.png)
The video circulating of two NSW nurses making hateful and discriminatory remarks towards an Israeli man—expressing a desire for his suffering, refusing care for Israeli patients, and even stating they would kill them if possible (and has already killed Israeli patients) —has rightfully sparked outrage. The government’s swift and decisive response to this blatant antisemitism and unprofessional behaviour was very welcome, however, we want to highlight how this issue extends beyond healthcare and into consumer health advocacy.
Since Sharon Stoliar (who is married to a Jewish man and deeply involved in the Jewish community) joined our committee as a volunteer in 2023, our organization has been relentlessly harassed by antisemitic individuals within the maternity care advocacy space.
The harassment became so severe that we were forced to withdraw from the NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry after October 2023. This was an incredibly difficult decision, especially considering that MCN, alongside the women of Wagga Wagga with the HCCC and MP Emma Hurst, was a major catalyst in bringing the inquiry to life after years’ worth of advocacy.
The reasons for our withdrawal were:
Pressure to Make Political Statements
Our founder Ms Staines was pressured by maternity care advocates to take a stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict and to fire Sharon Stoliar simply because she spoke out against antisemitism in Australia maternity care.
Targeted Harassment and Defamation
These birth advocates went as far as defaming Sharon Stoliar to social media influencer Laura Allam, who then publicly threatened to destroy her midwifery career in an Instagram post. This was liked by a prominent midwifery researcher we know and have previously worked with, and several maternity care advocates from different organisations that we had worked with for many years. Ms Laura Allam is currently on trial for allegedly participating in the violent kidnap and assault of a man.
Ms Stoliar does work against anti-semitism in Australia.
Coordinated Online Attacks
In 2024, maternity care advocates deliberately sent antisemites to harass us via direct messages and comments, demanding our stance on the issue. When we publicly condemned antisemitism and supported Ms. Stoliar, due to harassment she was facing, our comments were flooded with accusations of “supporting Zionism” and “genocide,” even though our only stance was supporting our committee member’s right to do her job in peace.
See comment section here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3lwpkTO2J0/
Escalation
The situation escalated further when Laura Allam was charged with an alleged violent crime. Maternity care activists closely associated with her, had used Allam’s platform to defame our members. Maternity care advocates have also shared information about our committee members to, and engaged with the infamous anonymous online trolling account Don’t Be Like Bob.
As the President at the time, after Ms Allam’s criminal charges came to light. Ms Bhat made the difficult decision to withdraw entirely from the NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry so as to protect the Sydney-based members from attending any further NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry hearings for their own safety. Many of us are mothers with young children, and we could not risk being stalked, filmed, or abusively confronted while attending these events.
The hostility was so severe that the former President, Emilia had to decline or ignore invitations from MP Emma Hurst to attend NSW Birth Trauma events, despite our deep commitment to this cause. As a result, the women of Wagga Wagga—whose stories were instrumental in pushing for the inquiry—were unfairly sidelined as we were not able to take part and advocate as we should have. Maternity care advocates who had been harassing and bullying us, who are deeply antisemitic, took over from there.
But the harassment didn’t stop there.
Personal Attacks
Both Emilia and Alecia Staines received direct messages to their personal accounts from an antisemitic troll account called ‘Don’t Be Like Bob’ mocking them and our organization. Shockingly, other birth and maternity care advocates in the space whom we had known and worked with, followed and engaged with this account. Information about us was given by other birth advocates in the space.
Attempts to Destroy Livelihoods
One of these antisemitic individuals contacted Ms. Staines’ former workplace, spreading false claims that she supported Palestinian genocide, attempting to sabotage her employment. As a mother, Ms. Staines relies on her work to support her children.
Mind you, the MCN is made up of various women with various political opinions and do their personal campaigning on their own private social media on their own time.
Social Media Smear Campaigns
When we publicly acknowledged Ms. Stoliar’s academic accomplishments, a former client—whom we had helped free of charge—angrily messaged us and then forwarded our (unanswered) messages to a social media influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers. We were then falsely accused of being racist and anti-Arab, despite MCN being one of the few multicultural maternity consumer groups. There is nothing racist or anti-Arab on any of our posts.
Mind you Ms Stoliar has nothing to do with the war in Israel or is responsible for anything happening there. She is literally an Australian migrant midwife married to a Jewish man. I just want to point out the dangerous rhetoric trying to punish and blame innocent individuals in another country who have nothing to do with what happening overseas.
Birth and maternity care advocates, midwifery researchers and academics known to us were sharing reels and stories implying the Jews should be genocided as well denying the sexual violence experiences of Israeli women. Our organisation has a firm stance and believe all women when they disclose sexual assault. One of these advocates we are referring to was the President of a very popular birth organization.
Physical Harassment at Events
One particularly extreme “anti-racist” birth advocate, who had publicly opposed our support for Sharon Stoliar, engaged in direct harassment. She followed the antisemitic troll page mocking us, called our founder demanding Ms. Stoliar be fired, and then:
Drove three hours to infiltrate a private maternity care event we hosted while representing her birth organization-she knew she wasn’t welcome and was specifically disinvited and had nothing to do with this particular project.
Deceived an MP into signing her in to bypass security.
Attempted to confront Ms. Staines.
She was ultimately told to leave the event, and legal action was taken. We believe her true intent may have been to intimidate our Jewish-affiliated committee member who, fortunately, did not attend that event.
This is just a fraction of what has been going on. But the infiltration to a private event by one of the antisemitic birth advocates at parliament house who has been especially vitriolic against us was very frightening. This lunatic then had the gall to post pictures of ourselves and guests on her social media pretending we were collaborating and working together.
The Maternity Consumer Network fully supports the government’s firm stance against racist and antisemitic healthcare workers. However, our experiences shows that this issue is far more widespread and runs deeper than many realize. What we are seeing is only the tip of the iceberg. The vitriol, harassment, and discrimination we have faced prove that antisemitism is not confined to one profession or industry—it is deeply embedded in many spaces, including birth and maternity care advocacy. This is a cancer in our healthcare system and it is time for a complete overhaul of all sectors of the healthcare system.
Comments