Jewish doctors face rising antisemitism from NHS colleagues as incidents throughout Britain increase threefold in just one year

Jewish doctors have been facing rising antisemitism from their NHS colleagues as incidents have increased threefold over the past year.

Since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, Jewish doctors say they have experienced an increase in antisemitism from their colleagues, both in person and online.

Jewish senior consultant Elizabeth told The Sunday Times that before the Israel-Gaza war broke out she had rarely experienced antisemitism in the workplace, however there were some incidents.

In early 2023 Elizabeth started working at a new trust in London where she experienced ignorant comments about Orthodox Jews from a fellow colleague.

She said: “I was introducing myself to a colleague and I was talking about how sometimes it’s very hard to reach that community, because there’s a lot of fear about statutory services getting involved.

“She said, ‘Yes, there’s a lot of fear about it, but you know of course they [Jews] are everywhere, because they believe there is going to be another Holocaust and they continue to reproduce.’

The consultant was shocked at the encounter, and revealed that her colleague was mortified after finding out Elizabeth was Jewish.

She says incidents like these have only heightened since the Hamas attacks.

In the year following October 7, over 5,500 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Britain, a triple increase since the previous year.

According to the Community Security Trust, a charity protecting British Jews, 78 antisemitic incidents were reported in the health sector since the breakout of the war.

During this time, the Jewish Medical Association submitted 28 complaints to the general medical council, which regulates the conduct of doctors.

It had only submitted one in the year before October 7.

Elizabeth said after October 7, her London trust offered barely any support to Jewish employees.

She said that in December they received an email noting the recent rise in Islamophobia which provided resources for affected colleagues, however no such email was sent out regarding antisemitism.

When Elizabeth urged the trust to redraft the message to include antisemitism alongside Islamophobia, she had a senior figure remove the description of October 7 as a “massacre,” saying it was “too activating for people” and lacked “context.”

Hannah, another NHS staff member, said she experienced a similar ordeal.

When she and her Jewish colleagues explained to leaders how they needed support following October 7, a manager told her that wasn’t possible “because in the trust we need to be fair to both sides.”

Several weeks later she was told that a colleague had been posting shockingly antisemitic content on social media including imagery invoking the blood libel and the Holocaust.

One picture depicted “two trenches filled with bodies, one showing Jewish skeletons from the Holocaust” and the second body bags “that said [they] were from Gaza,” which she said drew parallels between the Nazis and Israel.

Hannah and her colleagues filed a complaint however a year on there has been no resolutions and no formal updates.

She said several of her Jewish co-workers had left the trust because of the tense environment and she was considering leaving the NHS all together.

Other Jewish doctors have also complained that there is a lack of consistency in acting on their complaints.

Meanwhile, the NHS has already been in hot water for allowing staff to wear pro-Palestine clothing and pins, making Jewish and Israeli patients feel unsafe.

Several incidents have been reported, prompting certain trusts to review their dres codes.

Regarding the experiences of Jewish staff and patients, Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated: “There is no place for antisemitism in the NHS and I will not stand anyone being subjected to abuse or intimidation.

We have a zero-tolerance policy and NHS organisations have a responsibility to protect staff and patients.”

“I expect employers and regulators like the General Medical Council, to take action against anyone working in the health service who promotes hatred against Jewish people.”

Jewish leaders are due to meet with Streeting this week to urge the government to act.