[News] How a ‘hostile’ NYC hospital fired an award-winning Palestinian-American nurse

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-hostile-nyc-nyu-hospital-fired-award-winning-palestinian-american-nurse>
How a ‘hostile’ NYC hospital fired an award-winning Palestinian-American
nurse
By Azad Essa
May 31, 2024
------------------------------

The New York hospital that honoured a Palestinian-American nurse for her
contributions to medicine, and then fired her days later for referring to
the war on Gaza as "genocide" during her award speech, subjected
pro-Palestine staff to months of harassment, workers affiliated with the
sprawling academic medical centre told Middle East Eye.

Several health workers, including nurses and graduates from New York
University's medical school which forms part of NYU Langone academic
medical centre, told MEE that Hesen Jabr's dismissal from Langone was part
of a systematic attempt by university administrators across NYU's
affiliates to root out any expression of pro-Palestinian sentiment amongst
the hospital community since Israel's war on Gaza began in October.

The medics described a "stifling" and "hostile" environment for
Palestinians at the institution and said administrators refused to allow
staff or students to express sympathy or solidarity with Palestinians in
Gaza, even as Israel began bombing hospitals, killing healthcare workers
and demolishing medical facilities in the besieged Strip.

They said that over the past eight months, healthcare workers were forced
to keep their thoughts and concerns about Gaza to themselves - or face
consequences.

"I think it’s widely understood that anyone openly expressing
pro-Palestinian sentiments risks harassment and retaliation," Victoria
Cladhaire*, a recent graduate of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told
MEE.

"I've never witnessed anyone speaking openly about what’s happening in Gaza
in the hospital, though I’ve had private conversations with Lebanese and
Palestinian colleagues who are suffering tremendously."

But Cladhaire says the policing of speech is a one-way street.

"Meanwhile, I've been in workrooms where people have spoken openly about
having friends and family in the Israeli military - who are widely
self-documented committing war crimes - and going to American Israel
Political Action Committee conferences, etcetera, and I know I can’t do
anything about it [because] it wouldn’t be considered creating an 'unsafe'
environment even though it is," Cladhaire said.

'Because of institutional mass emails about standing with Israel and the
slew of disciplinary actions against students and staff, we are scared to
speak about anything Palestine related'

-* NYU Grossman School of Medicine graduate*

Another recent graduate of the medical school echoed the same sentiments,
and the two described several incidents of medical students being
disciplined, or of irregularities when it came to university policy towards
pro-Palestinian activism across NYU's medical affiliates.

"The environment is extremely stifling and hostile. Because of
institutional mass emails about standing with Israel and the slew of
disciplinary actions against students and staff, we are scared to speak
about anything Palestine related and feel like anything we say, can and
will be used against us," the newly graduated doctor, who also asked to
remain unnamed over fear of reprisals, said.

The doctor said the level of policing had reached new heights, adding that
Jabr's dismissal was just a slice of a systematic attempt to silence
pro-Palestinian speech across both NYU Langone Health and NYU Grossman
School of Medicine.

NYU Langone is an academic medical centre and is regarded as a leader in
the treatment of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

According to NYU Langone, the hospital "prides itself on creating a
collaborative environment where nurses can share their ideas for enhancing
patient care while working in an intellectually stimulating academic
environment".
Doxxed

Jabr, who had worked as a nurse at NYU Langone since 2015, said long before
she was dismissed for her comments at the award ceremony on 7 May, she had
been at the receiving end of a months-long campaign to silence and
discredit her.

She said that institutional bias towards Palestinians meant she was
constantly asked to explain herself, even as her own community was being
massacred in Gaza, and even as right-wing pro-Israeli groups doxxed her or
harassed her online.

Jabr said that after October, NYU Langone's HR contacted her, following a
complaint by a colleague who alleged Jabr had made her feel unsafe.

Jabr told MEE it began when she noticed her colleague had posted a call on
her WhatsApp status for donations to the Israeli army, just as it had
started bombing hospitals in Gaza.

'I told them it was my First Amendment right. They can't do that. They said
I had no rights at NYU because it is a private institution'

- *Hesen **Jabr*

"I asked her [over WhatsApp], where was her compassion, especially as a new
mother. She didn't reply. She instead reported me to HR," Jabr said.

Then HR initiated a series of probes, according to Jabr. And then, the
doxxing also began.

The pro-Israel group Stop Antisemitism posted Jabr's private
Instagram content and tagged her employer after she shared a political
cartoon showing an Israeli soldier looking into the mirror and seeing a
German Nazi soldier looking right back at him. Jabr reshared the image with
the text: "Powerful."

Jabr said that her full name, the hospital she worked at, and even the unit
she was a part of had been made public, leaving her to speculate that it
was someone at work who had put out her private information. She felt
unsafe.

Jabr says that instead of mitigating her fears over the doxxing, she was
asked to apologise for sharing the illustration.

Later, in December, a co-worker nonchalantly yelled at the nursing station
at work, "Hesen hates Jews".

Though this was reported to HR, nothing came of the matter. Instead, Jabr
says she was warned to stay clear of posting her opinions on social media.

"I told them it was my First Amendment right. They can't do that. They said
I had no rights at NYU because it is a private institution. That [freedom
of expression] only applied at the federal level," Jabr said.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/students-and-faculty-say-nyu-abu-dhabi-face-repression-over-palestine-solidarity>

NYU Abu Dhabi suppressing Palestine solidarity, students and faculty say

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Jabr said that NYU Langone didn't specify what she could not post on social
media even though she repeatedly asked for clarity.

"All they would say is that we have a certain population we need to keep
comfortable. And when I pushed back and I asked what about my comfort?
Isn't this discrimination? They said I represent NYU and it's my job to
uphold the code of conduct and make everyone feel comfortable," Jabr said.

Jabr said the hospital's refusal to support and protect her impacted her
mental and physical health. She began taking fewer shifts at work as a
result of the stress.

MEE reached out to NYU Langone repeatedly for comment, but did not receive
a response by the time of publication.

However, the hospital did confirm to The New York Times
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/nyregion/nyu-langone-nurse-fired-gaza-war.html>
that she was fired following her speech, noting "a previous incident".

"Hesen Jabr was warned in December, following a previous incident, not to
bring her views on this divisive and charged issue into the workplace," the
statement from NYU read.

"She instead chose not to heed that at a recent employee recognition event
that was widely attended by her colleagues, some of whom were upset after
her comments," the statement added.
An award followed by dismissal

On 7 May, the 34-year-old Jabr, who had worked at the hospital since 2015,
was honoured by her colleagues with the Sebastian Brun Compassionate Care
Award for her "exceptional" work with bereaving women who had lost children
during pregnancy or childbirth.

Jabr was honoured "for not only providing stellar care but also provides
support for the rest of the nursing staff so that we can all live up to her
example".

'The NYU brand is notably one that prioritises the stifling of
pro-Palestinian expression and the siding with genocidaires'

- *spokesperson for NYU Alumni for Justice in Palestine,*

In her acceptance speech, Jabr thanked her colleagues, and saluted her
mother and grandmother "earnestly and sincerely wanting to care for these
patients and alleviate their pain during the most difficult time of their
lives".

At the tail-end of her short address, Jabr made a passing remark on the
events unfolding in Gaza.

"It pains me to see the women from my country going through unimaginable
losses themselves during the current genocide in Gaza," Jabr said.

"This award is personal to me for those reasons, even though I can't hold
their hands and comfort them as they grieve their unborn children and the
children they have lost during this genocide. I hope to keep making them
proud as I keep representing them at NYU," she added, to rapturous applause.

On her next shift at work on 22 May, Jabr was summoned into a meeting with
the president and vice president of NYU nursing, in which she was told she
"put others at risk" and "ruined the ceremony" and that she had "offended
people".

"They told me that I was warned in December not to talk about my politics
at work. And that it was a violation of the code of conduct," Jabr told MEE.

"I told them that my comments were relevant to the award. It was an award
for treating bereaving mothers in a unit and my care for them. It was
something that was personal to me and relevant to bring it up."

Jabr said the president said that people had reached out to administrators
to register their discomfort with her speech.

Hours later, she was terminated and escorted out of the hospital by a
plain-clothes police officer.

"It was humiliating," Jabr recalled.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-israel-palestine-medical-workers-continue-provide-relief>

War on Gaza: Traumatised Palestinian medical workers provide relief to
Israel’s victims

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<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-israel-palestine-medical-workers-continue-provide-relief>

Jabr's characterisation of the approach toward Palestinians from NYU's
leadership is supported by recent medical graduates who told MEE that there
was a double standard in terms of whose lives, dignity, and perceived
“safety” are valued.

"The medical school issued a statement enumerating the Israeli lives lost
back in October but has never done the same for Palestinians, even though
the death toll is at least 40 times greater, and despite students raising
this inconsistency with them on multiple occasions," Cladhaire, the
newly-graduated doctor, said.

Cladhaire noted that medical students were even forbidden to hold
a candlelight vigil for Palestinian healthcare workers.

"Students also asked to hold educational events about the healthcare crisis
in Gaza and the administrators just ignored our emails. I know of a
classmate who was accused of a hate crime for posting an informative flyer
about medical apartheid in Gaza in the hospital. She had to apologise and
take 'professionalism' classes," Cladhaire added.

NYU has been one of the major flashpoints in the US over the past eight
months, with several students and faculty facing censure for their
pro-Palestine positions.

"The NYU brand is notably one that prioritises the stifling of
pro-Palestinian expression and the siding with genocidaires, even amidst
the carnage we’ve witnessed in Rafah these past few days," a spokesperson
for NYU Alumni for Justice in Palestine
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/www.nyuajp.org>, a coalition made up of
3,100 NYU alumni, told MEE.

"The irony is egregious - NYU Langone fired a nurse for speaking against a
genocide in which the Israeli military has deliberately destroyed hospitals
and killed healthcare workers.

The alumni group added that they will continue to halt donations or any
other support to NYU until it ends censorship on Palestine and its
"complicity" in the Israeli genocide and occupation, the spokesperson said.

"Protecting human life is a value we recognise remains forever critical to
the healthcare sector, particularly amidst a genocide exacerbated by the
weaponization of healthcare access en masse," the group said.

**Name changed for safety reasons*
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