American Jewish Medical Association (AJMA) CEO Eveline Shekhman testified today before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions at a hearing titled “Bad Medicine: Politics, Unions and Antisemitism in Health Care,” urging Congress to address the growing presence of antisemitism in hospitals, unions, medical schools and clinical settings across the country.
The hearing examined the rise of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in American healthcare and featured additional testimony from Deena Margolies, litigation staff attorney at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights and AJMA member Dr. Jacob Agronin. Witness testimonies and a recording of the hearing are available here.
“Antisemitism in medicine is, at its core, a patient care crisis,” said Shekhman. “We are seeing calls to fire Jewish doctors, praise for terrorist groups in and outside of clinical settings, the refusal to treat patients because of their faith, national origin or Zionist identity and the demand that Jewish colleagues renounce Israel as a condition of workplace acceptance. This is antisemitism. It is discrimination. And it is a distraction from patient care. It has no place in medicine, yet we are seeing it across the entire healthcare continuum, and it must stop.”
AJMA’s testimony comes amid broader national scrutiny over antisemitism within higher education and federally funded institutions following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and subsequent rise of antisemitism nationwide. While much of that attention has focused on college campuses, antisemitism in healthcare has only recently begun receiving the attention it deserves, and today’s hearing is a testament to Congress’s commitment to combating Jew-hatred in all areas of society. AJMA appreciates the leadership of Subcommittee Chairman Rick Allen and Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier for bringing overdue attention to this issue.
“Patient care demands that healthcare professionals leave politics and ideology at the door,” said Dr. Yael Halaas, founder and president of AJMA. “The Hippocratic oath makes no exception for political grievance-healthcare professionals must provide care untainted by bias or hostility. Healthcare organizations must keep geopolitics and activism out of the workplace and remain laser-focused on the integrity of care.”
Founded after Oct. 7, AJMA has focused on combating antisemitism in healthcare and medical education through advocacy, professional education, institutional partnerships and support for Jewish healthcare professionals facing discrimination and hostile workplace environments.
