From 1940 to 2025: When doctors take over Nazi ideology

A nine-year-old girl fell from a climbing frame and was taken to AZ Zeno hospital in Knokke-Heist, Belgium. In the “current problems” section of her medical report, the radiologist added a non-medical line: “Jewish (Israeli).” That single entry—documented and reported over the weekend—turns a routine pediatric radiology note into a mark of exclusion that belongs to Europe’s darkest century, not its clinics.

Multiple outlets identified the doctor as a radiologist at AZ Zeno’s Knokke-Heist campus; a censored version of the report circulated on social media, prompting condemnation by Jewish organizations across Europe.

Where medicine ends and discrimination begins
Belgium’s Ordre des médecins is unequivocal: “The physician shall not discriminate and has the duty to treat every patient, without distinction of… ideological, philosophical or religious conviction, race, [or] orientation.” Writing “Jewish (Israeli)” as a medical problem is not a clinical observation; it is an act flatly at odds with Belgian medical ethics and with the Patient Rights law, which guarantees care “without any discrimination.”

Our questions to the authorities
Centrale magazine has contacted AZ Zeno in Knokke to ask why this doctor has not been dismissed, and the Belgian Order of Physicians to ask why his license has not been revoked. We did receive an answer to our request.

The official response of AZ Zeno
Following the circulation of the medical note on social media, AZ Zeno released a statement on 2 September 2025:

“We want to emphasize that faith or an ethno-cultural background never affects the quality of medical care, but in certain cases can be medically relevant. In this case, the mention was included for medical reasons. We understand that the title combined with this mention could have been perceived as offensive, and we have since corrected this in the electronic patient record. The patient involved was personally contacted; the procedure was explained and the situation clarified to their satisfaction.

In addition, the hospital was informed of certain past private social media posts by the doctor that may be considered hateful. AZ Zeno understands the many indignant reactions and stresses that there is no place for discrimination in the hospital. An internal investigation has been launched immediately, and an external investigation is also ongoing. The doctor concerned has been suspended with immediate effect to allow the investigation to proceed in a calm and thorough manner.

AZ Zeno remains committed to respectful and inclusive care for all patients.”

— Julie De Waele, Communications Officer, AZ Zeno

A climate where the distance from words to blows is shrinking
This episode doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack and the ensuing war in Gaza, antisemitic acts surged in Western Europe. In France, official figures compiled with the Jewish community’s security service recorded 1,676 antisemitic acts in 2023 (up from 436 in 2022) and 1,570 in 2024—a historically high, sustained level.
Belgium’s discrimination watchdog UNIA reported a clear increase in antisemitic reports after 7 October 2023; 91 reports were filed in October–December alone, more than the total for all of 2022.

Europe’s law-enforcement picture echoes the same pattern. Europol’s TE-SAT 2025 notes that the Gaza conflict had a major impact on the EU terrorist threat, with jihadist and other violent propaganda instrumentalizing the war and “igniting hatred,” with antisemitism a common denominator. In 2024 the EU recorded 58 terrorist attacks (34 completed), including 24 attributed to jihadist terrorism.

• France registered 14 attacks in 2024 (11 jihadist, 3 left-wing/anarchist), five completed. It also made 69 terrorism-related arrests (58 jihadist).
• Belgium registered 1 attack in 2024 (jihadist) and 27 arrests (25 jihadist).

These are not abstract numbers. France is still grieving the teacher murdered in the Arras Islamist attack (October 2023); Belgium lived through the Brussels shooting that targeted Swedish football fans days later.

Politics, media and the permission structure for hate
The more one looks at the European debate on Gaza, the clearer the pattern becomes: political messaging and one-sided coverage have created what feels—yes—like a permission structure for acts reminiscent of the Shoah-era stigmatization. The responsibility of political leaders—especially on the left—is overwhelming when rhetoric blurs lines between criticism of Israeli policy and hostility to Jews as Jews. That blur is the oxygen of contemporary antisemitism.

At the same time, a major diplomatic shift is underway. France announced it will recognize the State of Palestine in September 2025, and Belgium said it will do the same at the UN General Assembly this month (with Belgium describing conditions and sanctions on Israel in parallel). Whatever one thinks of these decisions on their own merits, extremists are already exploiting the war and the surrounding political debate—a point made explicitly by Europol.

Important nuance: Correlation is not causation. Recognition of Palestinian statehood is a political/diplomatic choice; terrorist threats rise and fall for many reasons. Still, the data show that in countries now advancing recognition (France, Belgium), the post-October-7 environment has coincided with elevated antisemitic incidents and heightened jihadist activity or arrests—conditions that propaganda explicitly tied to Gaza is fueling. Policymakers need to factor that risk into how they communicate and how they secure public space.

France & Belgium — key data at a glance

• France
• Antisemitic acts: 1,676 (2023) → 1,570 (2024) (both far above 2022’s 436).
• Terror in 2024: 14 attacks (11 jihadist; 5 completed, 9 foiled); 69 arrests (58 jihadist).
• Policy: Government to recognize Palestine at UNGA September 2025.
• Belgium
• Antisemitism: sharp surge in reports post-Oct. 7 (91 in Oct–Dec 2023 vs. 57 in all of 2022).
• Terror in 2024: 1 attack (jihadist); 27 arrests (25 jihadist).
• Policy: Government to recognize Palestine at UNGA September 2025 (foreign minister’s announcement).

What must happen now

• Immediate accountability: AZ Zeno and the Ordre des médecins should confirm what steps they are taking under the anti-discrimination duties set out in the Belgian Code of Medical Deontology and Patient Rights law. A formal disciplinary review is the minimum threshold in a case where a protected identity was recorded as a “medical problem.”
• Zero tolerance in clinical settings: Hospitals must audit templates and train staff that religion/ethnicity never belong in “diagnosis / problems / allergies” fields unless directly, medically indicated (e.g., specific genetic disorders, religiously relevant end-of-life directives)—and then with professional language only.
• Responsible politics and media: Leaders who advocate for Palestinians’ rights (or for Israel’s security) must draw bright, repeated lines: no “us vs. them,” no indifference to Jewish safety, no euphemisms about Hamas. Europol’s findings are clear: propaganda about Gaza is being weaponized to incite attacks and antisemitism inside the EU.

The duty of every public institution—from parliaments to newsrooms to hospitals—is to close the gap between words and blows. When a child’s chart carries an ethnic-religious label as a “problem,” we are no longer talking about a stray keystroke. We are watching the normalisation of an old hatred in a new form—and that calls for consequences, not excuses.