Congress Report Finds APA Leaders Ignored Jewish Members' Complaints

A congressional report released Thursday describes how leaders of the American Psychological Association dismissed complaints of antisemitism from Jewish members and let anti-Israel activists shape the organization's response to the Oct. 7 attacks.

The document from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce details allegations that APA officials resisted efforts to address concerns raised by Jewish psychologists. Miri Bar-Halpern, who lectures on psychology at Harvard Medical School, said the report validated her experience but also left her worried about what comes next. "I'm scared of what's going to happen now," she told JNS. "I can already predict the backlash." Bar-Halpern said she receives a high volume of antisemitic messages and threats but also hears from three or four people for every hostile message who thank her for speaking when they could not.

Dean McKay, who teaches psychology at Fordham University, told JNS the report named people he had met with last year to try to address problems inside the group. "There are people named in the report who I met with as part of our efforts to try and address the problems in the organization back last year, who theoretically were trying to operate in good faith with us," he said. "They were actually operating against us behind the scenes." McKay called that a particularly heartbreaking finding. He also said the issues did not begin with the Oct. 7 attacks. "We got here through a consistent pattern of neglect and, frankly, ideological purity," he said. "It didn't start on Oct. 7. This has been going on for years, where Jewish pain has been dismissed, when Jewish identity has not been understood."

The APA is a tax-exempt association with more than 190,000 members. McKay said it sets policy for how professional psychologists conduct themselves. "They're the largest professional psychology organization in the world, and so they exert enormous influence," he said. Bar-Halpern, who testified in September before the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which advises the U.S. Department of Education on accreditation, told JNS the report is "both validating and heartbreaking" for her as a Jewish psychologist who has received hate for speaking up.

Eveline Shekhman, CEO of the American Jewish Medical Association, said her organization commends the Education and Workforce Committee for releasing the report. "It confirms what Jewish psychologists have been saying for years," she told JNS. "APA has cultivated an environment where Jewish members matter less: their complaints go unanswered, their safety is an afterthought and their concerns are treated as a nuisance." JNS sought comment from the APA.