Cardiologist Peter McDonald is on forced leave from his job of saving lives. He asked questions about Israel in a public forum and has been censored and condemned by St Vincent’s Hospital. Wendy Bacon with the story.
Dr Peter MacDonald helped pioneer transplant surgery in Australia and is a senior specialist in the Transplant Unit at St Vincent’s Hospital and co-head of the Transplantation Research Laboratory at its partner organisation, the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.
He developed the ‘Heart in the Box’ that enables transplants using the hearts of brain-dead patients. He is a partner in a research program to develop treatments using the venom of funnel web spiders that could save the lives of many who have heart attacks. For 19 years, Professor Macdonald has visited the Condobolin Aboriginal Medical Centre every month.
But for two weeks now, his work to save lives has halted. He is on what is called ‘unspecified leave’. Macdonald declined to be interviewed for this article.
This week, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties expressed its concern that a person “in their private capacity, asked a question about an intelligence agency and has subsequently,” and
been targeted, censored and publicly condemned by their employer.
Macdonald would still be hard at work if not for the actions of a small group of pro-Israeli health workers called the Alliance Against Antisemitism in Healthcare (AAAHC) who have demanded Macdonald be “disciplined or terminated” following a 30 second long contribution to a Palestine Justice Movement Sydney (PJMS) forum where he identified himself as a cardiologist but did not mention his employing institutions.
Academic Alliance against Antisemitism
AAAHC is a branch of the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A) that lobbied for the imposition of the Code of Conduct, which derailed the Bendigo Writers’ Festival last month by triggering authors to resign in protest. It promotes the IHRA definition of antisemitism and has asserted that it is antisemitic even to accuse Israel of being an ‘apartheid state’, a description widely adopted by human rights organisations and international lawyers.
The PJMS forum was organised to discuss the Australian Combat Antisemitism Mayors’ Summit that was held in early September on the Gold Coast. The panellists included Greens activist and lawyer Hannah Thomas, who is suing the State of NSW after police punched her in the eye at a pro-Palestinian protest; criminal barrister and podcaster Nick Hanna, and MWM’s reporters Yaakov Aharon and this author, who published stories on the Summit together.
Macdonald’s question referred to the PM Anthony Albanese’s announcement that ASIO had informed him that it had received intelligence suggesting that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) organised antisemitic attacks in Australia. ASIO specifically referred to the two attacks on the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne, Lewis’s Continental Kitchen in Sydney, and potentially further attacks.
While Albanese said ASIO had intelligence suggesting IRGC’s involvement in these attacks, he did not provide details of what evidence had been gathered, nor did he state what intelligence had been gathered directly by ASIO. An investigation by Sky News stated that at least some of the intelligence gathered by ASIO had been provided by Israeli agencies.
Macdonald commented that up until Albanese’s announcement, he had considered it to be a ‘no-brainer’ that Mossad (Israel’s external intelligence agency) was responsible. His question invited comments from the panel.
Attack of the Zionists extremists
Two days later, the right-wing media and Zionist Lobby quickly swung into action. Blogsite Israellycool.com was first off the blocks with an attack on Macdonald for being ‘offensive’ and ‘heartless’. The Daily Mail Australia then reported on Macdonald’s question, labelling it ‘wild’ and ‘bizarre’.
In fact, Mossad has often been discussed in mainstream media as being involved in deceptive and covert operations, including the use of false Australian passports in a Dubai operation that killed a Hamas operative. Intelligence agencies have a long record of putting out false information, including supposed ‘credible intelligence’ of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction that led to the 2003 war in Iraq.
The Australian Jewish Association posted the Daily Mail story online, triggering a torrent of abuse of Macdonald from its followers. Spectator Australia and The Australian followed up with attacks on Macdonald. The latter republished a personal letter by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin in which he concludes Macdonald should be “disciplined” for causing “great harm” as a result of “taking leave of his senses” and promoting “wild fantasies” and conspiracies.
Three days after the forum, on September 2, three Melbourne members of the AAAHC, Drs Jeremy Goldin, who is a consultant at a St Vincent’s private hospital in Melbourne, psychiatrist Dr Jacqueline Rakov and radiologist Dr Karen Fink sent a complaint to St Vincent’s hospital and the NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park, which was reported by the Australian Jewish News.
They accused Macdonald of promoting “textbook antisemitic conspiracy tropes” and “spreading poisonous myths” that must be “repudiated without hesitation.”
“St Vincent’s hospitals have many Jewish patients, staff and community members who would be rightly appalled by Macdonald’s conduct,” the complaint stated. The doctors argued Macdonald’s comments “breached St Vincent’s Health Australia’s Group Code of Conduct, which is grounded in values of compassion, justice, integrity and excellence.”
“Publicly promoting false, divisive, racist conspiracy narratives is incompatible with integrity and justice,” they wrote, adding that his conduct fostered “hostility toward a religious minority.”
Macdonald had not mentioned Jewish or Israeli people.
The complainants demanded Macdonald’s “immediate suspension from all clinical, teaching and research roles, an independent investigation, and if facts are confirmed, termination of his association with St Vincent’s.”
St Vincent’s Hospital reacts
Like all major institutions, St Vincent’s Health Australia has a code of conduct which provides for procedural fairness and the appointment of a person that can determine if there is a sound basis for allegations. As expected, the code focuses on incidents that occur in the workplace.
The AAAHC demanded, “We are fed up with performative responses to racial vilification,” the doctors wrote. “This is not a moment for equivocation or PR euphemisms.”
Instead of complying with its own code, St Vincent’s took the extraordinary step of immediately issuing a statement which prejudged the issue.
“Unequivocally, St Vincent’s does not associate itself with the remarks of the employee” (not named).
“St Vincent’s rejects antisemitism, racism, bigotry and hate. It has no place in an organisation that was founded to share love and compassion to the most vulnerable through healthcare and other supports.
“Upon his [the employee’s return], St Vincent’s will take appropriate next steps in accordance with our internal policies and procedures.
“More frequent instances of antisemitism in Australia – including in healthcare settings – is a disturbing and upsetting development … St Vincent’s is very conscious – particularly from talking to staff and community members from Jewish backgrounds – that many people are experiencing feelings of unease, fear, and dismay at this phenomenon.
“We want to assure every member of our community – whatever their background and beliefs – that St Vincent’s is a safe harbour from antisemitic or bigoted views.”
St Vincent’s did not explain how it reached the conclusion that anything Macdonald had done amounted to ‘antisemitism, racism, bigotry or hate’, nor did it state who was responsible for the statement.
MWM sent questions to St Vincent’s asking who was responsible for issuing the statement; how it had reached its conclusions; what evidence it had; whether it had considered requirements for natural justice, and whether its statement itself would cause harm.
St Vincent’s declined to answer any questions.
A spokesperson for the NSW Minister for Health, Ryan Park, said he had responded to the AAAHC but provided no details of the nature of his response.
Victor Chang Institute pipes in
As recently as July this year, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute proudly reposted an ABC interview with Macdonald as an example of its worth and high standards. But this didn’t stop its CEO, Professor Jason Kovacic, from issuing an equally damning statement.
Without naming Macdonald, he alleged that his colleague had,
“caused significant distress amongst our community. We categorically disagree with the remarks in question, which were made by the individual in a personal capacity at a political forum. We consider they are antisemitic and conspiratorial. They are antithetical to our aim of fostering community wellbeing. The Institute condemns antisemitism, racism, and all forms of discrimination.
“Given the ‘gravity’ of the situation, Victor Chang is conducting “a thorough review to understand all aspects of that matter” to “ensure our values and policies are upheld by everyone who works with us.”
The Victor Chang Institute also refused to answer any questions.
Support for McDonald
Peter Macdonald has plenty of support, including from people who believe that St Vincent’s and Victor Chang Institute’s intemperate responses have caused harm. Personal letters have been written to the CEO of St Vincent’s, including from those whose lives were saved by Macdonald and from donors to St Vincent’s Hospital. 3800 people have signed PJMS’s open letter.
The Doctors for the Prevention of War have issued a public letter calling on St Vincent’s and Kovacic to retract their attacks on Macdonald. “Vexatious or unfounded accusations distort our understanding of what anti-Semitism truly is. They have a chilling effect – by threats and intimidation – on the rights to freedom of speech and political opinion, and can leave health advocacy wide open to political influences.”
At the heart of this matter is the issue of freedom of political speech, which the NSW Council for Civil Liberties President, Timothy Roberts, said yesterday must be protected,
“It is in the public’s interest for questions to be asked regarding the trustworthiness of information from the government, including from intelligence agencies. This year alone it has been exposed that the Dural Caravan incident was known to be a criminal hoax from early on, while the NSW Premier used this to inflame fear in the public and push through anti-protest laws.
“In a democratic country, we are entitled to question and scrutinise the decisions of all states. Even more so, we are entitled to question and scrutinise the decisions of intelligence agencies.”
Rather than doing further harm to one of Australia’s most eminent medical practitioners for exercising his right to political speech, St Vincent’s might do well to consider whether it might not itself be in breach of the very principles of fairness and integrity which it claims to practice.
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