Summary

This legal case is about how senior executives at Barts Health NHS Trust have imposed a new uniform policy to ban any visible expressions of support for Palestinians as they suffer unprecedented human rights violations  potentially amounting to a genocide. Barts Health’s decision has followed direct pressure from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a pro-Israel lobby group. Please support us in opposing this discriminatory policy which contravenes NHS core values and basic rights of expression.

Background

On 10 March 2025, UK Lawyers for Israel publicly announced Barts Health NHS Trust’s implementation of a new uniform policy banning all of its hospital staff from wearing political symbols. A full 8 days later, the Trust informed its own employees of this new policy. UKLFI is a lobby group which uses legal advocacy to support Israel. UKLFI has filed complaints against Amnesty International, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and the UN special rapporteur for Palestine. It has argued that a Palestinian kite-making workshop should be banned by a local council because it reminded them of Hamas paragliders. It has successfully lobbied an NHS Trust to remove displays of artwork by Palestinian children. More recently, UKLFI has been condemned for claiming that Israel’s war may help reduce obesity in Gaza.

The new policy states that we as staff are not permitted to wear “badges, lanyards, or anything else that might align us with a particular nation, political party, one side in a conflict or causes that are not directly linked to and supported by the Trust or the NHS”. The policy applies to all staff at all times and regardless of whether or not they are in patient-facing roles. The Trust Executive will retain the right to decide which political symbols will remain permissible and which will be deemed inappropriate and divisive.

In stark contrast, Barts Health NHS Trust like many NHS organisations openly expressed support for Ukraine in response to Russia’s aggression and proactively encouraged staff to express support facilitating these actions through a variety of means.

In developing the policy, Barts Health chose not to carry out a full Equality Impact Assessment for possible discrimination, instead taking a unilateral decision that “no negative impacts were detected”.

This discriminatory policy is now extending beyond what we wear at work. One of us has been subjected to threats from an executive director at Barts Health in response to a Microsoft Teams virtual background showing a still life painting of a fruit bowl which included a watermelon. This has contributed towards an intimidating anti-Palestinian environment at leadership level. 

We are deeply saddened that our NHS institutions who have spoken out passionately on many international human rights issues have chosen to remain virtually silent on the complete devastation of Gaza and the targeted destruction of Palestinian healthcare workers and infrastructure. We cannot allow them to silence us. 

Why does this legal case matter?

What is happening at Barts Health is part of a wider erosion of the NHS core values of equity, inclusion and freedom to speak up. Barts Health is not the first NHS Trust or public institution which has bowed to pro-Israel lobbying during the onslaught on Gaza. If left unchallenged, these attacks on our freedom to oppose grave human rights violations will likely worsen.

This is not just about a uniform policy. It is about the right to be seen, to be heard, and to belong. If you believe in human equality and the freedom of health workers to show their concern for Palestinians’ lives - please support us. 

What can you do?

We are three healthcare professionals from diverse backgrounds (a Palestinian, an Iranian Jew, and a Gulf Arab), you can read our personal stories below. 

We’re represented by Liana Wood at Leigh Day – described by Legal 500 as a team of ‘fearless lawyers and very creative thinkers’ and noted as ‘the best in the country’ by clients of its employment legal team. We need your help to turn this into a defining moment for people who want the freedom to support those suffering under aggression.

Please donate and be part of this groundbreaking legal campaign. Your generous donations are hugely appreciated and will be spent entirely on legal costs.

Support us. Stand with us. Because Palestine matters - not just to Palestinians, but to the heart and soul of the NHS.

Our stories... 

The Palestinian Nurse

My name is Ahmad, and I am Palestinian. If you’re Palestinian, you are either born a refugee or under occupation. My entire hometown was demolished by Israel in 1967. A village that stood for a thousand years was wiped off the map. No UN resolution respected. No human rights convention upheld. No one held accountable.

Today, I work as a senior nurse in the NHS. I care for patients, lead teams, and support staff across one of the busiest hospitals in London. I also remain a proud Palestinian. But recently, my identity has been politicised and targeted. A new uniform policy introduced by my employer appears to specifically suppress visible expressions of solidarity with Palestine - despite the same institution having previously endorsed public acts of solidarity with many noble causes. The involvement of a pro-Israel lobby group in shaping this policy raises deep concerns about fairness, bias, and due process. I believe the NHS must be a place where human rights matter, where double standards are called out, and where no one is asked to leave their identity at the door.

The Jewish Medical Consultant

My name is Aarash. As a respiratory consultant, I love my job and I’m trained to care for all my patients equally. I can’t imagine what it must be like for the doctors remaining in Gaza’s destroyed hospitals. I am the son of Iranian Jews who routinely experienced genuine antisemitism. I’m proud of the long tradition of Jews who have fought for equality and human rights, for instance against apartheid in South Africa. I feel horrified that antisemitism has now become weaponised as a means to silence legitimate opposition to Israel’s war crimes. 

The images coming from Gaza are increasingly unbearable and the language of genocide coming from the Israeli government is ever more repulsive. When I look at my own 6 and 8 year old children, I think what it would feel like to see my child suffering and be unable to ease their pain. I feel proud to work at Barts Health whose core value of equity really means something to its diverse staff body. This move by the executives of our NHS Trust completely undermines the principle of equity and takes away our right to openly show empathy for Palestinian suffering. It must be challenged. 

The Gulf Arab Haematology Registrar

My name is Sara, I am a British Bahraini haematology registrar, I treat blood cancers and other blood disorders. Caring for patients is not a performative act for me, it’s not simply part of the job description, it’s a genuine expression of love and compassion. As a doctor, I cannot reconcile caring for my patients on the one hand and being simultaneously apathetic to the horrors unleashed in Gaza, because empathy does not come with a button that I can switch on when at work and then switch off once I step outside the workplace.

I’ve spent a significant part of my training at Barts Health NHS Trust, which I’ve long regarded as my home, and I’m deeply disappointed that it’s caved in to pressure from a pro-Israel lobby group in the name of “neutrality” and “professionalism”, when it has openly expressed support and even raised funds for Ukraine. I feel particularly devalued  by the lack of response I received from the Trust’s senior executive leadership who haven’t even acknowledged the grievance and anguish expressed to them. Supporting human rights is not a political stance, and as health workers we should not have to fear retribution simply for exercising our humanity.