Doctors told me they would refuse to save dying Israelis, says Jewish NHS medic

Baruch, his wife Daniella, and their young family, live in Golders Green but are leaving the UK and moving to Israel as Jew-hate continues to surge.

 

Speaking to ITV News in Golders Green as part of a special report into antisemitism, he also said he had witnessed Jewish patients being refused kosher meals.

The Department of Health said Baruch’s revelations were “shocking”, adding that: “It is unacceptable that people do not currently feel safe working in and using the health service.”

It also acknowledged that “the medical healthcare professional regulatory system is failing to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff.”

Baruch, who works at a London hospital, said rising levels of antisemitism, both in wider society and within the health sector, had contributed to his and his wife’s decision to begin preparations to make aliyah.

They were filmed packing away belongings in their house.

Despite his ancestors having lived in England since the time of Oliver Cromwell in the 17^th century, when Jews were allowed back into the country, Baruch said he is now the last member of his family left here.

His parents and five sisters having already moved to Israel.

“To have that long lineage of a family who came here 400 years ago and now having to leave because on the one hand we want to leave, we love Israel, but also leaving because of antisemitism, is very sad,” he said.

London NHS doctor Baruch (Credit: ITV/YouTube)[Missing Credit]

Speaking about their plans to make aliyah, Daniella said: “It does seem on the outside weird that you’d want to go to a war zone.

“People [in Israel] worry about us. They ask us how are we coping with the antisemitism. [Because] you never know when some random person is going to come out on the street and stab you or set fire to something. That’s when you have to be worried.”

Outside the health sector, Baruch, who only wanted to give his first name, said he had also been subjected to antisemitic abuse in public, including being told to "go back where you came from", and threatened with having acid thrown in his face.

Before moving back to north London this year, he said he and his family had lived in Manchester and had been attending a neighbouring shul when Jihad Al-Shamie launched his attack at Heaton Park synagogue, resulting in the deaths of Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66.

“Growing up here, in north west London, I never thought I’d be scared to live as a Jew walking round with a cap on, if I’m with my daughter, not showing that I’m openly Jewish,” he said.

“That’s something that I never thought about growing up.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “These reports are shocking. It is unacceptable that people do not currently feel safe working in and using the health service.

“Recent incidents of antisemitism have drawn stark attention to problems of culture and how racist incidents are addressed.

“This government has been clear that change is needed and that the medical healthcare professional regulatory system is failing to protect Jewish patients and NHS staff. That’s why the prime minister ordered an urgent review, led by Lord Mann, into antisemitism and all forms of racism in the health service. We will use every tool at our disposal to make sure Jewish NHS staff feel safe at work.”

ITV's report comes amid a series of incidents targeting members of the Jewish community and Jewish organisations in recent weeks.

Last month, a group of teenage Jewish girls travelling by bus to Brent Cross Shopping Centre were allegedly subjected to antisemitic abuse by five boys aged between 12 and 15. The boys reportedly performed Nazi salutes, praised Adolf Hitler and told the girls: "Hitler didn't manage to get you, but we will."

London NHS doctor Baruch, and his wife Daniella (Credit: ITV/YouTube)[Missing Credit]

Police told the JC that no arrests had been made because of the suspects' ages, but that arrangements had been made for each of the boys to speak with hate crime officers.

In a separate incident the same week, 22-year-old Israeli national Shalev Ben-Yakar alleged that he was assaulted by a group of five or six men in Golders Green, leaving him close to being unconscious.

Ben-Yakar told the JC that the men shouted abuse in Arabic, dragged him across the road, tore his clothing and stole one of his shoes. He said they repeatedly asked him: "Are you Jewish?"

He was treated for injuries to his forehead, nose and cheeks and sustained bruising to his back and face.

At the end of March, four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, the Jewish community's volunteer emergency medical service, were destroyed in an overnight arson attack.