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Washington's Investigations into Anti-Jewish Discrimination Spotlight Psychology Sector
(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Melissa Langsam Braunstein - The House Committee on Education and Workforce is now scrutinizing the American Psychological Association (APA), which accredits psychological education. Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) said: "Jewish APA members have reported being harassed and ostracized by their colleagues within the APA and at APA events because of their Jewish identity, their efforts to speak out again antisemitism, and their Zionist beliefs. Members have also stated that their complaints to the association have gone unanswered." He cited a February 2025 open letter from Psychologists Against Antisemitism to APA leaders raising "serious concerns" about "insensitivity towards Jews, a lack of concern regarding antisemitism, minimization of aggression towards the Jewish people, and outright hostility and prejudice towards Jews and Jewish heritage....The APA has offered educational credits for members to attend conferences where speakers endorsed violence against Jews and Israelis; antisemitic tropes; Holocaust distortion; minimization of Jewish victimization, fear, and grief; and pathologizing of Jewish people's connection to their indigenous homeland." Finally, "APA allegedly failed to take meaningful action against a former APA division president who...allegedly taught that Zionism is a mental illness [and] called to 'destroy Zionism.'" Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern, Lecturer in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, told me, "The Congressional investigation into the APA was needed a long time ago. Antisemitism has been rising within the mental health field for years."