NHS staff – bigotry given a terrifying boost by the atrocities of October 7.

British doctors working at trusts around the country have defended the Hamas terror attack, claimed Britain is an “Israeli colony” and denied the Shoah.

Figures obtained by the Jewish Medical Association reveal that while in 2021 four doctors were referred to the regulator, the General Medical Council, for antisemitism, and none were referred in 2022, in the four months following October 7, a staggering 66 medical professionals were flagged.

Speaking to the JC, MPs have now demanded that the NHS take action against antisemitic medical workers to restore Jewish patients’ faith in the healthcare system.

One disturbing example is that of anaesthetist Dr Najmiah Khaiessa Ahmad, who works at the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey.

Last December, she shared a video that claimed the Jewish Rothschild family made up the “so-called ‘Holocaust’ to serve as a mind kontrol trigger to thwart and resist any criticism of their Zionist ways [sic]” and that they want to trick “dumb American goyim” into fighting for Israel. “For my own watching,” Dr Ahmad wrote as she shared the clip. “Learning each day.”

The anaesthetist has also shared a video on X/Twitter featuring a woman making worrying claims about Jewish power.

She said: “We are witnessing the horrific bombing of Gaza... so in the exact same way as Zionists lit a fire in Germany to get the German Jews to go to Palestine. The Zionists are doing the same exact thing in the United States now.”

Dr Ahmad added on Facebook: “I’ve always wanted to know why Hitler was hellbent on killing.”

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are aware of concerns raised in relation to social media posts by a member of our staff and we are handling the matter internally.”

[Missing Credit]Dr Najmiah Khaiessa Ahmad[Missing Credit]

Dr Ali Al-Rikabi, a consultant surgeon at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, meanwhile, has attacked Israelis as “Zio-Neo-Nazis” and claimed that Israel controls the British government. On LinkedIn, he wrote: “It is clear that the US and the UK are in fact Israeli colonies.”

Dr Ali Al-Rikabi (Photo: Twitter)[Missing Credit]

A spokesman for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said they were investigating comments made by Dr Al-Rikabi on social media. They added. “We do not tolerate views and language that is discriminatory or intolerant of others.”

While only some NHS staff have shared such extreme material online, many others are said to have broken hospital rules by wearing pro-Palestine insignia.

Professor David Katz, the head of the Jewish Medical Association, said pins and badges supporting the cause were a common sight in many British medical facilities.

“You just have to walk round the hospitals that serve many Jewish patients, and you see large numbers of pro-Palestine badges… It seems quite extraordinary that others do not recognise that wearing these badges is wrong,” he said.

In other cases, he claimed, Jewish doctors have failed to report racism targeting them because they do not want to rock the boat.

At pro-Palestine protests organised by doctors, other extreme sentiments have been on display following the launch of Israel’s war against Hamas.

Last December, at a meeting for healthcare workers held at the UCL Institute of Education, Palestinian doctor Ghada Kardi was applauded when she declared: “What you saw on October the 7th was breaking out from the cage of Gaza by a resistance movement.”

British Palestinian surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who has previously praised terrorist Ahmad Jarrar – who masterminded the murder of father-of-six Rabbi Raziel Shevach in a drive-by shooting near Nablus – told those present: “The Israeli Medical Association needs to be expelled and all contact between it and British medical associations and royal colleges needs to be severed.”

Data collected following October 7 has also exposed growing prejudice in the NHS. Following Hamas’s massacre of 1,200 Israelis last year, 95 per cent of Jewish healthcare workers in Britain have seen a rise in antisemitism in their daily lives, one poll has revealed.

Three-quarters said that they had personally suffered at least one Jew-hate incident over the same period. The survey, led by Dr Joseph Greenwall-Cohen and the Jewish Dental Association, found that 70 per cent of antisemitic incidents reported by healthcare workers involved actions or statements by colleagues, with half of those surveyed saying that they did not feel safe in clinical settings.

“Jewish patients have a right to be safe in hospital and to be treated fairly and not to be subjected to individuals who have promoted denial of the October 7 pogrom, denied the Holocaust or otherwise promoted antisemitism,” Tory MP Andrew Percy said. “The NHS must act as it would if there were evidence of other forms of racism.”

Labour MP Sharon Hodgson said: “It is deeply upsetting to hear reports of a small number of doctors who serve in our NHS using antisemitic language and tropes to discuss the October 7 attacks in Israel.

“It is imperative that we shut down conspiracy theories and antisemitic narratives.”

Navina Evans, Chief Workforce Officer at NHS England, said: “The NHS provides care and treatment for everyone regardless of race, faith, or background and there is no place for any form of discrimination or racism.

“All trusts and NHS healthcare providers should have policies in place to take necessary action against any staff who have expressed views that in no way reflect the views or values of the NHS.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Patients must be able to trust that the person treating them will give them the best possible care regardless of their race or background.

“The Health Secretary has been clear that racism or discrimination of any kind, which includes antisemitism, has no place in our health system and must be rooted out wherever it is found.

“Regulators and healthcare providers should take timely and appropriate action in response to reports of healthcare professionals expressing extremist or discriminatory views, in the interests of patients and colleagues.”

Ghada Karmi said: “What I said at the meeting was a statement of fact, no more, no less.”

Dr Abu-Sittah said: “My specific criticism of the Israeli Medical Association concerned its failure to take regulatory action against doctors who publicly supported the bombing of hospitals. I stand by my call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further catastrophic casualties on all sides.”

Dr Abu-Sittah has previously told the JC: “While I may in the past have used emotive language at the funeral of a friend or following an extra-judicial killing, I vehemently oppose terrorism, and civilian casualties on all sides.

“As a surgeon, my vocation is preserving life and I repeat my calls for a sustainable ceasefire and lasting peace.”

Dr Abu-Sittah’s lawyers have previously said that he “abhors” antisemitism. They also also said he did not know that Jarrar had been involved in the killing of a rabbi and that he would never condone murder.

They claimed that Abu-Sittah had written the article because, in his view, Jarrar was the victim of an extra-judicial Israeli killing and he should have faced due process instead.