Hospital Silent After Doctor Calls to "delete Zionists" and "level Tel Aviv"

“There’s no wrong way to delete Zionists,” he said.

Thousands of concerned citizens have signed a petition against a Honolulu, Hawaii medical doctor who posted on Facebook that he wishes to see Zionists “deleted”, which in Gen-Z lingo means murdered or killed.

The doctor — Ryan Christopher Rao — who works as a hospitalist at the Queen’s Medical Center in Punchbowl, Honolulu, Hawaii — has made a number of statements about the Jewish community, including “I hope Zionists are deleted” and “Hope Tel Aviv is leveled.”

He currently works at a medical center in Hawaii with patients, practicing internal medicine.

“There’s no wrong way to delete Zionists,” Dr. Ryan Rao posted last week.

He has also repeatedly said: “Zionism must be destroyed, grateful for all the resistance fighters” during the Israel-Iran skirmishes last week.

Elsewhere, Rao avowed that Israel “must be destroyed,” adding that it’s an “evil empire.”

In an interview with Physicians Against Antisemitism (the PAA), which first called attention to the Hawaii doctor’s incendiary comments, they said that there’s zero question what Rao meant by “delete.”

Many netizens now use the term “deleted” instead of killed or murdered because of the censors and algorithms attempting to suppress negative comments. It is similar to the rise of “unalive”, which was also born out of a need to circumvent suppressive algorithms.

“Dr. Ryan Rao thinks he’s clever, but it’s obvious what ‘delete Zionists’ means. Openly calling for torture and death of human beings is not compatible with the oath we take as physicians,” said the PAA spokesperson Tuesday morning.

“It is obvious to us that the term ‘deleted’ is a very thinly veiled way of saying killed, murdered, or erased from existence,” said the PAA.

Since Dr. Rao’s posts came to light, he has deleted his Facebook. But he has not released any statement about his comments. His employer, the Queen’s Medical System, has not responded to multiple inquiries.

PAA said this silence is typical of those accused of antisemitism.

“The hospital’s silence is fairly typical… It’s unfortunate that hospitals don’t feel the need to acknowledge and address these issues and reassure their patients that they are safe receiving care at their facility.”

On June 19th, Rao had one last missive for an avowed Zionist before shutting down his account.

Dr. Rao retorted: “Everyone deserves access to quality healthcare, even genocidal zionists.” He did not reply to my follow up question on if he’d be willing to provide such care himself.

According to the PAA, “any person who could make such remarks cannot be considered a safe practitioner for Jewish patients. Or for any patients really. To hold views that there are some people who do not deserve to live is incompatible with the practice of medicine.”

Since my initial article on Dr. Ryan Rao, on June 18th, a petition written by Eli Horosky calling for Dr. Rao’s termination was distributed up by Pens for Swords, a Whatsapp group with hundreds of thousands members, and has reached almost 3,000 signatures in less than a week.

The petition calls for the termination of Dr. Rao. Specifically, it calls for Jason Chang, the CEO of the Queen’s Health System to make a statement. Chang has not responded.

One netizen, “Ellie” noted her upset about Dr. Rao on the petition.

“I wear my Star of David necklace everywhere, which shouldn’t make me fearful of receiving inadequate care. Such hateful, targeted language shared by a medical professional is unacceptable and harmful to the community,” she wrote.

It has been a week since Rao’s statements about Zionists came to light.

While “Zionist” is a common dog-whistle for “Jew”, it also can refer to Israel supporters, which can include everyone from American patriots, Christians and, most recently, the rap singer Azealia Banks.

In his petition, Horosky lamented the corruption of the Hippocratic Oath.

“Remember Dr. Rao didn't call for just ‘Zionists' to be "deleted,” Horosky wrote.

“Dr. Rao also called for Tel Aviv to be ‘leveled’... since 1909, Tel Aviv has served as a port for the area; it is now home to nearly a half million Jewish people. Should a healthcare professional wish for the death of half a million Israels? In what other context would this be reasonable?”

This exclusive report is by Toni Airaksinen, Senior Editor of Liberty Affair. Consider supporting her investigations by subscribing to this Substack for 6$ a month. Her reports have appeared in the Times of Israel, USA TODAY, Quillette, and many more. Follow her on X @Toni_Airaksinen and on Instagram.