Doctor is cleared over alleged antisemitism and posts linked to Hamas

A British-Palestinian plastic surgeon accused by the UK doctors’ regulator of antisemitism and support for Hamas has been cleared after a three day hearing.The General Medical Council (GMC) brought the charges against Ghassan Abu-Sitta after a complaint by UK Lawyers for Israel.Abu-Sitta faced the allegations relating to an article he wrote in March 2018 in the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar that seemed to suggest collusion between Zionists and the Palestinian Authority and two reposts on Twitter (now X) that were said to be supportive of Hamas, an organisation proscribed in the UK under the Terrorism Act.But a medical practitioners tribunal decided that the allegations were not proved.1The tribunal said it was important to read the article through the lens of the audience it was intended for. “In this case, that would be those who could read Arabic and who had an understanding of the political issues and cultural history of…