British healthcare workers are prioritizing anti-Israel patients
Recent remarks by a British minister suggest an emerging trend in which physicians and other healthcare workers are treating patients based on their views on Israel.
‘I like you. You voted for a ceasefire’
Jess Phillips serves as under-secretary of state for safeguarding and violence against women and girls. Phillips made headlines in November when, just weeks after Hamas invaded Israel and massacred 1,200 Israelis and raped and tortured women and girls, she resigned in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. A ceasefire, which would require Israel to abandon its military pursuit of Hamas, would disproportionately benefit the terror group.
After Labour’s election victory this year, Prime Minister Keir Starmer appointed Phillips to her current cabinet position.
At an event last month, Phillips told an audience it was her stance on Israel that earned her priority medical treatment. When she visited a hospital with breathing trouble, a doctor skipped her to the front of the line because she had backed a ceasefire.
“I got through because of who I am. Also, the doctor who saw me was Palestinian, as it turns out. Almost all the doctors in Birmingham seemed to be,” she said.
“He was sort of like, ‘I like you. You voted for a ceasefire.’ [Because of that] I got through quicker.”
Different treatment for those ‘perceived to be Jewish’
Dr. David Jeffrey, a senior political professor, responded to Phillips’ remarks by asking what treatment she would have received if she were a Jewess.
“So what Jess said is that the NHS in Birmingham will see you quicker if you're pro-Palestian [sic]... which begs the question: what type of care will you receive if you are perceived to be Jewish?” he tweeted.
On Sunday, Jeffrey’s question was answered by British journalist Dominic Lawson. Lawson recalled how, in March, nurses at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital forced a nine-year-old boy with a yarmulke out of his bed. The child, who was receiving a blood transfusion for a rare blood disorder, was made to sit on the floor.
When the boy next came to the hospital for treatment, he removed all visible signs of his Jewishness and his visit was a pleasant one.
There have been 66 such incidents recorded since October 7th, according to reports, raising serious concerns that political bias is tainting the medical profession.
Lawson reported that last weekend nearly 200 healthcare workers protested outside of St. Thomas’ hospital while wearing their scrubs.
“The question is,” asked Lawson, “are doctors in the NHS really allowing their views on the war in Gaza to pollute their clinical practice? Because, if so, they should be struck off the medical register.”
