NHS staff told to stop wearing uniforms at pro-Palestinian demonstrations

I am sure there are those that fervently want peace including Jews but the Palestinian colours are not a call for peace. It is direct affiliation to one side in an armed conflict. Hamas have a chance for peace by simply laying down arms and not attacking Israelis.

I bet a lot of those questioned about the use of the Palestinian flag would distance themselves from the PLOq or any Palestinian leader that wasn't an outright threat to Israel as some (maybe not all) are supporters of 'righteous ' resistance and the demands of Palestinians for the obliteration of Israel.

It is simply intimidating for patients to be faced with this flag when at their most vulnerable. The NHS is a politically neutral body and for good reason.

One thing that does occur to me working in a diverse work place is that a conversation about the rights and wrongs of this conflict could lead to deal division amongst team members which could feed into a lack of good team working to the detriment of patients. Yet another reason for no flag.

The interim ICJ ruling was that the Palestinians had plausible rights to be be protected from genocide NOT that there was a plausible case of genocide.

FACTS MATTER!

Evidence for indiscriminate killing of Palestinians?

Does saying that Israel have no regard for their hostages negate Palestinian civilians taking the hostages, including babies, children and the elderly, at all in your view?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3g9g63jl17o.amp

Again so judgemental assuming what Muslims or Palestinians would do.

On the way to yesterday's protest I saw many Jews, the most heartwarming encounter was with a Jewish man on the tube with a sign saying that he was openly Jewish calling for an end to the genocide and freedom for Palestinians. And we just connected over a shared concern for humanity. Many Jews were out with signs stating they are descendants of holocaust survivors and what Israel is doing is not in their name.

The ICJ rules a plausible case of genocide a year ago

Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant are wanted by the ICC

Amnesty International have said it, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, B'Selem etc

If you don't want to call it genocide call it massacre

Yes it is indiscriminate killing, and they've no regard for the hostages. This is all documented.

I think you should look at the Likud Party manifesto in the first instance.

Re BBC more than 100 whistle lowers have called out its bias: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bbc-israel-gaza-letter-tim-davie-bias-palestine-b2636737.html

As I said badges etc should be kept out but I I can empathize with any health care workers aiming to raise these issues in a respectable way.
72 hours trying to save a man's life due to the lack of medical equipment because of Israel's blockade . They are amazing.

www.thejournal.ie/gaza-hospital-forced-to-manually-pump-oxygen-6705011-May2025/

Although NHS are unusual if they have changing rooms

For good reason

NHS staff not allowed to wear uniform in public and if course they are not allowed to wear badges it is common sense

Just

The base wearers in the NHS do not include those that purely empathetic reasons for displaying the badge but also want to show support for a people in an asymmetric conflict whose desire is the abolition of Israel with the expulsion of worse of Jews. The Hamas manifesto is at least as bad as Mein Kampf. The problem is you obviously can't tell the difference or discern the motivation of the wearer. If the motivation is the latter reason can not people simply see how the Palestinian flag could cause offence especially towards Jews or people with relatives in Isra so who have October 7th and on going rocket attacks?

if the badge wearers truly had empathy and were professional they would think deeply about the impression these badges give to the most important people in the NhS, the patients and simply not wear them. I am sure all these Palesinian supporters in the current climate would probably get their bosses to do something of someone wore an Israeli state flag on their lapel (not that Jews probably would as most are quite rightly afraid) especially if there was a relatively high Muslim patient population.

it is quite simple why the badges are banned in the NHSq and NH S workers should not wear uniforms at maeches.

let's all over the rules; they are there for good reason.

If there is a genocide why are the U.S. and Israelis building massive distribution centres? Why are air strikes intelligence lead against Hamas operatives and not carpet bombing? Why are there are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living beside Jews in Jerusalem?

The weaponisation of the work genocide against a people who historically have suffered the worst genocide in modern history is actually quite offensive. Ues, there are civilian casualties and pockets of hunger in Gaza as Hamas uses aid for its funding but this does no constitute proven genocide at all.

Hamas fired rockets from near a hospital can I ask what Israel is meant to do? Let rockets land on its people as striking back is 'genocide'? Every war is not a genocide and it has a specific meaning with an extremely high bar hence why reputable mainstream media such as the BBC do not use this term. The reasons are simple , it is unproven, inaccurate, and importantly acts to conflate Israel with Jews all over the world with an act that will cause increased anti semitism world wide which I am sure Hamas would love.

Genocide not war.

I am guessing that they are wearing their uniforms in solidarity with all the heath care workers who were deliberately targetted and murdered by the Israeli state

Excellent post

Good

So judgmental and not true. I know pro Palestine supporters who wear both the red and the white poppy.

The hate is largely from the Israelis, they are taught this in schools from a young age - well documented. Palestinian history, the nakba is all erased.

I've met both Israelis and Palestinians - world of a difference in their world view and how they are taught. Israelis are taught that Arabs hate them from the start. Palestinians - I hardly see this.

Many Israeli towns are built on destroyed Palestinian villages. They were expelled from their land.

And no this war didn't start on Oct 7th because Israel had been systematically removing Palestinians, killing them, murdering them.

If you occupy a land, you need to create the hysteria that others are after you to justify the occupation.

Read Genocide Bad by Sim Kern she is a Jewish author. Read Avi Shlaims Memoirs of an Arab Jew, he is a historian who talks about his family life in Iraq, Israel and London.

Again, just to be clear the scale and depravity of this genocide, carried out by our ally is why there is a growing momentum of people who are educating themselves, challenging assumptions and calling for freedom for Palestinians.

Good, a sensible decision for once.

The same goes for every other political or other affiliated badges/lanyards etc. NHS workers should be impartial when dealing with patients/clients and represent this when in uniform.

The same should apply to all other uniformed professionals - police, military etc.

You know that Israel has never started any war? They have won all the wars started against them though. If the Palestinians had accepted a 2 state solution in one of the many times it had been offered to them they could have built a thriving economy like Israel has. Instead they chose to indoctrinate their children to hate Jews, building generations of hate. Why would you want your child to be a "martyr"? They have chosen terrorism and war over and over again. The reason Israel has such tight controls into what goes ino Gaza/ people leaving Gaza is because their stated aim is the destruction of Israel and all Jews. Without controls Israelis would be at great risk. As they have proven over and over again. Israeli's are generally peace loving. I don't think you can say the same for a large percentage of Gazans.

I'm not commenting on Hamas here or Oct 7th, it was a massacre. But Hamas didn't start the war and people need to know the context. Palestinians have been killed by Israel on oct 6th, 5th and all the way back to its inception,even before Hamas was created. Ethnic cleansing has been taking place since Israel was created.

I highlight this point because there is a lot of casual stereotyping and association of Palestinians. Ultimately this leads to dehumanisation and turning a blind eye to genocide where people have to prove their humanity.