Latest News – Jewish medical association

Latest News

Update – March 2025

JMA Position Statement on Definition of Antisemitism

Surprisingly there have been many concerns and questions raised with the JMA about the definition of antisemitism, or put simply, Jew hate. The Jewish Medical Association’s advice is that all organisations associated with health and medical care should adopt, and apply transparently, solely the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. The full explanatory background to this JMA position can be accessed here.

JMA Position Statement re Antisemitism Awareness Education and Staff Training

JMA have been asked by several health care organisations and individuals for guidance concerning training or raising awareness for themselves or others, about antisemitism - or Jew hate. We have attempted to provide this whenever possible, and the guidance can be accessed here.

Dr Spitzer honoured by London Local Medical Committees

Dr Joseph (Yossi) Spitzer was honoured by the Londonwide Local Medical Committees - the professional voice of London general practice - at a recent ceremony held in Parliament.

The award recognises Yossi’s long-standing services to General Practice and acknowledges that, in the midst of today's challenging health and social care environment, he sets an example, tackling his role with passion, pride and professionalism.

Yossi’s base is at the Cranwich Road Surgery in Hackney where a substantial proportion of his patients are strictly orthodox. He provides culturally sensitive care for them – and also for patients from other groups who require such sensitivity. The practice helps educate medical students from Barts and the London, and Yossi inculcates in these students that it requires time and effort to understand personal and cultural issues in order to provide the highest quality care.

Yossi is widely known for his books “Caring for Jewish Patients” and “A Guide to the Orthodox Jewish Way of Life for Healthcare Professionals” which aim to ensure that Jewish patients and their families encounter a user-friendly environment when they come into contact with healthcare. Conversely, he tries hard to educate the Jewish community about medical issues, in particular preventive medicine, tailoring his messages to make sure that they are accessible to all.

It is in this preventive medicine guise that Yossi has been a very prominent leader in promoting immunisation programmes. Information about these programmes often does not reach the strictly orthodox; and, even when it does, delivery of services may not be appropriate. It is a tribute to him that the recent Race and Health Observatory Report used his area in Hackney as their model for how best to communicate with the Jewish community. They noted that he has engaged with Jewish voluntary services and Jewish media publications to provide support for his endeavours; and he has encouraged trusted community members and organisations to prepare suitable communication materials which foster vaccine advocacy and outreach. This leads to co-delivery of immunisation with joint medical and community input. The vaccination centres where this programme is implemented are based in Jewish community hubs (e.g. synagogues) and are open at times that accommodate religious needs. The approach that he has promoted provides a template not only on what can be done in the Jewish community, but also on what other faith and ethnic communities could develop for themselves.

Commenting on this award, members of both the local community where he works and the wider Jewish community, said “Yossi’s patience, dedication, conscientious approach, and seemingly limitless time availability are quite remarkable”.

Forensic Medicine in Israel in the Aftermath of October 7th 2023

The Israeli National Institute for Forensic Medicine was established in 1954 and since 2012 has been administered by the Ministry of Health. Known colloquially as “Abu Kabir”, after where it is located, it is the only facility in Israel authorized to conduct autopsies in cases of unnatural death, including victims of terror attacks. Forensic examination is done on all homicides, suicides and suspicious deaths, and it is also where rape cases are investigated. It is the only facility in Israel for training in forensic science and medicine.

For many years Abu Kabir was the only such facility in the region; there is now a Jordanian Forensic Medicine within the University of Jordan Pathology Department and in 2024 the International Committee of the Red Cross took an active role in promoting the development of forensic services in Syria.

There have been occasional controversies about Abu Kabir over the past 70 years. Organ retention - resembling the Bristol and Alder Hey episodes in the UK - occurred at one point. The most serious - and appalling - allegation was about killing people in order to harvest organs (resembling what has actually happened to Ugyhur Muslims in China). This allegation was demonstrated to be completely untrue. As in many other countries, the State Prosecutor's Office has attempted to interfere with Abu Kabir findings, and these attempts have been resisted by successive directors.

October 7th 2023 imposed unbelievable pressure on Abu Kabir. It is difficult to conceive the sheer volume of work, the awful and distressing nature of this work and the emotional toll on those involved. Under the leadership of the current Director, Dr Chen Kugel, the horrific facts were documented in as much detail as possible. An added burden more recently is that they have been involved in identifying and recording the facts about the bodies of dead hostages. The technologies have evolved since 1954 , and Dr Kugel and his colleagues published a summary of what they have been doing in Forensic Science International which can be accessed here.

To bring this work to the attention of a wider audience Dr Joel Zivot published an impressive article in The Jurist which can be accessed here. Joel places these issues in a wider context, reflecting on media reports about the death of a well-known actor, Gene Hackman, and noting how Abu Kabir's work fits into Jewish concepts about respect for the dead.

Update – January 2025

Commission on Antisemitism

Reminder: Important Notice

Board of Deputies of British Jews - Commission on Antisemitism

The Board of Deputies has appointed Lord Mann and the Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt as Chairs of a Commission on Antisemitism. The aim is not only to produce a report but also to make recommendations how antisemitism should be addressed.

The JMA met with the chairs to give oral evidence and submitted written evidence, which is accessible here.

The Chairs want to hear from individuals fr om all walks of life, including doctors, other health professionals and patients. We are all encouraged to submit this as our own written evidence to the Commission. The deadline for receipt of submissions is Tuesday 18 February 2025.

The Chairs told the JMA that they are keen to hear about real experiences, not just third hand anecdotes. They will respect the need for anonymity of those who submit evidence.

So, if you do have experience of antisemitism to share, please ensure you submit your written evidence before 18 February.

Please use this link for details of the Commission and how to submit written evidence: https://bod.org.uk/bod-news/commission-on-antisemitism-call-for-written-evidence/

The guidelines for submissions to the Commission state:

There should be a letter addressed to Lord John Mann and Penny Mordaunt.
In the introduction to the submission, you should indicate the organisation, company, institution or stakeholder(s) that is addressed in your submission.
The letter should be submitted as a pdf document.
Submissions that focus on quantitative and qualitative evidence, such as survey results and case studies, are encouraged.

The submission should include evidence and recommendations relevant to at least one of the following four strands of focus of the Commission:

Review all hate crime legislation, policing, and prosecutions, to ensure we have the toughest possible framework in place for offenders.
Pursue means of addressing the failings in civil society since 7th October, whether in the media, online, universities, the workplace, professional bodies, unions, culture, or sport.
Tackle the threat of extremism from Islamists, the far right and the far left, to Jews and wider UK society, including both active terrorist groups and those who sow hatred and division.
Boost education, training, and interfaith outreach to defeat ignorance and antisemitism.

Submissions should be sent to antisemitismcommission@bod.org.uk.

In your covering letter email, please give contact details as an individual. If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, please provide us with the details of the relevant person in your organisation who should be involved.

Update – December 2024

The Association has been engaged in several different activities during December.

This month saw the publication in the press of two important articles which have brought the problem of antisemitism in medicine to the attention of the wider public. The Sunday Times article (8/12) was followed by a column in the Times (9/12) and both can be accessed here. The Telegraph article followed (19/12) and can be accessed here.

These provide a background for some further developments:

What are the priorities for tackling antisemitism in medicine?

Together with the NHS Jewish Staff Network the Association participated in discussions with the Board of Deputies about current priorities for Jewish medical and healthcare professionals.

These points were later addressed when David Katz, Emma Orrock and Fiona Sim took part in the meeting on 6^th December with the Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting.

Our priorities at this meeting were summarised:

Antisemitism (anti-Jewish racism) must be treated equally to other forms of racism
Jewish ethnicity must be recognised within ONS/Census as a tick box option under Other Ethnicity, which would then translate into NHS systems such as the ESR (Electronic Staff Record) which is used by all NHS organisations
Regulators and NHS employers must be held to account for the way they treat Jewish professionals - and they must be held to account for the way that they handle those who commit antisemitic acts
A single accepted authoritative definition of antisemitism (IHRA working definition), which has been adopted already widely by public sector bodies, and has a legal basis, must be recognised
In-line with the NHS constitution, politics must be kept out of the NHS. This includes, but is not limited to symbols, posters, signs, clothing, workplace meetings and clinical meetings, and speech.
There must be cross departmental commitment to tackling antisemitism including with higher education in particular.

Publication of Race and Health Observatory (RHO) Report

The launch of the “Review of NHS Health Communications with (and for) Jewish Communities” Report took place on 16th December. The full report can be accessed here.

This originated in meetings during Covid between David Katz and Fiona Sim (representing the Association), Martin Ware (and later Emma Orrock) of the Jewish Staff Network and the RHO chair Prof Habib Naqvi.

The project was funded fully by the RHO and the research tender was won by Intact Health. At the launch speakers included Sarah Weiss (Interlink) and Prof Ranjit Manchanda (Jewish BRCA project). Work done by in general practice by Dr Joseph Spitzer and on vaccination by Dr Ben Kasstan was cited. Discussions about how the recommendations can be disseminated and implemented will take place early in 2025.

The recommendations of the report are:

Services should educate their workforce about local Jewish communities to remove barriers, combat prejudice, improve understanding of how cultural nuances affect health engagement, and to enable the appropriate adaption of services and outreach.
Improve the consistent use of the principles of trauma-informed care when engaging marginalised communities, to directly address the barriers in accessing care.
Review and remove assessment questions that actively reinforce negative stereotypes about marginalized communities, specifically including Judaism and the Jewish community, within Medical School student examinations.
Improving Jewish engagement with services requires a thoughtful adaptation of communications and outreach which respects cultural norms and is cognisant of the reasons for historical mistrust.
Supporting community-led initiatives can dramatically reduce health inequalities by removing barriers to access, and so this approach needs embedding quickly across all services responsible for engaging marginalised communities, ensuring the Jewish community is recognised and included.
Mandate the inclusion of ‘Jewish’ as an option for ethnicity and ‘Judaism’ as an option for religion in all NHS patient data records to empower patients, give NHS systems a better understanding of the community they are serving and collect essential data for tracking health outcomes.
‘Jewish’ and ‘Judaism’ must be included across all NHS internal and external initiatives designed to recognise and support marginalised communities.
Combat antisemitism experienced by Jewish staff members by implementing clear frameworks, guidance and action plans.

General Medical Council Webinar

On 12^th December the head of the GMC’s Operation Outreach, Tista Chakravarty-Gannon, spoke to the Association on the theme of “Collaboration for compassion: working together to create change”. In her talk she explained the pathways through which complaints to the GMC pass and the way that these pathways emphasise compassion.

In the discussion afterwards Association members expressed serious concerns. GMC failure to adopt the IHRA definition, and the slow pace and lack of action against doctors who had been perpetrators of antisemitism, were highlighted. The comments on the chat have been transcribed, anonymised and sent to the GMC - partly to inform them about the depth of the disquiet felt by Jewish doctors as well as to request action. Overall it was suggested that the GMC did not seem to recognise the gravity of the problem. There were also some concerns that arose from within the session itself: the context in which antisemitism occurs has to be considered; and the GMC push towards “local resolution” of complaints gives the appearance that this route is being used to absolve the GMC itself of responsibility.

Comedy Evening with Dr Benji Waterhouse

Abigail Swerdlow organised a successful joint event with JAMI / Jewish Care and the JMA on 1^st December. Dr Benji Waterhouse – comedian, NHS psychiatrist, and author of “You don’t have to be mad to work here” - captivated an enthusiastic audience

Interfaith Medical Activities

The new chair of the UK Sikh Doctors and Dentists Association, Dr Jastinder Singh Ahluwalia, has been in contact about two areas of common interest. MP Preeth Gill (Birmingham Edgbaston) has put forward a Private Members’s Bill to ensure that for Sikhs and Jews both ethnicity and faith are recorded. This issue featured both in the priorities document and in the RHO report above. In addition, the Sikh community has been distressed about the Sikh men whose beards had been removed while they were incapacitated or unconscious. Both these matters will be discussed with MP Gill early in 2025.

Student Jewish Medical Association UK

Millie Koslover and Talia Midgen (sJMA chairs, London) organised two events in December. Mock mini-interviews were arranged and provided for A level students from Jewish schools who are applicants for medical school places during the next few months. Both interview stations and feedback were run by those who had recently been through the experience themselves. They also organised a London pre-Channukah party and quiz event.

Mervyn Jaswon reports that three elective bursaries have been awarded - to Emma Mocton (Israel), Toby Lauffer (South Africa), and Ella Rubinsztein (Thailand).