9 hours ago
Jewish doctors feel ‘intimidated and unsafe' at BMA conference
Jewish doctors feel 'intimidated and unsafe' at the British Medical Association's annual conference because one in 10 motions for debate relate to Israel, Palestine or Zionism.
The three-day meeting is used to set out the doctor union's policies and priorities based on motions put forward by members, but 43 – about 10 per cent of the total – were about Israel, Gaza, Palestine, anti-Semitism or Zionism.
Just five were concerned about other 'international relations'.
The Jewish Medical Association (JMA) said members attending the conference 'feel intimidated, unsafe and excluded' and that it had 'felt it necessary to seek advice from' the Jewish support charity the Community Security Trust (CST) and BMA 'to ensure the safety and protect the wellbeing of Jewish representatives'.
At the same time, a protest staged outside the conference venue in Liverpool used 'old shoes' to represent healthcare workers killed in Gaza - a visual statement synonymous with the shoes of Jewish people killed at concentration camps during the Holocaust - and considered anti-Semitic by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
The BMA was last week accused of a 'cover-up' for dropping an investigation into its president, Mary McCarthy, for posts she made on X about the conflict in Gaza.
Having initially decided there was a case for Dr McCarthy, a leading GP, to answer, after an independent review into a complaint by Labour Against Antisemitism, the BMA decided not to take it further because it had not been made by a member or employee of the union.
All five motions prioritised for debate by the BMA's 'agenda committee' on Tuesday relate to Israel or Palestine.
One simply asks members to agree that 'criticism of the actions of the state of Israel in Gaza is not per se anti-Semitic'.
Others echo the sentiment that doctors should be able to criticise states and the Government's 'contravening international law' and that there should not be 'punitive measures' taken against doctors who partake in 'Palestine advocacy'.
Another motion from one faction says it 'condemns in the strongest terms the systematic destruction of hospitals in Gaza and the killing of more than 1,000 healthcare workers since October 7, 2023, as grave violations of international law and an affront to medical neutrality'.
The JMA said there were 'zero motions prioritised for discussion about any other international matters, not even those that one might expect to be of some interest to compassionate UK doctors, such as the famine in Sudan, war in Ukraine or the disastrous impact on public health of the new US administration's health policy and its withdrawal from the World Health Organisation'.
It also raised concerns about a protest outside the conference from Health Workers 4 Palestine (HW4P), which it said had organised 'a visual protest against Israel's genocide and to show solidarity with the 1500+ health workers martyred over the past 20 months'.
It said the protest was 'unrelated to the BMA' but 'inflammatory' because it had asked for 'old shoes to be brought' in a visual statement that is synonymous with the Holocaust.
The JMA said: 'Many British people will be very aware that the piles of victims' shoes left behind at Nazi concentration camps became synonymous with a memorial of millions of Jews murdered in those camps during the Holocaust.
'According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, the use of such symbolism undermines memorial of the Holocaust and by definition is antisemitic.
'Therefore we expect this protest to be moved from its proximity to the ARM so that Jewish members of the ARM do not have to suffer further offence, exclusion and harassment.'
A BMA spokesperson said: 'We are totally clear that antisemitism is completely unacceptable. There is no place for it in the BMA, NHS, or wider society and we condemn antisemitism in the strongest possible terms, as we do with all discrimination based on race, religion, sexuality, gender or disability.
'The BMA's annual representative meeting is an inclusive space, where wellbeing of members and staff is our priority and we've put in place a number of measures and sources of support to ensure this. We are also confident that we are complying with all of our obligations under the Equality Act and our own EDI policies.
'The BMA has a long and proud history of advocating for human rights and access to healthcare around the world, and motions submitted to this year's conference reflect the grave concerns doctors in the UK have about the Gaza conflict and the impact on civilians and healthcare.
'As with previous annual representative meetings, organisations and groups external to the BMA will choose to demonstrate outside the venue. They are entitled to do this, but we recognise that member and staff safety remains paramount. Regarding a demonstration outside this year's ARM, we have received some concerns from members and staff, have updated our security teams and are liaising with the police to request that all protests are managed safely.'
