Arutz Sheva Staff- NBC on Wednesday pulled an episode of the show Nurses from its digital platforms amid criticism over a scene that has been widely condemned as anti-Semitic for the way it portrayed a Hasidic patient who refused a bone graft from non-Jews, an Arab or a woman, Fox News reports.
The scene in question appeared on a February 9 episode of Nurses and featured a Hasidic Jewish patient who needed a bone graft from a deceased donor in order to treat a serious leg injury. The patient’s father then chimes in, “A goyim leg. From anyone. An Arab, a woman?”
The scene was criticized by Jewish groups which called on NBC to take action.
“The portrayal of a Hasidic Jew making hateful remarks about ‘an Arab, a woman’ is gratuitous and inflammatory, and only validates longstanding antisemitic stereotypes. Additionally, the episode’s entire premise is wrong,” Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jason Greenblatt told Fox News on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, myths about Jewish religious beliefs and practices are far too commonplace, and this episode only serves to amplify such longstanding misperceptions about Jews. We have reached out to NBC executives and have requested that they pull the episode and review their standards for approving dramatic content so that this doesn’t happen in the future,” his statement read.
Greenblatt added that in Jewish law, “anything that is potentially lifesaving or health-preserving is not only permitted but indeed mandated.”
B’nai Brith Canada also called on the producers of Nurses to apologize and take action for the inaccurate and offensive stereotypes against Hasidic Jews. Nurses airs on NBC but is produced by Toronto’s ICF Films, Entertainment One and Corus Entertainment.
B’nai Brith Canada noted in a statement that in actuality, when a Jew receives a graft or organ donation from the dead, under Jewish law, the fact that the donor may be a non-Jew, a woman, an Arab or even a fellow Jew is irrelevant.
B’nai Brith’s view, it said, is that this inaccurate plot line perpetuates false and dangerous anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews – Hasidic and Orthodox Jews in particular – hating women, Arabs or non-Jews in general.
The organization has written to three companies responsible for producing the show, demanding an apology, a factual correction and the removal of the impugned episode until changes can be made.
“The disturbing stereotypes present in this episode of Nurses are deeply damaging to Jews, especially Orthodox practitioners,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “We call on the producers to act responsibly and take accountability for this outrage.
“All of this could have been avoided if producers had thought to consult members of the Orthodox Jewish community before depicting them in this false and slanderous light,” he added.
The controversy over the scene from Nurses comes as NBC is already under fire for a Saturday Night Live skit which wrongly suggested Israel is vaccinating only its Jewish citizens against COVID-19.
Approximately 70% of Israeli Arabs over 60 have already received the COVID-19 vaccine. Moreover, Israel transferred doses of the vaccine to the Palestinian Authority and even approved vaccine transfers to Gaza.
As former Ambassador Alan Baker pointed out in a recent interview with Arutz Sheva, Israel is in no way obligated to deliver vaccines to Palestinian Arabs or to residents of Gaza
