The doctor in Belgium who allegedly listed “Jewish-Israeli” in a nine-year-old’s medical report under the medical issues section has been suspended from his position, Times of Israel reported on Wednesday.

After a censored copy of the child’s medical report went viral on social media, Jewish watchdog groups discovered that the doctor, identified as Dr. Qassim Arkawazy, a native of Iraq, had posted multiple viciously antisemitic posts on his social media accounts in the past, including an AI-generated image of Chassidish “vampires” preparing to suck the blood of a sleeping baby.

However, according to the TOA report, a letter written by AZ Zeno director Emanuel Van Hoecke last week claimed that the entire incident was a misunderstanding and that Akawazy was not the doctor who wrote the diagnosis. The doctor who wrote “Jewish-Israeli” did so only because the mother commented that she was Jewish and mentioned a trip to Israel, the director said. Nonetheless, the incident uncovered Arkawazy’s antisemitic social media posts, and the hospital suspended him while it carries out an investigation of his “behavior.”

In a letter to TOA, a hospital spokesperson stated, “The hospital had been informed of several posts previously shared by the doctor mentioned on his private account that could be considered hate speech. AZ Zeno fully understands the many indignant reactions and would like to stress that there is absolutely no place for discrimination within the hospital.”

The Belgian JID antisemitic watchdog group praised the hospital’s decision to suspend Arkawazy.

“This decision sends a powerful message: Antisemitism will not be tolerated, especially not in healthcare, where trust, neutrality, and respect for every patient are indispensable,” JID vice president Ralph Pais said. “This incident once again demonstrates that antisemitism is not an abstract concept but leads to dangerous and unacceptable discrimination—even in situations of medical emergency.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)