A British-Jordanian doctor is suing an NHS trust for discrimination by claiming he was suspended mid-shift for social media posts that criticised Israel and advocated for Palestinians.
Dr Nadeem Crowe, who has Palestinian family and friends, made the comments on a private X account in his free time, the central London employment tribunal was told in written submissions.
He was suspended from his bank status – internal locum work – at the Royal Free Hospital, Camden, north London, in August 2024 and was not provided with details of the complaint against him, it is alleged.
The A&E doctor, who also says on Instagram that he is a West End actor and perfumer, claims the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, and its responsible officer Jane Hawdon, discriminated against him “because of his anti-Zionist beliefs and his manifestation of those beliefs”.
Jude Shepherd, representing the two respondents, told the panel on Tuesday their primary case “was that there was no disciplinary action”.
On November 4, 2023, on the X account named “Nadeem Haddadin-Crowe” with two Palestinian flags, he posted: “Zionists love calling Hamas fundamentalists but bizarrely can’t see they are too fundamentalists.”
Another, shared a day earlier, said: “Perhaps British Jews should consider how genuine their connection with Israel actually is. Other than the delusion that is Zionism it seems to be a fairly feeble link that leaves those Zionists who haven’t even set foot in Israel thinking their connection to Israel is stronger than the Palestinians.
“It isn’t just the Jews who have ugly history and it takes a pretty awful set of values to weaponise the Holocaust under these circumstances.
“There is a genocide going on as a result of an illegal and violent occupation. Not only in Gaza but in the West Bank.
“Perhaps to Palestine the Nakba is as much an emotional trauma as the Holocaust to the Jews.”
On November 7 that year, he wrote: “Zionists need to stop using Judaism as a human shield.”
A Royal Free employee, who has been kept anonymous in tribunal proceedings, complained on August 13, 2024.
According to the respondents’ opening written submissions, the staff member alleged Dr Crowe’s posts were “absolutely vile, celebrating Hamas and comparing Israel to the Nazis and are very much anti-Semitic according to the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of anti-Semitism ‘drawing comparison of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis’.”
The following day Dr Hawdon emailed Dr Crowe to say concerns had been raised and that his status was suspended pending a meeting. Dr Hawdon has claimed that, during their conversation on August 15, it appeared Dr Crowe “was not prepared to reflect on his posts or their potential impact in light of the concerns raised”.
Therefore, she told him there would need to be a fact-finding investigation, the opening submissions said. His bank status would remain suspended during that time, which meant he was unable to book any shifts, but “steps would be taken to ensure there was no financial impact upon him”, she said she told the doctor.
Dr Crowe has alleged that Dr Hawdon “put implicit pressure on him to delete his social media posts or face a full investigation”. His suspension was lifted on August 16 after he deleted the posts and the next day he returned to bank work.
Dr Crowe subsequently lodged a grievance about his treatment and claims the trust “failed to address any aspect” of it, and that the complaint “remains outstanding to this day”. The respondents’ conduct allegedly “aggravated substantially” his “long-standing and significant” clinical anxiety disorder.
He claims this led to him increasing his medication, starting counselling and suffering from nightmares and insomnia. Dr Crowe has said he felt unable to return to his locum work at the hospital as he stopped trusting his colleagues and did not know who complained about him. The doctor stopped working shifts because of sickness and has not returned since August 25, 2024, the respondents have said.
The respondents said that Dr Hawdon “does not have a policy of subjecting doctors who have made social media publications to disciplinary processes where it is alleged that such publications are anti-Semitic or breach the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, nor does it have a policy of treating criticism of Israeli policy in Palestine as offensive”. The processes followed with Dr Crowe were informal, they added.
Dr Crowe alleges that he was harassed and directly and indirectly discriminated against in relation to a protected belief. He further claims to have experienced race-related harassment and direct and indirect race discrimination.
The tribunal continues.
