NHS doctor denies posting social media support for Hamas in London court

AUGUST 30, 2026 18:10Updated: AUGUST 30, 2026 18:38A doctor working in Britain’s state-funded National Health Service (NHS) has denied posting social media content supporting Hamas during a court appearance at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, on Friday.According to local news outlets, Dr. Rahmeh Aladwan, 32, pleaded not guilty to four counts of expressing support for a proscribed organization.She also denied one count of stirring up racial hatred in written material and a further count of using words that were threatening or abusive.According to the charge sheet, the disputed social media posts were published between July and December last year.The court previously heard that Aladwan allegedly wrote, “I don’t condemn Hamas. I don’t condemn October 7,” alongside “I condemn the existence of Israel” in a post in July.NHS Blood and Transplant embroidery seen on the uniform of a member of staff, following the announcement of the re-balloting voted in the long-running dispute over pay and staffing, in London, Britain, February 18, 2023. (credit: MAY JAMES/REUTERS)'Free thr world from Jewish supremacy,' 'Glory to the Palestinian resistance'Further charges allege that in December last year, she posted, “Free the world from Jewish supremacy.”The court was also previously told that around the anniversary of the October 7 attack, she allegedly posted an image of a bulldozer accompanied by text reading, “Glory to the Palestinian resistance.”Aladwan was arrested at her home in Pilning, South Gloucestershire, and formally charged with the six offenses in March. Appearing via video link for Friday’s hearing, she entered her not-guilty pleas before the court.The defendant was granted continued bail and will face trial at Bristol Crown Court beginning in March next year.The criminal prosecution follows a series of disciplinary actions initiated against Aladwan by British medical regulators.In November 2025, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service suspended her medical license for 15 months after concluding that her online conduct fell well below professional standards. During the tribunal proceedings,General Medical Council proceedings detailed that Aladwan had published material promoting antisemitic tropes, justifying terrorism, and targeting colleagues, following formal complaints and evidence packages submitted by advocacy groups including UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) and the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) that raised alarms over patient safety and workplace inclusion.UKLFI submitted evidence packages regarding Aladwan’s social media posts to the General Medical Council, which prompted her regulatory referral and subsequent 15-month suspension starting in November 2025 pending a full hearing.Social media posts repeatedly crossed into terror support, antisemitismDetailing their intervention, UKLFI shared a statement with The Jerusalem Post: “Our report detailed multiple instances where her public social media posts appeared to cross the line from political expression into unlawful support for terrorism or antisemitism.“She repeatedly posted narratives framing the events of October 7, 2023, as acts of ‘resistance,’ arguing that the conflict did not start on that date and that all Israelis were complicit settlers, effectively attempting to justify Hamas’s massacres.“She also aggressively denied and minimized the verified atrocities, systematic rapes, and hostage-taking committed by Hamas. Her posts appeared to defend and support the terrorist group’s propaganda.”The statement continued, noting that she “spread harmful conspiracy theories, promoting debunked claims such as that Israel funded ISIS and that the Israeli military targeted its own citizens at the Nova music festival.“She also published posts comparing Israeli actions to Nazi crimes and the Holocaust, which would likely stir up racial and religious hatred.”Concluding their assessment, UKLFI noted, “We believed at the time, and continue to believe, that such conduct fundamentally undermines public confidence in the medical profession and violates the professional duties expected of registered doctors.“Dr. Aladwan is one of a number of doctors in the UK who are being investigated by their regulator for similar conduct.”Reacting to the court proceedings, Stephen Silverman, director of Investigations and Enforcement at the CAA, said in a statement to the Post, “It’s about time this doctor was in the dock.“Far from being an isolated case, these sentiments and rhetoric are at risk of becoming normalized in our healthcare system. Part of the reason is the lack of repercussions.”“A tribunal was happy for this doctor to keep working while her regulator investigated her, only to reverse its decision after pressure, including by us,” Silverman added.“Meanwhile, the investigation itself has been ongoing for years now, and she is now in court on terrorism charges.“This is just the tip of the iceberg: there are many more practitioners under investigation that go on forever by regulators that are plainly failing to uphold professional standards in our hospitals.”Follow us on Google