NHS doctor punished for speaking out on Israel’s genocide is taking legal action

The Canary has spoken to a doctor who is crowdfunding a legal challenge after his NHS bosses sought to punish him for speaking out on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In August 2024, Royal Free London NHS Trust suspended Dr Nadeem Crowe for “potentially upsetting posts about the Israel – Gaza conflict”.

Because he was a temporary (or ‘bank’) worker, his employment rights were not the same as permanent employees. This means that the NHS in England could potentially get away with trying to silence “over 150,000” employees.

Crowe is now seeking to challenge this discrimination at an employment tribunal and determine the legal basis for NHS bosses’ suppression of employees’ freedom of speech. You can support his crowdfunding campaign here.

The Canary: What precedent do you hope your case will set?

DR NADEEM CROWE: Free speech is absolutely paramount in a democratic society. This was never more the case than when healthcare workers speak out against a plausible genocide. The NHS can not believe its staff are empty vessels who do not have opinions on life and the world around us. We are intelligent and educated people who value all life and humanity. We also can’t operate with an archaic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” culture in case people are offended by our views, of course within reason.

I think it is perfectly reasonable to believe that most of society are against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank – that will cover a lot of NHS staff whether they speak out or not. I for one am not prepared to remain silent during a time where humanity and morality appears to have been turned upside down. I am not prepared to be silent to protect the feelings of some people whilst others are being massacred.

I frankly don’t understand how a national health service feels able to remain silent when we have seen so many doctors murdered and hospitals destroyed. I won’t accept that being against the genocide in Gaza means I can not work as a doctor. My views have been the same for my whole career and they have never and will never affect the way I manage patients. I would not stoop to the level of those I condemn.

How clear is it for you that your suspension was politically motivated?

I have no doubt. I worked at the Royal Free for 15 years all in all. It was also my medical school. I have never had a complaint and have always been a well liked and well respected doctor. One anonymous complaint meant I had to be removed from work. I do not know who it came from but I have no doubt the Trust and indeed the Responsible Officer took the easiest path which was to “remove the problem.”

I am also certain that the problems are also embedded within NHS England who defended The Responsible Officer’s actions and in fact ignored most of my emails. I also know I was treated very differently, in fact more severely than a white British member of staff who was disciplined 6 weeks before me for the same issue. He was asked to sign a legal document to say he would not post on the conflict again and asked to delete his X posts. No suspension, no threat of dismissal at the end of investigation.

“The whole process destroyed me for months”

The Royal Free had the option to call me to a meeting, find out how I was and how the conflict was impacting me and to discuss their concerns and the complaint they had received. Instead they chose immediate suspension and conducted a meeting that was only intended to outline the investigation process. This meeting was an ambush and I thank God for making me the kind of person that can stand up for themselves. That being said – the whole process destroyed me for months. I couldn’t sleep. I had no job and no income. The Royal Free clearly have no notion of duty of care to their staff. I think it also says a lot that in the last 5 years I am only one of 2 doctors to be suspended for anything at all.

Do you know of other healthcare professionals who have suffered similar discrimination?

As above. I also know of multiple doctors employed at the Royal Free who were reported to the GMC by UKLFI and other similar organisations. The GMC told a friend they had received “hundreds” of similar complaints in the year and did not need to take any action.

Is it acceptable for employers to limit their employees’ freedom of speech?

I can only speak about medicine. I think the Gaza conflict has highlighted that employers have significant double standards and that there appear to be outside powers that protect some people and not others. When I leave work I am still a doctor but I am also a son, a brother and a partner. I still have a family in Jordan. I am also sometimes a patient with my own expectations from the NHS.

When it came to Ukraine and Russia there was a generally accepted pro-Ukraine ethos – we all had our faces in the Ukrainian flag on Facebook and tweeted about how disgusted we were with Russia’s invasion. Was the NHS telling us not to offend our Russian patients? No. In fact the NHS is employing doctors who have fled Gaza at this very moment and simultaneously suspending doctors who speak out against Israel.

If employers want to limit free speech, it needs to be the same treatment for all. I know for sure that if my Tweets were about releasing Israeli hostages and supporting the IDF – there would have been no suspension. I received the most horrific abuse from a Jewish nurse but it never crossed my mind to question her ability to be a professional. She is a fantastic nurse and continues to be to this day.

How can this be prevented from happening in the future?

Those that want pro-Palestinian voices silenced feed on fear. I understand because we all need jobs and we don’t want to wake up every day to abuse on social media. All I can encourage people to do is to try to stop being afraid to speak out. 18 months ago I had so many wishes for life and my career but seeing what has happened in Gaza has made that mean so little to me.

This is the point for my generation where humanity is being tested, in fact it is being reset. We have to make sure that when that final push of the reset button happens it is not in a world where the rife anti-Arab and anti-Palestinianism has become so normal it is just accepted. It can not be in a world where illegal occupations can continue despite breaking international law. If it is, at least we know we did all we could to fight the fight and to be on the right side of history.

Support the crowd justice campaign

On his crowdfunding page, Dr Nadeem Crowe explains:

We need your help to maximise our chances of turning this into a landmark legal victory.

Please donate and be part of this groundbreaking legal campaign – your generous donations are hugely appreciated and will go entirely to legal costs.

Please share this CrowdJustice page.

Please tweet messages in support with hashtag #HWrights4palestine. You can find me on @NadimHCr.

You can support him here.

Featured image via screengrab