Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service lets off NHS doctor over 7 October tweets
EXCLUSIVE: MPTS rules that tweets previously described by a judge as having 'supported, justified and even glorified terrorist violence by Hamas' were not even to be deemed 'grossly offensive'
The Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service has let off an NHS doctor accused of posting objectively antisemitic and grossly offensive comments on social media on 7 October 2023, saying it “did not find that…[her]conduct constituted misconduct which was serious.”
On 7 October 2023, Dr Menatalla Elwan shared video footage of people fleeing the Nova festival, which Hamas had attacked earlier that day. Alongside the footage, Elwan wrote: “If it was ur home, u would stay and fight. U wouldn’t just run away”, alongside a blushing smiling emoji.
In a second post a few hours later, Dr Elwan said: “Israel was never a country. They illegally occupied Palestine. Would u support Russia invading Ukraine? Israel kill Palestinians everyday, didn’t see anyone caring. Also there are no civilians in Israel.”
Hamas murdered around 1,200 people on 7 October, including hundreds at the Nova music festival.
In a judgement made late last month which has now been published, an MPTS panel considered that “whilst Dr Elwan’s posts had been found to be inappropriate, insensitive in their timing and in shockingly bad taste, they were nonetheless permitted as political free speech within the boundaries of Dr Elwan’s Article 10 rights, as they were not found to be grossly offensive or antisemitic.”
It went on to state that “the Tribunal was of the view that, in the circumstances, the behaviour of Dr Elwan would not be considered deplorable by fellow professionals, morally culpable or disgraceful… the conduct did not fall short of clear expected standards at the time of events, nor did the conduct reach the threshold of seriousness for misconduct, given the heightened protection afforded to political free speech.”
The tribunal accepted a number of claims from Dr Elwan, including that she had watched the video without sound before sharing it (the audio included gunshots) . The tribunal also said it was of the view that “Dr Elwan knew that the incident was more serious than a regularly occurring fight between military forces. Further, the wording of the tweet, referring to ‘stay and fight’ suggests that she was aware that it was more than the day-to-day occurrences of a longstanding conflict, although it is accepted that she did not know the scale or extent of what was later known to have occurred on that day.”
Following Dr Elwan’s October 2023 comments, the Home Office attempted to remove her temporary right to remain in the UK, but Dr Elwan, an Egyptian who has lived in the country legally since 2016, challenged the decision and was backed by an immigration tribunal judge.
In his ruling Judge Stephen Davies said, regarding Dr Elwan’s first tweet, that “the combination of the re-posting of the video, the barely-concealed sneer of cowardice against unarmed civilians seeking to flee the attack, and the smiling face emoji clearly expressing Dr Elwan’s satisfaction at what had happened, convey the clear message that the attack by Hamas on unarmed Israeli citizens within Israel was a matter for celebration and, thus, amounted to expressions of support and justification for, and indeed glorification of, Hamas terrorist violence.”
Regarding all three social media posts – the third being a response to the Prime Minsiter at the time, Rishi Sunak, which said “Just take all the Israelis to UK away from terrorist Palestine… a win for everyone, no?’ – the judge said they were in part “protected expressions of political opinion”, but that they all “supported, justified and even glorified terrorist violence by Hamas”.
The tribunal, which only considered Dr Elwan’s first and second tweets, concluded that since it had found there was no misconduct, “it would be unnecessary and inappropriate to consider whether a warning should be issued.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is yet another inexplicable decision by the MPTS, which is now plainly no longer fit for purpose. For a doctor to react to the murder of 1,200 Jews by a proscribed terrorist organisation by saying that none of them were civilians…is unfathomably abhorrent.
”How could Jewish people, or any vulnerable person, allow themselves to be put in her care? What, according to the MPTS, would a doctor need to say about Jewish people in order to be sanctioned? We will be examining legal options in relation to this decision. Profound reform to the medical regulatory system is desperately needed.”