Multiple British medics are excusing and even celebrating brutal attacks by Hamas terrorists in Israel, MailOnline can reveal today.
Charities are demanding NHS medics who get caught spouting the ‘repugnant’ and ‘sickening’ comments be suspended immediately, saying such extreme views ‘fly in the face of the oaths that they have taken’.
Their calls come after this website exposed a string of abhorrent posts by one medic on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Dr Mennah Elwan mocked terrified festivalgoers fleeing Hamas gunmen, posting ‘if it was your home, you would stay and fight’ alongside horrifying footage of Palestinian terrorists opening fire on civilians.
The neurology registrar also shockingly claimed ‘there are no civilians in Israel’ in the wake of bloody attacks.
But MailOnline can now reveal names of two other medics who publicly shared similar views to Dr Elwan.
Dr Siema Iqbal a GP partner at the Wellfield Medical Centre in Manchester has excused the Hamas attacks over the weekend as Palestine’s right to resist occupation
In a post on the social media platform X, Dr Iqbal said Palestine had the right under ‘International law’ to fight against occupation before stating this was the ‘end’ of the discussion
A separate post shared on Facebook by Dr Iqbal described the terrorist who carried out the attacks over the weekend as ‘Palestinian resistance fighters’
As Israel reeled from a series of surprise attacks that killed hundreds of civilians — including 270 slaughtered at the music festival near the Gaza Strip — Dr Siema Iqbal defended the violent acts.
The GP wrote: ‘Palestine, under International Law, has every right to fight against the occupation. End of. Nothing more to discuss.’
And a seperate post she shared on Facebook described those who carried out the bloody attacks over the weekend as a ‘Palestinian resistance fighters’.
Dr Iqbal, a GP partner at the Wellfield Medical Centre in Manchester, was contacted for comment.
The Wellfield Medical Centre, which holds an NHS contract, declined to respond about her posts.
It is not, however, the first time Dr Iqbal has been criticised for social media posts about Israel.
The Jewish Chronicle also reported back in 2017 that she has previously called for the relocation of Israeli citizens to the US as a solution to the conflict in the region.
It was also highlighted that Dr Iqbal retweeted a post that accused Israel of ‘shopping around for cheaper bombs’ with a message reading: ‘When a people who survived a genocide use it as an excuse to commit genocide’, against a backdrop of a Star of David splattered with blood.
Charity Citizens UK, which was associated with, Dr Iqbal at time upon the posts being uncovered said: ‘It has since come to light that, in 2014, during an upsurge in violence between Israel and Gaza, Dr Iqbal retweeted antisemitic tweets. Citizens UK wholeheartedly condemns these tweets.
‘We can readily see how this has caused offence and apologise for any hurt that has been caused, particularly to the Jewish community with whom Citizens UK has a long-established working relationship, just as we do with the UK’s Muslim and Christian communities.’
Another medic, Dr Clarissa Hemmingsen, also defended the bloody attacks that saw over 100 people kidnapped by Hamas as hostages.
Another medic, Dr Clarissa Hemmingsen, who works on the Isle of Man, also defended this weekends bloody attacks that saw over 100 people also being kidnapped by Hamas as hostages
Dr Hemmingsen, who studied at the University of Manchester, said medics should reconsider if they belong in a caring profession if they felt they justify Israel acts of ‘colonialism’ towards Palestinians in the wake of the attacks by Hamas over the weekend
The medic also shockingly liked a post that proclaimed the parachute emoji to be a new ‘Palestinian resistance’ in reference to how Hamas used paragliders to infiltrate southern communities in Israel to slaughter innocent people
She wrote: ‘Those on Med Twitter who find themselves able to justify acts of colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, imprisonment of children, and the routine carpet bombing of hospitals should really consider whether they belong in a caring profession.’
Her comment came in response to a Jewish doctor who called out medics who ‘find themselves able to justify acts of terrorism’ on if they belong in a caring profession.
Dr Hemmingsen, who originally studied medicine at the University of Manchester but is now thought to work on the Isle of Man, also shockingly liked a post made on October 7, the day of the bloody Hamas attacks, that declared the new ‘Palestinian resistance emoji’ as the parachute.
This emoji references how some Hamas gunmen entered Israel using paragliders to circumvent border security forces allowing them to attack unarmed civilians
Dr Hemmingsen declined to comment.
The Isle of Man Government, which is in charge of the health services provided there, was also contacted for comment.
Charity group the Campaign Against Antisemitism has called for doctors who share these views to be suspended and investigated by the medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC).
Under the toughest GMC sanctions available they could be struck off from the register.
A spokesperson said: ‘The NHS has a responsibility to ensure its patients, who are among the most vulnerable in society, feel safe.
‘How can a Jewish person entrust their care to NHS doctors, nurses and other frontline medical workers who espouse repugnant views such as these?
Dr Mennah Elwan in her British Medical Association kit during NHS industrial action organised by the union last week
Dr Elwan, a neurology registrar, posted on social media mocking people fleeing a massacre by Hamas at a music festival
‘It flies in the face of the oaths that they have taken, and it should go without saying that anyone who expresses such language must immediately be suspended by the NHS and be investigated.’
The GMC said their standards apply to posts made by medics on social media.
Standards state medics should ‘make sure that your conduct justifies your patients’ trust in you and the public’s trust in the profession’.
It comes as a Tory source said Dr Elwan should face ‘immediate disciplinary action’ for her ‘sickening’ comments.
Dr Elwan’s NHS employer, the Walton Centre — a major neurology site in Liverpool — said it did not ‘support any behaviour that marginalises an individual or community’.
In response to footage of revellers running for their lives from the barbaric attack, Dr Elwan mocked those fleeing.
Reposting a terrifying clip of people attempting to dash to safety at the Supernova Festival, which took place close to the Gaza Strip, she wrote: ‘If it was your home, you would stay and fight. You wouldn’t just run away.’
Egyptian-trained Dr Elwan then closed off her statement with a smiley emoji.
People can be heard screaming as shots are fired while police are seen trying to help people evacuate.
She also advocated for the removal of Israeli people from the country as an apparent soultion to the long-running conflict
In another post, Dr Elwan even shockingly claimed that ‘there are no civilians in Israel’ in apparent support of violence over the weekend
A fireball erupts from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9, 2023
Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the Sousi mosque in Gaza City on October 9, 2023
Other footage from the incident has since shown gunmen executing civilians as they lay in the sand before rifling through their pockets.
Israeli authorities have asked distraught relatives of those missing to bring personal items such as combs and toothbrushes so investigators can attempt to match their DNA to bodies.
The massacre was one just one of many bloody attacks launched by Hamas after the group infiltrated communities in Israel’s south.
One of those captured at the music festival was 30-year-old German tattoo artist Shani Louk. Her lifeless, half-naked body was paraded on the back of a Hamas pick-up truck as terrorists sat on top of her and jeered following the violent incursion.
In another post, Dr Elwan also appeared to support the wave of horrific violence towards Israeli civilians and tourists over the weekend.
She wrote: ‘Israel kills Palestinians everyday, didn’t see anyone caring’, again ending the statement with a smiley face emoji.
Dr Elwan went on to add: ‘Also, there are no civilians in Israel.’
In another post, a reply to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressing his support Israel, she said the UK should simply take the Israeli population away from Palestine.
‘Just take all the Israelis to the UK from terrorist Palestine a win for everyone, no?’ she wrote.
MailOnline approached Dr Elwan about her posts — but she made her profile private after this website reached out to her.
The comments by British medics excusing the attacks aren’t the only ones to spark outrage in the UK.
MailOnline yesterday revealed that a pro-Palestine activist who called Hamas terror attacks against Israel ‘inspiring’ and ‘beautiful’ is an elected Women Students’ officer at the University of Sussex students’ union.
Hamas militants abducted up to 150 people, including women and children, from Israeli territory and dragged them back in Gaza amid their ruthless slaughter
Mourners react as they pray during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip October 10, 2023
Hanin Barghouti was seen addressing a crowd by the Clock Tower in Brighton during a protest organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Saturday — just a day after terrorists began murdering and kidnapping Israeli civilians.
Describing herself as a Palestinian, Ms Barghouti said: ‘Yesterday was a victory.
‘For freedom fighters to break out of a 15-year blockade so successfully under the inhuman genocide of Israel was so beautiful and inspiring to see.
‘It shows the world we will always fight and always resist and we need to celebrate these acts of resistance because this was a success.’
She added: ‘Revolutionary violence initiated by Palestinians is not terrorism — it is self-defence…’
Her words were greeted by applause and several cheers.
Today, a University of Sussex spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We have received a complaint about a Sussex student expressing views on the recent attacks by Hamas in Israel.
‘The University is currently seeking to establish the facts, and, if necessary, will take action in line with our policies and the law.’
Police last night arrested three people following pro-Palestine protests held near to Israel’s embassy in Kensington.
Of those arrested, one was taken in for assault on an emergency worker.
Pro-Palestinian and Israeli supporters also clashed at High Street Kensington station as police officers attempted to separate both groups.
Fireworks were seen launched by protesters — some towards the boarded up Israeli embassy.
In stark contrast to the dancing, singing and flares in Kensington, and other heated protests across the UK, weeping people gathered outside Downing Street to hold a vigil for the victims and hostages taken by Hamas, who launched a violent assault over the Gaza border on Saturday.
Mr Sunak also visited a London synagogue to show his support for Israel.
The PM condemned Hamas in a joint statement with his French, German, American and Italian counterparts.
Some speakers also held a rally outside the Labour party conference defending the terrorists’ incursion into Israel.
Banners from the Liverpool Friends of Palestine, which is not affiliated to the Labour Party, were held by demonstrators yesterday.
In fiery scenes, one Labour member took on around 100 of the flag-waving crowd, telling them they were apologists for murder and should be ashamed of themselves.
They responded by booing, chanting ‘racist Israel’ and demanding he be removed by police — which officers refused to do.
Security is currently being ramped up across the UK amid fears spiralling violence in the Middle East will fuel a rise in anti-Semitic hate crime. Police patrols have been increased in London.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has called for police to ‘use the full force of the law’ against displays of support for Hamas, which is a proscribed terror group.
Israel has began a series of retaliatory strikes on the Gaza strip, with leaders ordering a ‘complete siege’, cutting off food and electricity to its residents.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has declared an intention to obliterate Hamas as he metered out revenge for the deadly surprise attacks over the weekend.
Netanyahu, who first came to power in Israel in 1996 and has served three separate terms, compared Hamas to the Islamic State group and said Israel planned to deploy ‘unprecedented force’ that would ‘reverberate for generations’.
Thousands of Hamas targets have already been wiped out in brutal aerial bombing campaigns, Israeli defence officials have claimed.
However, harrowing clips circulating social media showed how rockets and bombs also obliterated Palestinian residential blocks, killing civilians.
Military spokesman Richard Hecht claimed security forces had ‘more or less restored control over the border’ with Gaza.
The four-day-old war has already claimed at least 1,600 lives.
Israel saw gun battles in the streets of its own towns for the first time in decades and neighbourhoods in Gaza were reduced to rubble.
In a response to the savage aerial bombardment of Gaza, Hamas warned late last night it would begin executing Israeli civilian captives.
‘Every targeting of our people without warning will be met with the execution of one of the civilian hostages,’ Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement.
Hamas militants abducted up to 150 people, including women and children, from Israeli territory and dragged them back in Gaza amid their ruthless slaughter.
‘We have decided to put an end to this and as of now, we declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding,’ Abu Obaida, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, later added in a recording released to Al Jazeera.
The surprise weekend attack by Hamas left a death toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria, fomenting calls for Israel to crush Hamas no matter the cost, rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza.
Israel is run by its most hard-right government ever, dominated by ministers who adamantly reject Palestinian statehood.
Hamas, in turn, says it is ready for a long battle to end an Israeli occupation that it says is no longer tolerable.
Desperation has grown among Palestinians, many of whom see nothing to lose under unending Israeli control and increasing settler depredations in the West Bank, the blockade in Gaza and what they see as the world’s apathy.
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