A Jewish general practitioner is currently defending her professional standing following a heated online dispute triggered by the events of October 7. During the exchange, she accused a fellow doctor of gaslighting, saying, “Typical of you Muslims to gaslight.”
Dr. Cindy Cohen, who operates in North London, reacted furiously when Dr. Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki invited their medical WhatsApp group to a pro-Palestinian demonstration in response to the horrific Hamas attack.
Dr. Cohen criticized Dr. Zaklaki for introducing political issues into the group and labeled her as ‘antisemitic.’ She further alleged that Dr. Zaklaki supported the brutal acts of violence against civilians in Israel, including beheadings and murders.
Dr. Zaklaki described feeling ‘nauseous, shaking, anxious, and threatened’ due to the encounter and subsequently filed a complaint with the General Medical Council.
During today’s hearing, it was revealed that Dr. Cohen had also shown support for several Islamophobic posts on X, previously known as Twitter, which included offensive cartoons depicting the Koran with weapons and skulls.
This incident follows criticism directed at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service for inaction against a Palestinian doctor who had openly lauded Hamas on multiple occasions.
The MPTS ruled last month that Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, a trauma and orthopaedics doctor, should not be suspended because her posts did not amount to ‘bullying or harassment’.
But following criticism by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the General Medical Council referred the case back, with a new hearing set for Thursday.
Jewish GP Dr Cindy Cohen (pictured) was enraged when Dr Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki invited members of their medical WhatsApp group to a pro-Palestinian rally days after the October 7 attacks in Israel
Dr Roghieh Dehghan Zaklaki (pictured outside the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester) said the exchange had left her feeling ‘nauseous, shaking, anxious and threatened’
With both cases due to be held in the same hearings centre in Manchester, and coming less than three weeks after the deadly synagogue attack in the city, heightened security is in place this week.
Dr Cohen – a member of the European Jewish Parliament – practises at Archway Medical Centre in North London.
In a witness statement she said she was from a family of Mizrahi Jews who had lived in Baghdad for generations, giving her a ‘history of displacement, persecution and trauma’.
The online argument erupted 11 days after the attack by Hamas which left at least 1,219 people dead.
On October 18, 2023, Dr Zaklaki shared a petition condemning the Department of Health for flying the Israeli flag in a show of support and invited colleagues to attend a pro-Palestine march.
In response, Dr Cohen – who has relatives in Israel – replied: ‘You should not bring politics to this group.’
Telling Dr Zaklaki to ‘Get your facts straight first’, she added: ‘Typical of you Muslims to gaslight.’
Carlo Breen, for the GMC, said Dr Cohen had found the message from Dr Zaklaki ‘provocative’ because it failed to mention the October 7 attacks.
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan faces a misconduct hearing this week over several ‘dangerous’ social media posts littered with praise for terrorist organisation Hamas and previously said she would ‘never condemn’ the October 7 attack
However the GP – whose full name is Cinderella Nonoo-Cohen – now accepts her response ‘may have been perceived as offensive’ and apologises for any distress caused, he added.
But Mr Breen said the GMC’s case that Dr Cohen’s messages were motivated by, or demonstrated ‘hostility’ to Palestinians and were ‘seriously offensive’.
Turning to posts Dr Cohen had ‘liked’ on X, Mr Breen said her position was that she had ‘reflexively’ used the ‘like’ button without a ‘full appreciation’ of how her action might be perceived.
But the GMC case is that the ‘likes’ – some of which Dr Cohen says she has no recollection of doing – provide an ‘insight’ into her ‘thought process’, he added.
Giving evidence, Dr Zaklaki denied knowing that Dr Cohen was Jewish until the online row erupted.
Dr Cohen’s barrister Andrew Hockton put it to her that ‘it might be to say the least insensitive and frankly inappropriate to invite a Jewish doctor with family in Israel onto a pro-Palestinian rally’.
In a fiery exchange, Dr Zaklaki – who was born in Iran but grew up in Austria – accused him of ‘making mistakes on so many levels’.
‘We should know better as doctors,’ she added.
‘I did not weaponise my own suffering because that is wrong.’
Claiming his questioning ‘feels like an interrogation,’ she branded Mr Hockton’s questioning ‘racist’ and ‘triggering’, accusing him of implying that ‘being a Muslim I’m inherently violent’.
‘A reasonable observer might conclude you did bring politics into the group,’ Mr Hockton said.
Dr Zaklaki fired back: ‘Politics cannot be separated from healthcare.
‘That would not justify me being humiliated in front of everyone.
‘Being told I’m a Hamas supporter, which is a proscribed terrorist group, is saying I’m a criminal.’
The hearing continues.
