A senior surgeon at a Liverpool hospital has been suspended for nine months after posting a series of 'objectively antisemitic' messages on his public Instagram account. Muhammad Khalil, a vascular surgeon at Aintree University Hospital, posted the words 'death to Israel' across a background of a Star of David in 2023.
Posts found to be antisemitic
A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel found that the posts would have been considered offensive by 'any reasonably-minded patient'. Other images shared by Dr Khalil read that the 'real victory' would be 'the complete annihilation and eradication of Israel'.
Dr Khalil qualified in Egypt in 2001 and moved to the UK in 2015. At the time of the posts, he was practising as a senior clinical fellow of vascular surgery at Aintree University Hospital, part of the Royal Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Complaint and investigation
Concerns about Dr Khalil's social media conduct were raised by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLI) in October 2023, days after the Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent conflict in which some of his close friends were killed. UKLI complained that Dr Khalil had posted 'antisemitic and hateful' content on Instagram, bringing the profession into disrepute and making Jewish or Israeli patients feel unsafe under his care.
A police investigation was started but no further action was taken. In one post, Dr Khalil said: "The Israeli and western fabrication of news that started on 7/10 is shameless and unprecedented." Another referred to Jewish people as "thieves." He also posted images saying "the real victory" would be "the complete annihilation and eradication of Israel" and another that said: "You can shove your Torah, your Talmud, your Moses and all your prophets up your stinky ass."
Apology and tribunal findings
The MPTS panel found the posts to be objectively antisemitic, falling outside legitimate debate or criticism of Israel and supportive of violence. In December 2023, notes of an interview involving Liverpool University Hospitals and Dr Khalil recorded him saying he would not post images like that again.
Dr Khalil said he had got "very emotional beyond rationalism" when he posted the pictures. He apologised "unreservedly" for his actions and any damage caused to the Trust, adding: "I fully regret my actions and I recognise the error of my ways. I will learn from this and moving forward, I will not be engaging in any further social media posts."
In April 2024, during a telephone call with the General Medical Council (GMC), Dr Khalil expressed remorse and said the posts were made in the heat of the moment following the death of close friends. Colette Renton, on behalf of the GMC, said the allegations were "not merely trivial or inconsequential" and were not a temporary lapse or something excusable or forgivable. She submitted that Dr Khalil's insight had been extremely limited, as he maintained his conduct was not antisemitic, and that he alleged he was being persecuted by the GMC investigation.
In concluding its decision, the MPTS said Dr Khalil's posts were antisemitic, seriously offensive, and in one case supportive of violence. The panel concluded that any Jewish patients and reasonably minded non-Jewish patients who read the posts would have found them seriously offensive.
