UK doctors criticise Royal College president over ‘Hamas-Israel equivalence’

Complaints about a blog by the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have been made to the General Medical Council, claiming its president  has breached professional standards over comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Writing on Friday on the RCPCH website, Dr Camilla Kingdon said that “we have all been appalled by the horrific acts of violence meted out against innocent civilians in southern Israel in the last 10 days – the College condemns such acts without reserve or qualification”.

However, she then went on to say that “one act of barbarity cannot and must not justify a wider descent into barbarism and so the images of sheer panic and raw grief in the aftermath of the Gaza hospital blast are etched on many of our minds”.

Members of the UK Doctors Anti-Racism Group, a number of whose members have suffered antisemitic abuse both personally and online since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, said that Dr Kingdon’s comment amount to comparing “one act of barbarity” — the Hamas murders — with “a descent into barbarism” exemplified by blaming Israel for the Gaza hospital blast.

A spokesman for the group told Jewish News: “Camilla Kingdon’s use of her very public platform as president of the RCPCH to give this statement on events in Israel and Gaza, including taking sides in the ongoing conflict by suggesting Israel is responsible for bombing a hospital in Gaza, fuels hatred in healthcare settings and beyond, and is not in accordance with medical professional standards”.

The spokesman added: “UK doctors, as well as members of the public, are concerned about the negative impact her statement will have on healthcare professionals and vulnerable patients, fearing the legitimisation of hate speech, which could lead to extremism”.

Although approaches to the Royal College were made early on Friday to ask for the statement to be taken down while investigations took place, by late afternoon it was still on the website. However, it was amended with an observation that “[As of 20 October, the UK government has not yet published its promised assessment of the cause of this tragedy; the US Government has attributed it to a malfunctioning  missile fired from Gaza]”.

Dr Nathan Hasson is a retired UK doctor now living in Israel. He said: “Calling the country I now live in ‘barbaric’, and repeating a lie that has incited violence and abuse, from a doctor, is unacceptable. Can you imagine if you were a Jewish patient, how you would feel about your doctor calling your people barbaric and saying we would purposely bomb a hospital?”

A spokesman for the Royal College said: “As a child health organisation, our position on this conflict is apolitical. Our only concern is, and always will be the impact conflicts such as these has on children. This is why we continue to call for an immediate ceasefire within the region.”