Dr Rahmeh Aladwan handed fifteen-month interim suspension after online crusade against British Jews

Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, an NHS doctor who uses her social media and public appearances to wage a campaign of hatred against British Jews, has been suspended for fifteen months while an investigation takes place.

The result today was handed down by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) after Campaign Against Antisemitism and others submitted numerous complaints to the General Medical Council (GMC) regarding Dr Aladwan.

The complaints referenced a selection of egregious posts, which can be found here.

Further posts can be found here.

Dr Aladwan rose to notoriety earlier this year as some of her earlier rhetoric was revealed.

Among the alleged posts were:

• In a reel entitled ‘Resist’, alongside an upside-down red triangle icon, she wrote: “We never condemn the Palestinians. We back their struggle, including armed struggle.” In recent months, the inverted red triangle and its emoji variant have been used by some anti-Israel activists to signal support for proscribed terrorist organisations such as Hamas, inspired by the appearance of the symbol in Hamas propaganda videos to indicate targets for attack.
• Captioning a photo of a Hamas gunman: “A picture of AlQassam a day keeps the Z’s [Zionists] locked away.”
• In reference to the antisemitic Amsterdam pogrom of November last year, she posted a hand-drawn graph with the words “f*** around” along one axis, and “find out” along the other. The caption reads: “You provoke. You pushed. You prodded. You play victim. You deserve to pay. You parasitic pariah. Settlers should feel welcome nowhere. And if they tried that crap in the UK, they’ll be met with resistance too. Seems justice is found on the streets.”

Since then, her rhetoric has escalated.

Today’s result came after the MPTS’s Interim Orders Tribunal’s staggering ruling in September that Dr Aladwan was fit to continue practising medicine while she is under investigation by the GMC.

Emboldened by the Tribunal’s unwillingness to act against her, Dr Aladwan only ramped up her abhorrent online behaviour. A selection of these posts included:

• An image of a bulldozer breaching the border fence between Gaza and Israel on 7th October during Hamas’ terrorist attack with the caption: “Glory to the breaking of the 17 year long illegal siege. Glory to the Palestinian resistance. Glory to our martyrs.
• A call to “End jewish [sic] supremacy.”
• A video of a Hamas member with the caption: “Al-Qassam fighter: The ‘israeli’ enemy has two options: either leave our land or be buried in it.”
• A post stating that “The ‘israeli’ jewish [sic] lobby has fully captured Britain.”
• A post calling to “Free Britain from jewish [sic] supremacy.”
• Claiming that “The jews [sic] love stealing Palestinian bodies and harvesting their organs as well as tormenting the family.”
• Alleging that “jews [sic] will keep murdering until they are forced to stop.”
• Referencing far-right white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes: “Nick explains the overriding power structure in the world today – jewish [sic] supremacy. Sending them to ‘israel’ [sic] is how this mess started in Palestine and the US. They used WW2 to move jews to Palestine & now that less jews want to settle—they need a reason.”

The Tribunal’s September ruling was a shocking abdication of its responsibility to protect the public, finding that Dr Aladwan had done nothing to “undermine public confidence in the medical profession,” and that there was nothing in the abusive rhetoric she employs against British Jews that “amounts to bullying or harassment.”

Disregarding the copious evidence placed before it, the Tribunal determined that there was nothing to indicate that Dr Aladwan is a risk to patients and that “a reasonable and fully informed member of the public would not be alarmed or concerned to learn that Dr Aladwan had been permitted to continue in unrestricted medical practice…”

In justifying its decision, the Tribunal cited Dr Aladwan’s right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. In so doing, it chose to ignore the legal precedent established in the Court of Appeal in one of the GMC’s own cases, and pointed out to it by Campaign Against Antisemitism, that demonstrated the limitations of speech that a doctor must respect in order to remain in the profession.

Following the Tribunal’s initial ruling, Campaign Against Antisemitism notified the GMC of its intention to challenge its decision in court, via judicial review.

The GMC re-referred Dr Aladwan to the MTPT, and that led to this week’s hearing, culminating in today’s decision to suspend her for fifteen months while an investigation takes place.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Dr Aladwan has been on an unapologetic crusade to harass the Jewish community and, until now, she has shockingly managed to do so without facing any consequences. We are pleased to see that common sense has finally prevailed – at least for the next fifteen months – and that an interim suspension has been handed down, following our complaints.

“It is inconceivable that a Jewish person would feel safe receiving treatment from this doctor. The steps we have taken against Dr Aladwan are further evidence of our commitment to protect the Jewish community as the UK’s institutions continue to fail it. We expect the GMC to pursue its investigation speedily so that this doctor is removed from the medical profession without much further delay.”