Discrimination in the workplace
The accusation:
Inti Peredo, a chief physician and department head at the neurosurgical clinic in Karolinska, is accused of preventing three Jewish colleagues from performing certain types of surgery, giving them lower wages and preventing them from conducting research. Even a Jewish doctor must have worked ten months without pay.
The doctor who reports Inti Peredo tells Mission Review that he finally felt compelled to make the report. He says he had been moved from the section where he has his specialty and believes that the reason was his Jewish outrage.
He is strongly supported by the Anti-Semitism and Racism Action Group formed at the hospital in connection with the incident, they share his view of what has happened.
The other side:
Karolinska hired a law firm to conduct an external investigation of the charges. The investigators interviewed employees and went through, among other things, salary levels, conference days and opportunities to conduct research; all to clarify whether there was discrimination on anti-Semitic grounds.
The investigators found no evidence of the charges of anti-Semitic harassment from Inti Peredo.
Assignment review has spoken to the two additional Jewish doctors, who the notifier claims have also been harassed by Inti Peredo. They have not presented any documents supporting the allegations and do not want to be quoted.
The report also states:
"This investigation report states that it has not been shown that the notifier (" the Notifier ") has been subjected to any direct or indirect discrimination under the Discrimination Act".
Anti-Semitic Facebook pictures
The accusation:
The notifying doctor claims that Inti Peredo has spread Judaism in social media. These are four satirical drawings he shared on his Facebook page over five years ago. The notifying doctor is also here supported by the anti-Semitism and racism action group at Karolinska.
"These pictures are anti-Semitic and do not have a splash with Israel," says Björn Fischler, associate professor and chief physician and member of the action group.
Two of the four drawings have been judged to be anti-Semitic by several experts consulted by the notifying physician. The most controversial one depicts a girl from Hitlerjugend next to a girl who raises money for the Israeli army - a classic example of anti-Semitism, according to the Swedish Committee on Anti-Semitism.
The doctor believes that the drawings support his notion of having been directly disadvantaged at work due to anti-Semitism.
The external investigation conducted by Karolinska states that two of the images were judged to be anti-Semitic by experts, and writes:
"In our opinion, there is no reason to make any other assessment of the images than experts on anti-Semitism have stated."
The other side:
The journalist and author Göran Rosenberg, whose parents survived Auschwitz, takes part in the pictures. He believes that three of them are not anti-Semitic. The fourth, with the girl from Hitlerjugend, he thinks is problematic - but says it must be seen in its context.
- If this had happened on a Nazi site, then it is pure, then the intention is anti-Semitic. If it occurs in a context where one generally wants to criticize the war in Gaza, because that is in that context that is what I understand, you may have to be a little indulgent, maybe it is a man who does not really grasp it, says Göran Rosenberg.
Inti Peredo tells Mission Review that he wanted to protest the violence that hit civilians in the Gaza Strip and that he did not understand that the cartoons could be interpreted as anti-Semitic. But he regrets today that he shared the picture.
Although Karolinska's investigation takes up the experts' assessment of the images, the investigators find that there is no reason to assume that the notifying doctor was disadvantaged in the context of his employment because of anti-Semitism.
"Here comes the Judaism"
The accusation:
The notifying physician claims that Inti Peredo should have made the comment "here comes the juvenile", somewhere in the hospital. The event should have occurred in 2014 or 2015.
The other side:
The inquiry notes that: "The notifier may have experienced harassment under the Discrimination Act in the form of a report from a colleague in connection with the work at one point in 2014 or 2015."
Inti Peredo himself denies that it was he who made the comment.
According to the investigation, there are a total of “two or possibly three different people” who are designated as the commenters. At least two people have also confirmed that the comment was made in the direction of the Jewish doctor.
The inquiry notes: "However, it cannot be considered who showed the comment."
Rough anti-Semitic debate posts
The accusation:
Inti Peredo has been linked by the notifying physician with gross anti-Semitic comments on an online discussion forum.
The other side:
Inti Peredo denies that he has written the comments.
The investigators write:
"The investigation in this part is scarce and it cannot be considered, against the Chief Medical Officer (Inti Peredo, the editorial note), who has written the comments in question".
Anti-Semitic culture in the department
The accusation:
In a submission to the Discrimination Ombudsman, DO, the notifying physician writes that: "Insulting racist and anti-Semitic comments have belonged to everyday life in the workplace".
The other side:
Karolinska's external investigation finds that an overwhelming majority of the persons investigators have spoken to do not feel that the notifying physician's experience is rooted in real circumstances.
Assignment review has been in contact with several physicians who have worked with Inti Peredo and the notifying physician, even they give a different picture.
Ulrika Sandvik has worked for seven years as a neurosurgeon at Karolinska:
- I do not recognize that we would be a unit that is "recognized anti-Semitic, racist and anti-woman", I do not recognize that. We, like all other workplaces, have our problems and areas of improvement, but I do not recognize the image that is described in the media, she says.
Surgeon colleague Bo-Michael Bellander is also critical of the image that has spread:
- When I was told about this the first time I thought, because I'm not of Jewish origin myself, is this something I missed? So I then asked my colleagues who I know are of Jewish origin if there was any truth in this and they just like me meant that no it does not. We have many problems with the neurosurgeon but anti-Semitism is not one of them.
The report "Karolinska and the Jude Hate" will be sent on Wednesday 6 November. You can watch it at 12pm on SVT Play or 8pm on SVT1.