NHS Surgeon suspended for social media posts about ‘Zionists’

A doctor accused of sharing hateful social media posts, including one which said “you can shove your Torah, your Talmud, your Moses and all your prophets up your stinky ass”, has been found by the Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service to have impaired fitness to practice and has had his medical licence suspended for nine months.

Dr Muhammad Khalil (GMC number 7499689), who previously worked as a vascular surgeon at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust, was accused by UKLFI of having shared a post by controversial US activist Shaun King depicting what King called “an average Israeli/Zionist idiot”, which continued on to say “We, the Arabs, are going to wipe you completely from the face of the earth! You can shove your Torah, your Talmud, your Moses and all your prophets up your stinky ass.”

Other posts allegedly shared by Dr Khalil included a quotation attributed to former Egyptian President Nasser calling for the “complete eradication” of Israel. UKLFI also complained that Khalil had denied the fact that Hamas carried out a massacre in Israel on 7 October 2023, alleging that fabricated reports had been circulated by Israel and Western media. The advocacy organisation also said that Khalil had subsequently had his Instagram account restricted, for which he blamed “the Zionists”.

In its response to the MPTS decision, UKLFI said: “We welcome the Tribunal’s finding that Dr Khalil’s fitness to practise is impaired and its decision to suspend him for nine months. The material we reported went far beyond legitimate criticism of Israel. It included ‘Death to Israel’, threats to wipe Israelis from the face of the earth, and grossly offensive references to the Torah, Talmud, Moses and Jewish prophets.

“Doctors occupy positions of enormous trust. Jewish and Israeli patients must be able to enter a hospital without wondering whether the doctor responsible for their care harbours this degree of hostility towards them or their community.

“This case also demonstrates why it is important that extreme and hateful social-media activity by healthcare professionals is taken seriously by their regulators.”

In a statement from Campaign Against Antisemitism, the organisation said: “The General Medical Council (GMC) brought fitness-to-practise proceedings concerning five posts published by Dr Muhammad Khalil, a vascular surgeon. The Tribunal found the allegations proved that Dr Khalil’s fitness to practise was impaired…we welcome the Tribunal’s decision to suspend Dr Khalil, and urge the authorities to ensure Jewish doctors and patients can feel safe when providing and receiving medical care.”

A spokesperson for NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group said: “We are committed to fairness and inclusion for everyone and take any allegations that go against these values very seriously. We supported the GMC’s investigation into this individual, who was immediately excluded from work in October 2023 when we became aware of these posts and their fixed term contract was not renewed.”