Malignant: Antisemitism in the NHS
Today, Campaign Against Antisemitism has published a groundbreaking documentary on antisemitism in the healthcare sector, titled “Malignant: Antisemitism in the NHS”.
The documentary presents interviews with NHS practitioners and patients detailing their horrendous experiences, including:
- A Jewish nurse subjected to a Nazi salute;
- Antisemitic abuse to a Jewish patient during surgery;
- A senior Jewish medical professor receiving antisemitic death threats;
- A Jewish patient being treated by a leader of a now-proscribed Islamist terrorist organisation;
- A Jewish emergency worker being physically attacked by a colleague;
- And more.
You can watch the full documentary here.
You can read exclusive pre-broadcast coverage of our documentary published in The Telegraph today here, which includes an op-ed authored by our Chief Executive Gideon Falter on the topic.
In addition, we are today publishing representative polling of the Jewish community that shows:
- A clear majority of British Jews would be concerned about not receiving equal care because they are Jewish.
- One third of British Jews who have used the NHS since 7th October 2023 say that they were uncomfortable due to their Jewish identity.
- More than four in ten British Jews who have used the NHS since 7th October 2023 took steps to hide their Jewish identity.
Our documentary exposes the antisemitic rot at the heart of our NHS. The anecdotal evidence presented in our film, together with the empirical data provided by our polling, demonstrate the magnitude and severity of this institutional crisis.
The NHS touches us all at times in our life when we are the most vulnerable. This crisis requires a wide-ranging response that addresses the growing extremist culture within healthcare, the abysmal failure of regulation, the shocking lack of transparency and the total absence of accountability.
We cannot accept politicians pointing to past reviews and recommendations: we need real and robust action now. That is why we are also presenting a detailed plan to address this national scandal. Practitioners, trusts, regulators and others must all act.
At the very moment when they need the NHS the most, instead of being able to trust our national healthcare provider, Jewish people are having to hide their identity for fear of unequal treatment or abuse. As long as that is the case, the NHS cannot be said to be for everyone.
Want to see Campaign Against Antisemitism making more documentaries on issues that matter to the Jewish community?
Help to support our vital work exposing and fighting antisemitism by donating here.
Foreign Secretary announces sanctions – but what will that mean for the safety of British Jews?
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has announced that the Government would “bring forward new powers to respond to moral emergency in Palestine, and target illegal settlement activity in the West Bank to protect the viability of a two-state solution”.
It is not yet clear what this policy will look like in practice.
In relation to the Government’s announcement, the Chief Rabbi has made the position of the mainstream Jewish community clear, saying that “our Government has chosen to ignore the deep concerns expressed by so many of us”.
He observed that “The measures announced amount to little more than political flag bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric and those who harbour a dangerous obsession with the Jewish State. These measures will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target”.
Noting that the announcement came on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, “and at a time when our community is more vulnerable than ever to the wave of extremism that has been building over recent years,” he warned that this announcement will not “make anyone safer – quite the contrary”.
We thank the Chief Rabbi for speaking so clearly and for his leadership.
In response to the decision, Hamas praised the British Government for the second year running.
Twelve months ago, on the eve of the Jewish New Year, the Government recognised a state of Palestine, even as Hamas still held Israeli hostages in brutal conditions, earning the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group’s praise.
Now, also on the eve of the Jewish New Year, the Government has announced sanctions in relation to what it has described as a “moral emergency in Palestine”. Once again, Hamas has responded by singing our Government’s praises.
If your policies are popular with a group that wants to murder all Jews, some in the Jewish community might view that as a moral emergency of its own.
Elie spoke to members of the Jewish community about the announcement, listening to their concerns about increased hostility against Jews that may result.
You can watch the video here.
Jewish safety over the High Holy Days
Last week, Members of Parliament spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on the safety of the Jewish Community.
You can watch their speeches here.
British Jews are facing unprecedented levels of hostility and hatred, with the number of antisemitic incidents recorded across the UK in the first six months of 2026 up by a fifth compared to last year.
As Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Jim Shannon said: “We must uphold the Jewish community’s freedom from persecution and guarantee their safety”.
Labour MP Mark Sewards spoke about the broader hostility facing British Jews, including so-called “anti-Zionism.” He said: “Denying Jewish people alone the right to national self-determination, or treating British Jews as responsible for the actions of Israel, is obviously antisemitic.”
Rampant antisemitism doesn’t just impact Jews, it bleeds into other parts of our national life, as Shadow Home Office Minister Matt Vickers explained: “That is not simply a problem for the British Jewish community; it is a test for Britain, this Government, this House and our country, and it is one we cannot afford to fail.”
British Jews also face external threats, including foreign agents spreading hate and hostility in the UK.
Policing and Crime Minister Sarah Jones outlined measures taken against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), but there is much more to do.
The Government must proscribe more extremist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, and use the authority of the British state to properly enforce current proscriptions (such as Palestine Action).
The growing threat was underscored by Sir Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5, on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Sir Ken said that Britain faces a more dangerous situation in 2026 than at the time of 9/11 – including because of the Islamist threat.
He wrote: “Sadly, mass-casualty terrorist ambition endures, as in the recent conviction of an Islamist extremist who sought automatic weaponry for an assault on Manchester’s Jewish community. But the terrorist threat now sits alongside strategic national security threats posed by capable states.”
Britain’s Jews are on the frontline of this threat from terror, both domestic and foreign.
Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Stephen Silverman, Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Director of Investigations and Enforcement, spoke to GB News about a major planned policing operation to ensure that Jews remain safe over the High Holy Days.
He commented, “The Jewish community is genuinely fearful about what could happen this time”.
You can watch his interview here.
Antisemitism is rife on campus – for Jews and non-Jews alike
If you’re a non–Jewish ally, be ready to bear the brunt of antisemitism.
That is the story of a student whose volunteer work in Holocaust education has made her the target of a vicious antisemitic campaign.
Amberley Thay, a University of Exeter student, is a regional ambassador with the Holocaust Education Trust and has been involved with the organisation since participating in a trip to Auschwitz several years ago.
The abuse reportedly began last April after Ms Thay posted about attending a Yom HaShoah event – Holocaust Remembrance Day – which was held at the Israeli ambassador’s residence in London. Since then, Ms Thay has been subjected to a tirade of abuse, from apparently being called a “Mossad agent” to being told that she “support[s] the killing of children”. You can read more here.
These comments are abhorrent – but it is the sad reality of what happens to you if you stand with Jews in modern Britain.
To all the non-Jewish allies who put their heads above the parapet and speak out against anti-Jewish racism, we say: thank you.
In this week’s episode of our Podcast Against Antisemitism, Elie interviewed Tali Smus, a student at King’s College London who has been on the front lines of fighting antisemitism at universities across the country.
She is the President and founder of King’s College Students Supporting Israel Society, and also runs her own online advocacy page.
In this interview, Tali opens up about receiving antisemitic abuse from her fellow students, mental health and the importance of communicating with those you disagree with.
You can watch the episode here, or listen to it on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you want to be part of the fight against antisemitic hate on campus, you may be right to join our team!
We are hiring an Education and Outreach Officer. This is an entry-level position or suitable for someone with up to two years’ experience in the field.
Visit antisemitism.org/jobs for more information and to apply.
“The next Hitler will be a man like me!”
A man who called for “the next Hitler” to “be a man like me” has been jailed.
Thomas Webster, a former employee at HMRC, was handed a two-year sentence at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to ten counts of stirring up racial hatred online, one count of stirring up religious hatred and one count of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Mr Webster featured in a BBC programme titled ‘Unmasked: Extreme Far Right’, in which undercover journalists exposed his membership of the far-right Patriotic Alternative group, and filmed his participation at two of the group’s events. A month after the programme was broadcast, Mr Webster was reportedly dismissed by HMRC.
Following the publication of the programme, police arrested Mr Webster in September 2025, and he was also found to have posted incendiary rhetoric online, including reportedly calling for all Jewish and gay people to be tortured and executed, referring to himself as “the ultimate genocidal racist monster” and praising the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. You can read more about the case here.
This case arose because of a media investigation. It is a reminder of how much is going on beyond the watch of the authorities, and how much more they need to do to keep us all safe.
There are several other recent cases of interest:
- At Southwark Crown Court, Dutch national Caspar San Giorgi, 39, denied an allegation that he caused around £7,000 worth of damage to a statue of Sir Winston. Mr San Giorgi is alleged to have climbed onto the statue in February and spray-painted a series of incendiary slogans across the monument, including “Free Palestine”, “Never again is now”, “Globalise the intifada”, “Zionist war criminal” and “Stop the genocide”. You can read more about the case here.
- Kamil Mach, nineteen, has been charged in relation to an incident in May this year in which he allegedly made a Nazi salute outside a synagogue in Borehamwood. He reportedly performed the salute as people were leaving the synagogue on 9th May, and will appear at St Alban’s Magistrates Court next month. You can read more about the case here.
- Zayan Lorgat, twenty, was sentenced to 27 months in prison at Leicester Crown Court last month, after pleading guilty to four counts of disseminating a terrorist publication, reckless as to whether his actions would encourage other acts of terrorism. During a raid on his house, police found evidence that he had shared racist, neo-Nazi and antisemitic content on several Telegram chats on multiple devices, alongside graphic footage of extreme right-wing terror attacks. You can read more about the case here.
How to spell ‘antisemitism’
The AP Stylebook has decided to style antisemitism without a hyphen. We welcome this decision, and urge other news outlets to follow.
This is not merely a question of semantics – it shapes how people understand the meaning and nature of this terrible prejudice.
Antisemitism is a self-contained belief system rooted in hatred of Jews.
The hyphenated form can wrongly be taken to imply that Jewish people experience discrimination in response to something they have done. It is also incorrectly (and sometimes deliberately) misunderstood by some people to encompass groups beyond the Jewish community – some people erroneously think there is such a thing as ‘Semitic peoples’ – rather than accurately describing hatred directed at Jews specifically.
Antisemitism is racism against Jewish people. That is what the word was coined to refer to, and that is what it means.
We urge other publishers to follow suit and make this important editorial change.
As Yom Kippur approaches, we resolve to act
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is about accountability.
Next Monday, on that holy day, Jewish people confront our wrongdoing and resolve to do better in the coming year.
It is with that ethos of accountability and resolve that we have published our documentary on the NHS.
Our film shows what happens when accountability fails: Jewish patients and practitioners left feeling vulnerable and compelled to hide who they are at the very moment when they should most be able to trust providers of care.
Our response is resolve: we will continue to expose antisemitism and demand accountability in healthcare and across other sectors.
You can help us continue this vital work by donating to Campaign Against Antisemitism. Your support will enable us to expose what is happening across our society and demand change.
