An NHS doctor accused of anti-Semitism has been suspended for 15 months pending an investigation, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in the UK has ruled.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is investigating Dr Rahmeh Aladwan over posts and comments he made on various social media platforms following multiple complaints, including from the Jewish Medical Association UK and the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
GMC lawyer Emma Gilsenan told the MPTS hearing that Aladwan’s posts contained material that allegedly “justifies terrorism, denies sexual violence, contains anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, misuses Holocaust and Nazi imagery and expresses support for banned groups and terrorist acts”.
They said Aladwan, a British Palestinian trainee in trauma and orthopedics, had allegedly harassed NHS colleagues for raising concerns about what he called the Royal Free Hospital in London a “cesspool of Jewish supremacy”, and had expressed explicit support for banned organizations such as Hamas and Palestine Action.
Gilsenan submitted that “it is unreasonable to consider that Dr Aladwan should be allowed to continue to practise”.
Aladwan’s lawyer, Kevin Saunders, submitted that the posts “fall within the category of legitimate political speech and debate” and denied making racist or hate speech. He said that “there is no information to suggest that Dr. Aladwan poses a real and immediate risk to patient safety”.
In September, the MPTS ruled that it would not impose interim conditions on Aladwan’s registration, saying it did not believe the complaints against him were “sufficient to establish that there may be a real risk to patients”.
However, the tribunal chairman, Lee Davies, found on Wednesday that his alleged conduct “could impact on patient confidence in both him and the profession and may discourage patients from seeking treatment from him”.
He said “additional information” has been made available since September that “may indicate an increase in the tone and nature of Dr. Aladwan’s activities and posts, which could be considered extreme, offensive, and anti-Semitic”.
Davis said: “The tribunal considers that the allegations, if found proven, are serious and appear to arise from the persistent and prolonged posting of potentially serious material, which has been widely disseminated by Dr Aladwan, resulting in a number of individual complaints to the GMC.
“While the Tribunal is mindful of Dr. Aladwan’s rights to freedom of expression, it has taken note of a number of comments that allegedly support and celebrate terrorist acts and organizations, and promote violent action and offensive Jewish tropes.”
He said that “numerous complaints” had been received “from individual members of the public and various organisations”.
The 15-month interim suspension on 31-year-old Aladwan came into effect from Wednesday and will be reviewed within six months.
The GMC and MPTS assess the conduct of doctors and decide whether sanctions, including removal of names from the medical register, are necessary. MPTS Interim Orders Tribunals decide whether a doctor’s practice should be restricted during the GMC investigation, but they do not reach their own conclusions.
The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, is calling for changes to the way medical regulators investigate cases of anti-Semitism, after saying that “the current medical regulatory system has completely failed to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff”.
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