The Medical Board of Australia has referred Royal Perth Hospital nephrologist Dr Omar Azzam to a professional standards tribunal for alleged professional misconduct, and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has suspended his registration pending the outcome of the hearing. Dr Azzam is accused of creating multiple social-media accounts to post abusive content, including Hamas-linked symbols, ZioNazi slurs, and posts mocking Christians. According to multiple reports, former midwife Sharon Stoliar endured more than a year of alleged online harassment from Dr Azzam, targeting her on Instagram and Facebook; Stoliar is not Jewish but is married to an Israeli man and is publicly supportive of Israel.
After public exposure, Dr Azzam changed his Instagram username to @thoroughlyentertained and altered his profile picture to an image of himself with a baby wearing a keffiyeh. When the Maternity Consumer Network issued a statement supporting Sharon Stoliar, Dr Azzam began posting extensively on their page, and after Stoliar lodged a complaint in March 2025, his behavior escalated under new aliases, mocking supporters and dismissing antisemitism concerns. According to Daily Mail - News, Sharon Stoliar described the repeated 'neuron' insults as racist and implying people of colour are unintelligent.
The repeated 'neuron' insults were racist and implied people of colour are unintelligent.
Other individuals reported similar experiences of trolling and harassment involving Dr Azzam during Covid, and Royal Perth Hospital was aware of his behavior as early as July 2024, when a Jewish doctor raised concerns. The specific actions or complaints that prompted the General Medical Council investigation into Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, and the current status of Dr Azzam's professional standards tribunal hearing and potential outcomes, remain unclear.
In a separate case in the United Kingdom, Dr Rahmeh Aladwan appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court and indicated not guilty pleas to four counts of inviting support for Hamas. She was charged with four counts of inviting support for Hamas, a proscribed group, under the Terrorism Act 2000, with the charges dating from July 23 to December 31 last year and relating to comments or material posted online. Dr Aladwan was also charged with stirring up racial hatred through words or behavior at a protest on July 21 and through written material on November 19.
Game on. Free Palestine.
According to research sources, Dr Aladwan is accused of writing posts including statements that she does not condemn Hamas or the October 7 attacks and calling to 'Free the world from Jewish supremacy' in 2025, and her legal team also indicated not guilty pleas to a charge of stirring up racial hatred at a speech she allegedly made at a protest in Westminster, and one of stirring up racial hatred through publishing and distributing written material. On the second anniversary of the 7 October attack, Aladwan is accused of posting an image of a bulldozer along with text reading 'Glory to the Palestinian resistance', and Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and abducted 251 hostages on October 7, 2023.
Dr Aladwan was arrested at her home in Pilning, south Gloucestershire, for allegedly breaching police bail conditions, and the Metropolitan Police said that Aladwan was arrested on 26 March at her home address. She was released on conditional bail with a next hearing on April 24 at the Old Bailey, and the exact police bail conditions that she allegedly breached have not been disclosed. Dr Aladwan is currently under investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC) and was suspended from practice for 15 months in November, with Aladwan suspended on an interim basis from the UK medical register for 15 months in November for posting allegedly antisemitic comments on social media, pending a full hearing.
You should not bring politics to this group. I’m disappointed in you as a doctor. Get your facts straight first. Typical of you Muslims to gaslight.
The charges against Dr Aladwan come after an investigation by the Met's Public Order Crime Team, and more than a dozen protesters gathered outside the court waving Palestinian flags and carrying placards. According to Daily Mail - News, Dr Rahmeh Aladwan described the situation as 'Game on. Free Palestine.' The specific evidence or content that led to the charges against Dr Aladwan for inviting support for Hamas has not been made public.
In another UK case, a medical tribunal suspended a doctor for making Islamophobic comments against a Muslim colleague, with the doctor suspended being Cinderella Nonoo-Cohen, also known as Cindy Cohen, who is a serving member of the European Jewish Parliament. The comments were made in a WhatsApp group about fellow doctor Roghieh Dehghan more than two years ago following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023, after Dehghan shared a post asking colleagues to consider signing a petition opposing the UK Department of Health and Social Care's decision to display the Israeli flag.
What?! Remove that Dr Dehghan is an antisemitic person and believes in the barbaric acts of beheading, murdering, and burning of civilians in Israel. And spreading lies about the hospital bomb, which Hamas inflicted on themselves.
According to www.middleeasteye.net, Cinderella Nonoo-Cohen described the messages as sent in the early hours of the morning and 'defensive' and 'emotionally charged,' and she also described her use of the term 'Muslims' as possibly a mistake. The tribunal determined the messages to be objectively Islamophobic and seriously offensive, concluding that Nonoo-Cohen attempted to portray Dehghan as antisemitic and supportive of Hamas, and Nonoo-Cohen was given a four-month suspension by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).
Nonoo-Cohen shared a post on X stating that minorities had 'precedence over the Whites,' and the tribunal found the X post demonstrated racial hostility but not racial or religious prejudice. The panel did not uphold allegations that Nonoo-Cohen's behaviour stemmed from hostility towards Palestinians or their supporters, and she was working as a locum GP at a medical centre in Islington at the time of the incident. According to www.middleeasteye.net, Cinderella Nonoo-Cohen described Dehghan as an antisemitic person who believes in barbaric acts and spreads lies, and she expressed disappointment in bringing politics to the group.
I could not explain why I used the term 'Muslims' in my message, suggesting it may have been a mistake.
These cases highlight ongoing tensions within the medical profession regarding hate speech and political activism, with the number of individuals who have reported similar trolling experiences involving Dr Omar Azzam, and their identities, remaining unknown. The outcomes of the tribunals and court proceedings will likely influence professional conduct standards and institutional responses to online harassment and extremist rhetoric in healthcare settings.
The messages were sent in the early hours of the morning and were 'defensive' and 'emotionally charged.'