NHS must ban Free Palestine badges now – no place for politics in our hospitals

NHS must ban Free Palestine badges now – no place for politics in our hospitalsOPINION - ANGELA EPSTEIN: Why should anyone have to doubt the efficacy of treatment based on political bias? Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark Add us as preferred source Comments By Angela Epstein 17:00, Fri, Jun 5, 2026 Updated: 17:03, Fri, Jun 5, 2026 Proest all you like, just not at work if you're in the public sector, writes Angela Epstein (Image: Corbis via Getty)Several years ago, I spoke to a theatre nurse in Israel who had assisted in life-saving surgery on a terrorist injured in the very attack he had carried out on innocent civilians. How did she maintain her composure while passing the scalpel? “We are professionals,” she told me, evenly. “We are trained to save lives, not pass judgement.” It is a mantra (albeit here invoked in extremis) by which every clinician, and in the case of this country, NHS employees, should abide. After all, when patients place themselves in the care of their nurses and doctors, only one thought should matter: can they ease the pain, remove the danger, even save a life? window.scriptsToLoad.push({url:'https://live.primis.tech/live/liveView.php?s=118222&vp_content=plembed3a6btjknzwqh&cbuster=%%CACHEBUSTER%%&playerApiId=v118222',triggeredBy:'tcfLoaded',delay:1500,containerId:'ovp-primis',title:"Primis player",beforeLoad:()=>{window.top.addEventListener('primisPlayerInit',e=>{try{if(e.detail&&e.detail.playerApiId==="v118222"){if(window.document.getElementsByClassName('jwplayer')[0]){e.detail.float('disable')}}}catch(e){}})},}) At that moment of profound vulnerability, the last thing any of us should have to consider is whether our treatment might be compromised by politics or prejudice. Yet how else to feel when the nurse or doctor delivering treatment has an aggressive political symbol pinned to their uniform? For Jewish people like myself, it’s a particular worrying issue, given the...