Hart and Poznansky: Antisemitism has no place in healthcare
In a poignant and troubling reflection of the current climate surrounding antisemitism, a recent symposium in Boston titled “Addressing Antisemitism in Healthcare: Awareness, Action & Advocacy” brought together Jewish healthcare professionals, students, and patients to share their experiences and discuss the urgent need for allyship in combating this pervasive issue. The event was underscored by a distressing incident where a grieving medical student found classmates celebrating the October 7 massacre by chalking names of “Hamas martyrs” on campus sidewalks. This incident, coupled with reports of a Jewish patient facing a physician who denied Hamas’s atrocities, highlights the alarming reality that many Jewish individuals in the healthcare sector feel ostracized and unsafe. Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern emphasized the compounded trauma experienced by Jewish practitioners and patients when their historical suffering is ignored, exacerbating their current fears and anxieties.
Keynote speaker Dr. Mark Zeidel, Physician-in-Chief at BIDMC, traced the historical roots of antisemitism in medicine, revealing that as recently as the 1970s, Jewish quotas were enforced in medical schools, which effectively marginalized Jewish practitioners and patients. Despite progress in recent decades, the symposium revealed a lingering fear among Jewish healthcare workers of returning to such discriminatory practices. Dr. Peter Hotez, a prominent vaccine researcher, shared his experiences of being targeted by conspiracy theorists who conflate scientific skepticism with antisemitism, illustrating how deeply entrenched these issues are within the medical community. Furthermore, Soraya Deen, Founder of Muslim Women Speakers, called for a distinction between support for Palestinian rights and the harmful narratives that vilify Jewish people, urging a collective responsibility to dismantle antisemitic beliefs that threaten communal harmony.
The symposium concluded with a strong call to action, emphasizing that combating antisemitism is not solely the responsibility of Jewish individuals but requires active participation from all healthcare professionals. Strategies proposed included building allyship, advancing research on the impacts of antisemitism, incorporating education into anti-bias training, and ensuring safe reporting mechanisms for those affected. As the conversation highlighted, the fight against antisemitism is a crucial aspect of maintaining the integrity of the medical profession, where compassion and respect for diverse backgrounds are paramount. The collective commitment to eradicate antisemitism within healthcare settings reflects a broader moral obligation to ensure safety and dignity for all patients and practitioners, reinforcing the idea that antisemitism is a public health issue that demands urgent and unified action.
A grieving student arrived at medical school on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre to find several classmates celebrating the atrocities by chalking names of “Hamas martyrs” across the sidewalk.
A Jewish patient disclosed social media posts of her newly assigned physician denying that rapes had been committed by Hamas. A genetic counselor received death threats from peers when petitioning to remove a controversial speaker from the national conference roster.
We are distressed: this was the collective refrain among Jewish healthcare providers, administrators, faculty, students, and patients recently gathered in Boston for a symposium entitled Addressing Antisemitism in Healthcare: Awareness, Action & Advocacy. The resounding take-away was that prevention and treatment require allyship.
Firsthand accounts shared at the symposium echoed national and local surveys revealing a high percentage of Jewish practitioners who feel “ostracized,” “gaslit,” and “unsafe” in the current practice environment. When prolonged, these emotions result in hypervigilance, creating a chronic state of fear, tension and dis-ease.
The Jewish story carries deep intergenerational trauma; ignoring and invalidating present-day experiences, as discussed by Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern, compounds the injury for Jewish patients and practitioners.
Dr. Mark Zeidel, Physician-in-Chief at BIDMC, delivered a keynote on the history of antisemitism in medicine. As recently as the 1970s, medical schools and hospitals enforced Jewish quotas, deliberately limiting Jews in medicine and science, and effectively denying equitable care to Jewish patients. Despite progress and accomplishments over the last few decades, Jewish practitioners fear returning to that no-so-distant past.
Troubling signs of that possibility prevail. Dr. Peter Hotez, a world-class vaccine researcher, addressed the conflation of antiscience beliefs with antisemitism. He recounted hateful and threatening encounters with conspiracy theorists who denied the validity of vaccines and implicated Jews to justify their unfounded suspicions. Students shared stories of classmates hiding their Jewish identity, and those labeled as Zionists (i.e. believing in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state) summarily reviled as “evil” and “genocidal.” Political buttons on white coats and protests within earshot of patients functionally aggravate the experience of trauma for Jewish patients.
Soraya Deen, Founder and CEO of Muslim Women Speakers, called for people to stop conflating support for Palestinians with harmful antisemitic beliefs. “… (H)istorical narratives that inaccurately portray Jews as villains have… erode(d) communal relationships, making Jews convenient scapegoats amid geopolitical grievances. This silence and complicity must end,” said Deen. Hamas, as Deen described, is a terrorist organization mandated to kill every Jew worldwide. Taking up their mantle, she reinforced, is not pro-Palestinian, it is anti-Jew and is especially dangerous in healthcare.
Rodrigo Monterrey, Senior Director of Belonging and Health Equity at Tufts Medicine, aptly described how every marginalized group requires outside partners to help lift them up. As Monterrey stated, “the burden of fixing a problem should not be solely on the people who are experiencing the problem, but also on those perpetrating and witnessing it.”
Leaders, including Monterrey, from healthcare systems with Jewish Employee Resource or affinity groups (J-ERGs), like Mass General Brigham and Tufts Medical Center, presented institutional improvements that these entities facilitate. The willingness of leadership from hospital and academic medical centers to authorize and work closely with such groups sends a clear message of support to Jewish staff and, likely, to Jewish patients.
Myrieme Churchill, Founding CEO of Parents 4 Peace (P4P), posited antisemitism as a public health problem, integrally connected to radicalization of young people. Churchill and her P4P colleagues, who include reformed Jihadists and former neo-Nazis, explained that antisemitism serves as the gateway to many forms of hate. Antisemitism has roots in extremes on both the right and the left and metastasizes into the spaces in between as long as mainstreaming and normalization of antisemitism continues.
While antisemitic activity in our healthcare systems may be leveled by a vocal minority, messages from Churchill, Deen, and Monterrey, along with the introduction of JERGs, reinforce the value of courageous leadership, strong ally activists, and robust institutional responses designed to end antisemitism.
Medicine is a hallowed profession. Team effort and psychological safety are foundational for providing evidence-based and equitable care. Medical errors happen when crucial contributing factors are ignored. Physicians pledge to “first do no harm.” Avoidance of harm is not passive — it is active and conscious. Medical training is meant to foster the ability to hold compassion for people from diverse backgrounds and treat every single patient with dignity and respect. Freedom of expression is our right as citizens, but our professional commitment in healthcare calls us to a more discerning standard to not inflict pain, wittingly or unwittingly.
Protocols to eradicate antisemitism in healthcare require: (1) building allyship and raising ally voices; (2) advancing research to delineate scope and impact; (3) incorporating antisemitism education into anti-bias training; (4) ensuring safe reporting systems; and (5) holding institutions accountable to the same standards they uphold for all protected groups.
Our oath demands that we care for one another — patients as well as peers. Antisemitism is not a Jewish problem alone — and our ability to combat it effectively is a test of our collective moral health.
Jacqueline A. Hart, MD is a Boston-based physician, Board member of JCRC Greater Boston & JFS Metrowest. Mark C. Poznansky MD, PhD; is a Boston-based physician-scientist
