Outcry as minister calls for disbarring doctors who took part in anti-government strike

The head of the main doctors’ union sends a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to publicly condemn the remarks of Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan, who called for disbarring medics who took part in an anti-government strike.

“I demand from you to clearly and publicly condemn the words of the minister of public diplomacy and strongly demand that the members of your party and the members of the coalition refrain from offensive and inciting statements in the future,” writes Dr. Zion Hagai.

In a tweet yesterday, Distel Atbaryan called to “cancel the medical licenses” of all doctors who took part in the strike called by the county’s largest labor union, part of mass protests against the government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary.

“Vicious people like this should not be allowed access to the sick,” she wrote.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid also condemns Distel Atbaryan.

“A minister in the government that for political reasons calls to cancel the licenses of doctors who are saving lives every day… is a poisonous madness and truly dangerous,” he says.