NY hospital fires nurse for Gaza 'genocide' reference during award speech

A nurse at New York University Langone Medical Center has been fired for referring to the "genocide" in Gaza during a speech accepting an award earlier this month.

Hesen Jabr, a labour and delivery nurse who is Palestinian American, said on Instagram that on May 7, she gave an acceptance speech for an award that she received for her work with bereaving mothers who lost their children during pregnancy and childbirth.

"On May 22nd, I arrived on my first shift back since receiving the award. As soon as I walked onto the unit, I was dragged into an impromptu meeting with the President and Vice President of Nursing at NYU Langone to discuss how I 'put others at risk' and 'ruined the ceremony' and 'offended people' because a small part of my speech was a tribute towards the grieving mothers in my country," said Jabr.

She said she was sent back to work her shift while the hospital spent the day "figuring out" what to do with her.

"After working almost the entire shift, I was dragged once again to an office where I was read my termination letter by the director of human resources, Austin Bender, and escorted off the premises by a plain clothes police officer," she wrote.

"You're not going crazy and you're not missing anything... This is the paradox that is NYU Langone Medical Center," she added.

During her speech in a video posted on her Instagram account, she said: "It pains me to see the women from my country going through unimaginable losses themselves during the current genocide in Gaza."

According to Fox News, a spokesman for NYU Langone, Steve Ritea, confirmed that Jabr was terminated following her speech.