A senior Perth doctor has been suspended amid explosive allegations he ran a covert online trolling network that targeted fellow medical professionals with antisemitic and racially abusive attacks. 

The Medical Board of Australia has referred Royal Perth Hospital nephrologist Dr Omar Azzam to a professional standards tribunal for alleged professional misconduct, with AHPRA suspending his registration pending the outcome of the hearing. 

Dr Azzam is accused of creating multiple social‑media accounts to unleash a stream of abusive content, including Hamas‑linked symbols, ZioNazi slurs used to disparage supporters of Israel and posts that appear to mock Christians.

Former midwife Sharon Stoliar welcomed the news after enduring more than a year of alleged online harassment, during which Dr Azzam is accused of repeatedly targeting her on Instagram and Facebook.

Between late 2023 and early 2025, he allegedly stalked and trolled her accounts, posting obsessively on almost every update and attempting to intimidate people who interacted with her content.

Some comments were directed at her personally, including: ‘@sharonstoliar I can offer you a couple of neurons. Get you up to a grand total of 5! … sweet pea.’ and ‘@sharonstoliar are you going to take me up on that offer of 2 central neurons sweet pea?’

Ms Stoliar, of South Asian descent, said the repeated ‘neuron’ insults were clearly racist and implied people of colour are unintelligent. 

Although Stoliar is not Jewish, she is married to an Israeli man and is publicly supportive of Israel. 

Dr Omar Azzam (pictured left)with his wife Katherine Azzam (pictured right)

Midwife Sharon Stoliar (pictured) said for more than a year Dr Omar Azzam allegedly stalked and trolled her accounts, posting obsessively on almost every update

Ms Stoliar said the repeated ‘neuron’ insults were clearly racist and implied people of colour are unintelligent

She said after public exposure of Dr Azzam’s identity under the anonymous account @notmydoctor48, he changed his Instagram username to @thoroughlyentertained and altered his profile picture to an image of himself with a small baby, both wearing traditional Middle Eastern headdress known as a keffiyeh. 

When the Maternity Consumer Network issued a statement supporting her and condemning racism and antisemitism, he began posting extensively on their page.

Ms Stoliar said after she lodged her initial complaint to AHPRA and Royal Perth Hospital in March 2025, Dr Azzam’s behaviour escalated under what she believed were new aliases, where he mocked supporters and dismissed concerns about antisemitism as mere ‘weaponisation.’ 

She said after going public with her complaint, other individuals contacted her to report similar experiences of trolling and harassment involving the same doctor during Covid.

‘Patients deserve doctors who treat them with respect, not prejudice,’ she told the Daily Mail. 

‘No one should have to endure racial harassment from a registered medical practitioner.

‘His actions are not only blatant violations of professional conduct but also disgustingly racist, abusive, and harassing in nature.’

Royal Perth Hospital was contacted for comment but referred enquiries to AHPRA. 

Demonstrators during the March for Palestine in Sydney last October, around the same time Ms Stoliar said Dr Azzam escalated his antisemitic and hostile rhetoric on social media

However the Daily Mail understands the hospital was aware of Dr Azzam’s behavior as early as July 2024, when a Jewish doctor complained to the hospital’s medical director about the doctor’s online harassment and trolling.

The openly Jewish doctor, who said he has not posted about Israel or Zionism, nor has he ever met Dr Azzam, said the doctor sent him more than 30 messages on Facebook with just a Palestinian flag. 

When the doctor asked why, Dr Azzam replied, ‘I just like to send pretty pictures to people.’

‘So for him, whom I’ve never met, to single me out and a number of other people, it’s only because he’s lurking on various Jewish social media groups,’ he said on condition of anonymity.’

The doctor said he was aware Dr Azzam was hassling other staff including those of Jewish heritage.  

‘They acknowledged that they knew something about it, but to my knowledge, they didn’t do anything,’ he said.

In Parliament last October, AHPRA chief executive Justin Untersteiner said the agency had received 188 discrimination notifications, mostly relating to social media, since October 2023, involving 95 practitioners. 

Dr Omar Azzam was working as a nephrologist at Royal Perth Hospital prior to his suspension

‘We have no tolerance for discrimination in the health system. We are against any form of discrimination,’ he said adding he was unable to comment on individual cases due to confidentiality clauses.

‘We take these kinds of allegations exceptionally seriously. Within the organisation we have a dedicated unit that is looking at these matters.’

At the time just two cases were heading to the tribunal which has the powers to caution or deregister doctors. 

Senator Andrew Bragg said the volume of cases suggested the problem could be systemic. 

‘If I were a Jewish patient, I would be very worried about the kind of treatment I would be receiving from persons who are effectively threatening the community by wishing death upon people,’ he said.

‘Jewish people could be going to get a procedure done by someone threatening to kill people. That’s not the Australian standard.’