Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, continues to be investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) for his social media posts, despite a tribunal rejecting an application by the GMC to immediately suspend him from practice.
Dr Abu Sittah is a plastic surgeon, who has spent time working in Gaza, and has also been elected Rector of Glasgow University. He decided to waive his confidentiality to release the news, several months after the event, that the Interim Orders Tribunal had decided not to immediately suspend him from practice. This decision should not be interpreted as meaning that Dr Abu Sittah has been completely vindicated by the GMC.
Dr Abu Sittah also released the information that UK Lawyers for Israel had initiated the complaint to the GMC against him, as a result of his social media posts. UKLFI had not publicized anything about this complaint.
Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah’s Interim Orders Tribunal was held in private on 30 May 2024. UKLFI was not informed that the GMC had instigated the hearing, or that it was taking place, but was notified about the results of the hearing on 4 June 2024. UKLFI was also informed that details relating to the hearing are treated as confidential. However, Dr Abu Sittah decided to waive his confidentiality so that he could publicise the fact that he had not been immediately suspended from practice.
The GMC has confirmed that the disciplinary procedure against Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah is ongoing and he continues to be under investigation as a result of his social media posts and re-posts.
On 27 March 2022 he posted an image of a terrorist, masked with a keffiyah and carrying a machine gun, rushing forward, with the slogan “nous vaincrons” meaning “we will win”
On 28 March 2022 he posted an image of two terrorists both holding guns and masked with keffiyahs, one standing and one crouching in an intimidatory manner.
He has also re-posted eulogies of various slain members of terrorist groups.
On 6 December 2022 Abu Sittah reposted a eulogy of Omar Yousef Manna Fararja, a member of the Abu Ali Mustafa brigades (the armed wing of the PFLP), who was killed on 5 December 2022 during an armed clash with the Israel Defense Forces.
On 11 April 2022 Abu Sittah reposted a message paying tribute to the “Martyr” Ibrahim Ibrahim al Rai, a military commander in the PFLP who planned to bomb an Israeli bus and was involved in terrorist attacks against Israelis.
On 20 February 2022 Abu Sittah reposted a commemoration of the co-founder of the PFLP, Maher Al-Yamani, on the 3rd anniversary of his death,
On 29 October 2022 Dr Abu Sittah re-posted a celebration of a terrorist attack in Givat Ha’avot area of Kiryat Arba on 29 October 2022. The perpetrator, Mohammad al-Jabari, was affiliated to al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK.
Thanks to Gnasher Jew for providing information about Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah’s social media posts.