Today, 40 Jewish Federations leaders from across the country came to Capitol Hill to urge Congress to take action on growing levels of antisemitism in the medical and health field.

Normally when we meet with members of Congress on matters of health, we are discussing the importance of human service issues in our community such as expanding telehealth, raising the cap on disability benefits, and helping older adults with a history of trauma such as Holocaust survivors, but today we are here because since October 7th, antisemitism in medical and health associations has exploded and is threatening to push our community out.

Since the horrific attacks of October 7th, 2023, discrimination and bias against Jews in the health care sector, including mental health associations and schools of social work, has mushroomed to new heights. The spread of this antisemitism will impact not only practitioners but also their patients, who could be ostracized for their beliefs or subjected to efforts to withhold care unless they renounce their belief in Zionism or support for Israel.

"We've been seeing health organizations, practices, schools, and associations take radical political positions whose only practical effect is to exclude Jews, as well as more blatant efforts to ostracize Jewish members of our community," said Evan Bernstein, VP of Community Relations for Jewish Federations of North America. "We're hearing more and more concerns about this from our Federation communities across America, so we decided it was time to come to Washington to sound the alarm."

The leaders, most of whom are health professionals, met with members of Congress to tell about their personal experiences and convey alarm over antisemitism in medical professional associations, medical schools, medical journals, and even stories of patients being denied psychological care because they were "Zionists."

Notably, a group of anti-Israel activists put out a call to derail and disrupt today's meetings, despite the fact that they were explicitly focused on antisemitism, rather than Israel or Gaza. They failed to disrupt any of the meetings.

In the past, Jews were shut out of medical professions and had to create their own hospitals and health systems. We’re not going back to that; no Jewish person should fear that they will be excluded, denied access, harassed or otherwise discriminated against because of their identity or beliefs. 
 

Earlier this summer, The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently launched an investigation into serious allegations of antisemitism and harassment at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Centers, and wrote a letter to the university chancellor over the issue.

You can find photos from the event here, and a brief with more information here.