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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10 Responses
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?
this Weinberger needs to be called out for her shameful attack on this nurse. Weinberger initiated the political attack on the nurse’s beliefs. The nurse did the right thing by removing herself from the situation if the patient didn’t want her treatment.
If the hospital decides to allow or disallow personal political expressions, that has nothing to do with the nurse. If the nurse was breaking hospital policy, the article should mention it and the nurse in any case would have professional concerns far beyond a pin.
Yes. That “Zionist” nurse would have removed the pin. And you absolutely cannot equate a violent symbol such as a fist in Palestinian colors that is dripping with threat and hatred, to a national flag.
A Nazi symbol would have been INFINITELY worse
@duvus: equating a palestinian fist with the flag of an actual, legitimate country shows your bias and lack of clear thought. go display your sin’at hinam somewhere else.
@Duvee, In The Netherlands antisemitism is already that far, that you would not dare going with an Israeli flag pinned to your clothes in the street, especially not Amsterdam. If there is anything that smells of Zionism (read: we do not hate Jews; we just hate Israel and rather see the Jewish state destroyed) you will be in danger of not only being cancelled in every way possible, but also of bodily harm and very possibly you would be deferred to the care of this very nurse again.
People in Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam have been attacked because they have some outer trappings of Judaism on them. So no, you would probably not find a nurse with an Israeli flag on or even the Bring Them Home symbol.
duvee – A fist symbol is not a flag. If it was just a Palestinian flag that would be harder to prohibit. If the hypothetical “Zionist” nurse would be wearing a pin with a fist shaped JDL-KaCh symbol, that would also be a problem. בכלל, it makes sense to forbid any symbolic images of fists, weapons, etc. for health care workers. Someone wounded or having a heart attack or mentally agitated ר״ל could be freaked out by seeing things like that, even without being Jewish.
To despicable some Jew I know post. How dare you blame the patient? The nurse is obviously a violent vicious Jew hater and a terrorist supporter, G how can you equate the two shame on you?
Raina:
How obvious is that? Just because she sides with the “Palestinians”, and probably doesn’t even know much about the Arab-Israeli conflict?
The question is: if the patient would have said nothing, would the nurse have treated her just like any other patient? If yes (that’s if), then that means she is obviously not a “violent vicious Jew hater”.
She should be glad the nurse refused to treat her. Had she removed the pin, what difference would it have made? She would still be the same nazi.
And no, 147, a nazi symbol would not be any worse. The “Palestinian” cause is a continuation of the nazi cause. They were the Nazis’ allies in WW2, and have never given up their joint goal of wiping us out.