When Barts Health Trust, one of the UK’s largest NHS organisations, made a change to its uniform policy in March this year, banning its staff from displaying political symbols, it was obvious that the issue was only about Palestine.

The move came after UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a pro-Israel lobby, sent a letter to Barts Health Trust complaining that NHS staff were wearing ‘Free Palestine’ and watermelon badges on their lanyards, and that this made Jewish patients feel intimidated. 

As a result, the trust asked its staff to remain “politically neutral” – meaning not aligning with a particular nation, one side in a conflict, or a cause not supported by the NHS – or face potential disciplinary action. 

This new policy does not stop at badges or clothing; it extends to computer backgrounds.

This is not the first time UKLFI has exerted pressure on the NHS to ban displays of support for Palestine. 

In February, Imperial College Healthcare Trust said it was reviewing its uniform policy following complaints by the UKLFI. 

And two years before that, before the current war on Gaza, the UKLFI succeeded in forcing Chelsea and Westminster Hospital to remove a wall display of artwork created by Palestinian children, because the group claimed it harassed Jewish patients.

The NHS policy change, incidentally, came weeks before Britain – an ally of Israel – announced that it would recognise the Palestinian state in September unless Israel ends its atrocities in Gaza, where the death toll topped 60,000 this week.

The trio who dared to act

This narrative – that equates displays of support for Palestine or Palestinian cultural symbols with anti-Semitism – is being challenged by a Jewish consultant, a Palestinian senior nurse and a British Bahraini haematology registrar, all of whom work for Whipps Cross Hospital in East London, part of Barts Health Trust. 

Dr Aarash Saleh, Ahmad Baker and Dr Sara Ali decided to launch legal action against the NHS Trust for its refusal to review their decision to change its uniform policy. 

Leigh Day, a UK-based law firm known for combating injustice, will be representing their case at an employment tribunal, and the trio has been reliant on the generosity of donors on their Crowd Justice page to cover the legal fees.

Saleh and Baker say the policy change contradicts the trust’s strong equity, diversity and inclusion policy and that showing solidarity with their colleagues in Gaza is a humanitarian cause, not a political one. 

They point to the double standards – Barts Health Trust actively supported Ukraine, which is in direct contradiction to the new policy of not aligning with one particular nation or one side of a conflict.

“This narrative that if you criticise Israel it amounts to harassment of Jewish patients, or that as Jews we believe we can only be safe at the expense of Palestinians, is in itself an anti-Semitic perception of Jewish people,” Dr Saleh tells TRT World. 

“I think that needs to be opposed very strongly and questioned whenever that narrative is made.”

Perhaps most strongly hit by this change in policy is Ahmad Baker, whose hometown in Palestine was demolished by Israel in 1967. Baker was threatened by the hospital’s senior director for displaying, during a work video call, a painting of a fruit bowl that contained a watermelon, which has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. 

“The painting was of several fruits such as olives, figs, oranges and watermelon. He was singling out the watermelon and putting it in a political context,” says Baker. 

“Because I'm a Palestinian, they made that connection.”

A ‘moral imperative’

A spokesperson for Barts Health Trust skirted TRT World’s question about NHS’ support for Ukraine and merely said, “We recognise the distress that global conflict has for our diverse workforce and continue to support their wellbeing as they serve our patients. However, as an organisation, our primary responsibility is (to) care for patients.”

Perhaps more worrying is the power that UKLFI appears to hold over the NHS. Baker says the group uses the 2010 Equality Act and the NHS constitution to intimidate health trusts. 

The group’s website backs this up; it claims that NHS staff who wear pro-Palestine symbols breach Section 29 (3) of the Equalities Act 2010.

Earlier this week, a new report claimed widespread anti-Jewish discrimination, including within the NHS. The report mostly included testimonies of Jewish people.

Saleh, Baker and Ali’s major concern is that the change in uniform policy could set a dangerous precedent, whereby NHS workers have no freedom of expression. 

Evidence of this is that when Saleh set about launching legal action against the trust, only Baker and Ali agreed to join him. 

While their colleagues privately express strong support for them, none felt comfortable joining the case, worried about the repercussions. 

Saleh was even told he was committing “career suicide”. But the trio say their moral duty overshadows fears of what it could mean for their careers.

Dr Ali says she considered it a “moral imperative” to join this case.

Baker feels the same way. “My peers in Gaza are risking their lives every single day,” he tells TRT World.

“...But I still have a life, I have a house to come home to every day and there are no bombs. I can't not do anything to help Gaza, even if I am just ensuring that people who oppose genocide can say that freely. That is a duty I have.”