NHS doctors told me they would not treat Israelis, Jewish medic says

A Jewish doctor has told an ITV special news report into antisemitism that fellow NHS workers claimed they would refuse to treat Israeli patients in accident and emergency wards. 

Baruch, who lives in Golders Green with his wife Daniella and their young family, also revealed he had witnessed Jewish patients being refused kosher meals.

As the TV crew films them packing up their home, preparing to leave the UK for Israel amidst ever-increasing antisemitism, Baruch adds: “It is very scary to me that I have met doctors that have said they will not, point blank, treat somebody who has come from certain areas of the world.

“If they are dying in A&E, I have been told by doctors that if they are from Israel, then they will not treat that person. That to me is disgraceful.”

Baruch’s family has been in the UK for around four hundred years, since the times of Oliver Cromwell. “They were let back in when the Jews were allowed,” he says. Centuries later, he and his wife are now the last ones of his family to leave.

“Ending that dynasty is quite sad,” he adds. “Growing up here, in north west London, I never thought I’d be scared to live as a Jew, walking around with a cap on, not to show that I’m openly Jewish, with my daughter.

He’s faced shouts of ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘you don’t belong here’, and recently in Manchester, the occupants of a passing car threatened to throw acid in his face. “And I was just walking around with my kippah on. No Israeli memorabilia on me. Just as a Jewish person.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told Jewish News on Wednesday that: “These reports are shocking. It is unacceptable that people do not currently feel safe working in and using the health service.

“Recent incidents of antisemitism have drawn stark attention to problems of culture and how racist incidents are addressed. This government has been clear that change is needed and that the medical healthcare professional regulatory system is failing to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff. That’s why the Prime Minister ordered an urgent review, led by Lord Mann, into antisemitism and all forms of racism in the health service. We will use every tool at our disposal to make sure Jewish NHS staff feel safe at work.”

The ten-minute ITV segment, focusing specifically on Golders Green, one of the UK’s largest Jewish communities, reveals “if you’re Jewish, you are more likely to be targeted for a hate crime than any other religious or ethnic group, eight times more than if you were Muslim, and forty times more than if you were Hindu”.

It also features four young Jewish girls who had ‘Heil Hitler’ and ‘We will finish what Hitler started’ shouted at them as they got the bus home from Brent Cross shopping centre in north London.

“They were shouting quite loudly; going downstairs didn’t help”, they added, revealing that no one on the bus stepped in to support them.

One of the girls admitted it made her “feel less that there is a future for Jews in London. Maybe we’d be better off somewhere else. It makes us feel less safe”, whilst another said: “It’s got to this point where people are not ashamed to do it in front of everyone publicly. They shout as if it’s OK.”

The news piece also features interviews with members of orthodox volunteer security group Shomrim, and a young Israeli man recently violently attacked by assailants who heard him speaking Hebrew.

“Where is the outrage? Where is the support from other communities. It’s almost like, ‘If it’s Jewish people, it’s OK’. Where are all the good people?” asks one Jewish woman, adding: “Why is everyone staying silent? Where is the safest place to be Jewish in London if it’s not Golders Green? But it’s not anymore. It’s terrifying.”

The Crown Prosecution Service told ITV News: “Antisemitism has no place in our society, and we are determined to help combat the increasing levels of hate crime. We continue to work closely with police to ensure cases are reviewed promptly and where appropriate, brought before the courts as quickly as possible.

 The full ITV News report can be viewed here.