Yonat Weinberger, a Jewish columnist from Amsterdam, publicly slammed the increasing incidents of antisemitism in medical care settings after she was denied medical care by a nurse who refused to remove her pro-Palestinian pin shaped like a fist.
Last week, Weinberger publicized a disturbing incident that happened to her two months ago when she needed urgent medical care and was taken by ambulance to a hospital near her home.
“As I stepped into the room with the doctor and nurse, I was shocked. The nurse was wearing a large pin shaped like a fist in the colors of the Palestinian flag,” she wrote in her column. “I didn’t feel safe being treated by someone displaying such a political statement.”
Weinberger whispered to one of the ambulance staff accompanying her that she did not feel safe. He gently asked the nurse to remove the symbol.
But the nurse “reacted indignantly, muttered that she no longer wished to treat [her], and walked out of the room,” she said.
Weinberger, who is now almost fully recovered, wrote that she is now considering taking legal steps against the hospital, stressing that the incident “was outrageous, as health-care professionals are legally and ethically required to treat all patients equally, no matter their background, religion, political views, or sexual orientation. I hope that this nurse is held accountable for her irresponsible and unprofessional behavior.”
She explained that she felt real fear that day due to the recent surge of antisemitic incidents in medical settings in Western countries. “Many staunch anti-Israel protesters hide behind the term ‘anti-Zionist,’ but in reality, they are often simply antisemites,” she wrote. “That’s why I found it completely inappropriate for a healthcare professional to display such a political statement while I was receiving urgent medical care.”
“It wasn’t even a small Palestinian flag, but an actual fist—a symbol of militant resistance—and that doesn’t belong in a hospital. A hospital should be a neutral, safe space for everyone.”
A police investigation is currently open into another antisemitic incident in a Dutch healthcare setting, in which a nurse, Batisma Chayat Sa’id, allegedly stated she would administer lethal injections to Israeli patients.
Weinberger told Mako that the responses to her article spurred her to file an official complaint to the hospital.
“I already sent the complaint yesterday,” she said. “I had written about what happened even before, while I was still debating what to do. But after all the responses I received from people, I realized it was very important to submit the complaint officially.”
She has not yet received a response from the hospital.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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One Response
What if the nurse had been wearing a pin with an Israeli flag and the patient had asked to nurse to remove it before she was treated.
Would this Zionist patient then have expected the nurse to comply with her demands?