NHS doctor suspended for 15 months over series of 'anti-Semitic and pro-terrorism' comments
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan is being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) over a series of posts and comments made across various social media platforms
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) has imposed a 15-month interim suspension on the registration of a Palestinian doctor accused of antisemitism.
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Dr Rahmeh Aladwan is being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) over a series of posts and comments made across various social media platforms following a number of complaints including from the Jewish Medical Association UK and the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
GMC counsel Emma Gilsenan told the MPTS hearing that Dr Aladwan’s posts included content that allegedly “justifies terrorism, denies sexual violence, includes antisemitic conspiracy theories, misuses Holocaust and Nazi imagery and expresses support for proscribed groups and terrorist acts”.
She added that Dr Aladwan had allegedly referred to the Royal Free Hospital in London as a “Jewish supremacy cesspit”, doxxed NHS colleagues for raising concerns about her, and expressed explicit support for proscribed organisations such as Hamas and Palestine Action.
Read more: Daughter of Holocaust survivor among protesters arrested at London rally over Palestine Action ban
Ms Gilsenan submitted that it was “unconscionable to consider that Dr Aladwan should be permitted to continue to practise”.
Dr Aladwan’s lawyer Kevin Saunders submitted that the posts “fell into the category of legitimate political speech and debate” and that she denies making racist or hate speech.
He added that there was “no information to suggest that Dr Aladwan presents a real and immediate risk to patient safety”.
Dr Aladwan was arrested last month on suspicion of misusing a public communications network, sending malicious communications and stirring up racial hatred.
The Met Police investigation relates to allegations that comments made at a July protest in London, and also online in recent months, were “grossly offensive and antisemitic”.
In September, the MPTS ruled that it would not impose interim conditions on Dr Aladwan’s registration, saying it did not believe the complaints against her were “sufficient to establish that there may be a real risk to patients”.
However, the tribunal’s chair Lee Davies found on Wednesday that her alleged conduct “may impact on patient confidence in both her and the profession and patients may be discouraged from seeking treatment from her”.
He added that there had been “additional information” made available since September which “may indicate an escalation in the tone and nature of Dr Aladwan’s activities and posts which may be considered to be extreme, offensive and antisemitic”.
Mr Davies said: “The Tribunal considers that the allegations, if found proved, are serious and appear to have arisen from persistent and prolonged posting of potentially egregious material which has been widely disseminated by Dr Aladwan, resulting in a number of individual complaints made to the GMC.
“Whilst the Tribunal is mindful of Dr Aladwan’s freedom of expression rights, it has noted a number of comments which allegedly support and celebrate terrorist acts and organisations, and promote violent action and offensive Jewish tropes.”
He added that “many complaints” had been received “from individual members of the public and various organisations”.
Interim orders tribunals decide if a doctor’s practice should be restricted while a GMC investigation takes place.
The hearings do not make a finding of fact in relation to the allegations under investigation, but are a risk assessment of whether there are grounds to restrict a doctor’s practice during an investigation.
The interim suspension of 15 months on Dr Aladwan took effect from Wednesday and will be reviewed within six months.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is looking to overhaul the way medical regulators investigate cases of antisemitism after saying the system is failing to protect Jewish people.
The GMC and MPTS assess the conduct of doctors and decide whether sanctions – such as being struck off the medical register – are necessary.
But campaigners say antisemitism has been able to “fester unchecked” in the NHS and medical profession since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023.
Mr Streeting said last month: “We must be unequivocal that antisemitism has absolutely no place in our NHS, or anywhere in our society.
“It is clear that the current medical regulatory system is completely failing to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff.
“I am looking urgently at how we can overhaul the current regime, which has been found completely wanting.”