Dr Rahmeh Aladwan is being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) over a series of posts and comments made across various social media platforms.
The interim suspension of 15 months on Dr Aladwan took effect from Wednesday and will be reviewed within six months.
GMC counsel Emma Gilsenan told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) that Dr Aladwan’s posts included content that allegedly “justifies terrorism, denies sexual violence, includes antisemitic conspiracy theories, misuses Holocaust and Nazi imagery and expresses support for proscribed groups and terrorist acts”.
She added that Dr Aladwan had allegedly referred to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead as a “Jewish supremacy cesspit”, doxxed NHS colleagues for raising concerns about her, and expressed explicit support for proscribed organisations such as Hamas and Palestine Action.
Ms Gilsenan submitted that it was “unconscionable to consider that Dr Aladwan should be permitted to continue to practise”.
Dr Aladwan’s lawyer Kevin Saunders submitted that the posts “fell into the category of legitimate political speech and debate” and that she denies making racist or hate speech.
He added that there was “no information to suggest that Dr Aladwan presents a real and immediate risk to patient safety”.
Dr Aladwan was arrested last month on suspicion of misusing a public communications network, sending malicious communications and stirring up racial hatred.
The Met Police investigation relates to allegations that comments made at a July protest in London, and also online in recent months, were “grossly offensive and antisemitic”.
In September, the MPTS ruled that it would not impose interim conditions on Dr Aladwan’s registration, saying it did not believe the complaints against her were “sufficient to establish that there may be a real risk to patients”.
However, the tribunal’s chair Lee Davies found on Wednesday (November 26) that her alleged conduct “may impact on patient confidence in both her and the profession and patients may be discouraged from seeking treatment from her”.
He added that there had been “additional information” made available since September which “may indicate an escalation in the tone and nature of Dr Aladwan’s activities and posts which may be considered to be extreme, offensive and antisemitic”.
Mr Davies said: “The Tribunal considers that the allegations, if found proved, are serious and appear to have arisen from persistent and prolonged posting of potentially egregious material which has been widely disseminated by Dr Aladwan, resulting in a number of individual complaints made to the GMC.
“Whilst the Tribunal is mindful of Dr Aladwan’s freedom of expression rights, it has noted a number of comments which allegedly support and celebrate terrorist acts and organisations, and promote violent action and offensive Jewish tropes.”
Interim orders tribunals decide if a doctor’s practice should be restricted while a GMC investigation takes place.
The hearings do not make a finding of fact in relation to the allegations under investigation, but are a risk assessment of whether there are grounds to restrict a doctor’s practice during an investigation.
