A Jewish GP was today fighting for her career after an angry online exchange sparked by the October 7 attacks in which she told a colleague it was ‘Typical of you Muslims to gaslight.’
Dr Cindy Cohen, who practises in North London, was enraged after Dr Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki invited members of their medical WhatsApp group to a pro-Palestinian rally following the Hamas atrocity.
After accusing the Muslim GP of ‘bringing politics into the group’, Dr Cohen slammed her as ‘antisemitic’ and claimed she ‘believes in the barbaric acts of beheading, murdering, burning of civilians in Israel‘.
Dr Zaklaki said the exchange had left her feeling ‘nauseous, shaking, anxious and threatened’ and reported her to the General Medical Council.
Today’s hearing was told that Dr Cohen had also ‘liked’ a series of Islamophobic posts on X, formerly Twitter, including cartoons featuring the Koran alongside weapons and skulls.
It comes after the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service was criticised for failing to take action against a Palestinian doctor who repeatedly praised Hamas.
The MPTS ruled last month that Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, a trauma and orthopaedics doctor, should not be suspended because her posts did not amount to ‘bullying or harassment’.
But following criticism by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the General Medical Council referred the case back, with a new hearing set for Thursday.
Jewish GP Dr Cindy Cohen (pictured) was enraged when Dr Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki invited members of their medical WhatsApp group to a pro-Palestinian rally days after the October 7 attacks in Israel
Dr Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki (pictured outside the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester) said the exchange had left her feeling ‘nauseous, shaking, anxious and threatened’
With both cases due to be held in the same hearings centre in Manchester, and coming less than three weeks after the deadly synagogue attack in the city, heightened security is in place this week.
Dr Cohen – a member of the European Jewish Parliament – practises at Archway Medical Centre in North London.
In a witness statement she said she was from a family of Mizrahi Jews who had lived in Baghdad for generations, giving her a ‘history of displacement, persecution and trauma’.
The online argument erupted 11 days after the attack by Hamas which left at least 1,219 people dead.
On October 18, 2023, Dr Zaklaki shared a petition condemning the Department of Health for flying the Israeli flag in a show of support and invited colleagues to attend a pro-Palestine march.
In response, Dr Cohen – who has relatives in Israel – replied: ‘You should not bring politics to this group.’
Telling Dr Zaklaki to ‘Get your facts straight first’, she added: ‘Typical of you Muslims to gaslight.’
Carlo Breen, for the GMC, said Dr Cohen had found the message from Dr Zaklaki ‘provocative’ because it failed to mention the October 7 attacks.
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan faces a misconduct hearing this week over several ‘dangerous’ social media posts littered with praise for terrorist organisation Hamas and previously said she would ‘never condemn’ the October 7 attack
However the GP – whose full name is Cinderella Nonoo-Cohen – now accepts her response ‘may have been perceived as offensive’ and apologises for any distress caused, he added.
But Mr Breen said the GMC’s case that Dr Cohen’s messages were motivated by, or demonstrated ‘hostility’ to Palestinians and were ‘seriously offensive’.
Turning to posts Dr Cohen had ‘liked’ on X, Mr Breen said her position was that she had ‘reflexively’ used the ‘like’ button without a ‘full appreciation’ of how her action might be perceived.
But the GMC case is that the ‘likes’ – some of which Dr Cohen says she has no recollection of doing – provide an ‘insight’ into her ‘thought process’, he added.
Giving evidence, Dr Zaklaki denied knowing that Dr Cohen was Jewish until the online row erupted.
Dr Cohen’s barrister Andrew Hockton put it to her that ‘it might be to say the least insensitive and frankly inappropriate to invite a Jewish doctor with family in Israel onto a pro-Palestinian rally’.
In a fiery exchange, Dr Zaklaki – who was born in Iran but grew up in Austria – accused him of ‘making mistakes on so many levels’.
‘We should know better as doctors,’ she added.
‘I did not weaponise my own suffering because that is wrong.’
Claiming his questioning ‘feels like an interrogation,’ she branded Mr Hockton’s questioning ‘racist’ and ‘triggering’, accusing him of implying that ‘being a Muslim I’m inherently violent’.
‘A reasonable observer might conclude you did bring politics into the group,’ Mr Hockton said.
Dr Zaklaki fired back: ‘Politics cannot be separated from healthcare.
‘That would not justify me being humiliated in front of everyone.
‘Being told I’m a Hamas supporter, which is a proscribed terrorist group, is saying I’m a criminal.’
The hearing continues.
