A GP and Green Party councillor in Lewisham who described chants of “death, death to the IDF” as “amazing” is being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC).
Dr Rebecca Jones, a GP who represents Blackheath ward, confirmed the investigation on her Instagram page.
She claimed she was being targeted by campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) “because I speak up against apartheid and genocide in Palestine”.
Jones further claimed that the GMC was being “used to censor and silence doctors who speak out against Israel’s genocidal regime”.
Prior to being elected as a councillor in the South London borough, Jones reshared a post depicting an Israeli flag in flames with the words “burn Zionism to the ground”.
She also said chants of “death, death to the IDF” were “amazing” and described a reading of the last will and testament of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, as “so beautiful”. She later claimed to be the victim of “right wing… smear” because of her opposition to Zionism.
UKLFI said it wrote to the GMC in April this year to express concerns about the posts, which they said exhibited “extreme discrimination against Israelis and Zionists”.
A spokesperson for the pro-Israel group told the JC: “Doctors hold positions of great trust. Patients must be confident that they will be treated fairly and without prejudice, whatever their nationality, religion or beliefs.
“We are pleased that the GMC has decided to investigate our concerns. In our view, posts attacking Zionists and Israelis in such extreme terms raise serious questions about whether Jewish, Israeli or Zionist patients could feel safe and respected in Dr Jones’s care.
“It is also deeply troubling that Dr Jones has now been elected as a councillor. Public representatives, like doctors, must be able to serve all members of the community without hostility or discrimination.”
In other posts, Jones appeared to celebrate the British Medical Association (BMA)’s conference vote to reject the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
She described it as “so important in the continued fight against the censorship, silencing, and punishment of doctors who speak out against injustice”.
Jones is not the only Lewisham Green councillor to be criticised over social media posts.
Hau-Yu Tam, Green councillor and cabinet member for “communities, sanctuary and healing”, previously shared a post on social media which said, “Zionism is pure evil and must be abolished” and another that called it “undoubtedly, unquestionably the Nazism of our time”.
She also apologised last month for describing David Lammy, the deputy prime minister, and Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, as “coconuts” – a phrase widely considered to be a racially offensive term meaning “brown on the outside but white on the inside”.
In her apology, Tam said that her intent was to criticise Lammy and Patel for “assimilation into white supremacy and upholding of colonial systems” and went on to claim to be the victim of a “coordinated smear” and blamed the Labour – her former party.
Both Patel and Labour Party chair Anna Turley attacked the content of Tam’s apology, with the shadow foreign secretary accusing Zack Polanski’s party of indulging in “racist identity politics”.
Dr Rebecca Jones and the Green Party have been contacted for comment.
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