Doctors union warned over anti-Israel stickers

Striking doctors have been sent a letter from NSW’s peak Jewish body asking them to cease the use of anti-Israel iconography at their industrial rallies.

Striking doctors have been sent a letter from the state’s peak Jewish body asking them to cease the use of anti-Israel iconography at their industrial rallies.

Megaphones being used by doctors union organisers have been plastered with anti-Israel and intifada stickers, resulting in a legal letter from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) being sent to the Australian Salaries Medical Officer’s Federation on Thursday morning.

This comes as thousands of doctors have walked off the job for three days, holding rallies outside multiple hospitals across the state, fighting for a 30 per cent pay increase and better working conditions.

Union organisers use megaphones covered in anti-Israel stickers.

In the letter from the ECAJ’s Head of Legal Simone Abel, she said the presence of the iconography made Jewish doctors “feel psychologically unsafe” and was racially vilifying.

The letter also points to pictures of junior doctors rallying in keffiyehs outside Nepean Hospital.

It is understood that the megaphones with the anti-Israel stickers were borrowed from the more militant Maritime Union of Australia, which has been vocal in its support of the Palestinian movement.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has written a letter of complaint to the doctors union over anti-Israel iconography. Picture: Instagram,

“Several Jewish and non-Jewish salaried doctors have contacted us to bring to our attention the prominence of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish paraphernalia at the ASMOF industrial actions,” the letter states.

“It is both racially vilifying and socially ostracising to have slogans and wording such as ‘Intifada’ on prominent display during ASMOF industrial action.

“We are unclear why the industrial action seems to have had such a strong undercurrent of anti-Israel and antisemitic expression. While this makes most Jewish doctors feel psychosocially unsafe, it would also appear to be totally unrelated to the objectives of the industrial action and suggests that the action is being utilised in ways that are inconsistent with its stated objectives.”

A doctors union protest organiser uses megaphone with anti-Israel stickers. Doctors across Sydney went on strike today over what they say is working conditions. Picture: Supplied.

Other doctors have also written to ASMOF to complain about the megaphone. One doctor, in a complaint to the union said it was “entirely inappropriate to allow this important medical issue to be mixed in with political rhetoric”.

“This has made a number of people feel very uncomfortable. Why are you making political comments when the needs of doctors should be priority? You are not acting with cultural safety in mind. Remove the sticker if you must use the megaphone,” the doctor wrote.

An ASMOF spokesperson said the anti-Israel stickers were not connected to the union’s industrial action in any way.

“Our rallies are solely focused on fighting for better conditions in our hospitals,” the spokesperson said.

“Our campaign is about addressing the chronic understaffing and burnout affecting doctors and patients in NSW.”

Doctors and nurses demonstrate outside the NSW Ministry of Health in St Leonards on the first day of the strike. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

The dispute comes as more than 3100 doctors failed to turn up for work on the last day of the strike, with Australian Bureau of Statistics data revealing NSW lost about 31,700 working days last year to industrial action.

The three days of industrial action, which is due to finish by 10pm on Tuesday, has impacted 649 surgeries and closed 35 hospital beds across the state to date.

Additionally, 5245 day patients and 667 oncology patients have had their appointments cancelled and rescheduled, with the flow-on effects of the strike expected to carry into the coming days and weeks as the system scrambles to catch up.

Although ASMOF has not notified the government of any further industrial action at this stage, The Daily Telegraph understands the union is prepared to go on strike again if the government does not make a favourable offer.

It comes as public psychiatrists, also represented by ASMOF, return to the Industrial Relations Commission on Friday for a directions hearing after their wage dispute with the government was postponed for a week due to the doctor’s forging ahead with their strike - against commission orders.