Open Letter to the American Psychological Association Demanding Accountability

On February 24, 2025, the following letter was sent to the American Psychological Association (APA) President and Board of Directors  to address the serious and systemic problem of antisemitism/anti-Jewish hate within the organization. As the largest psychological organization in the world, the APA has long failed to address antisemitism within its ranks, with incidents surging since the October 7th, 2023 attacks.  3,556 mental health professionals, psychologists, academics, physicians, students, and concerned citizens have united to demand accountability through an open letter.

Date: February 23, 2025

From: Psychologists Against Antisemitism

To: APA President Dr. Kawahara and Board of Directors

Re: Antisemitism/Anti-Jewish Hate within the American Psychological Association

We, the undersigned, are writing to address the serious and systemic problem of antisemitism/anti-Jewish hate within the American Psychological Association (APA). Despite numerous communications highlighting this problem, APA leadership has failed to take meaningful action or respond in any significant way.

We have documented extensive evidence of antisemitic discourse and concerning behavior across APA divisions. Our archive includes statements from APA council members, leaders of APA divisions, and member postings on APA-hosted listservs that collectively demonstrate insensitivity toward Jews, a lack of concern regarding antisemitism, minimization of aggression towards the Jewish people, and outright hostility and prejudice toward Jews and Jewish heritage. Across numerous divisions of the APA, the listservs contain antisemitic discourse, often masked as anti-Zionism. Posts on listservs include statements like “Kudos to Hamas” and calls for “Intifada, Intifada,” which are synonymous with calls for violence and murder against Jewish and Israeli civilians. In addition, there have been numerous calls for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel (an initiative to demonize, delegitimize, and isolate the state of Israel including Israeli academics). Jewish APA members have been harassed, marginalized, and silenced on APA community forums even for attempting to challenge antisemitic rhetoric or correct misinformation.

Multiple APA divisions and subsections, including but not limited to APA’s Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI), Division 39 (Society of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology), Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology), Division 9 (The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues), Division 48 (Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, & Violence: Peace Psychology), and AMENA-Psy (American Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Psychological Association), have issued statements or memos containing misinformation as well as what many Jewish members of the APA experience as anti-Jewish sentiments. These Divisions and Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations continue to hold seats on APA’s Council of Representatives, providing credibility and authority to inform APA’s legislative affairs. APA has also provided continuing education credits in the case of conferences where speakers notorious for antisemitic rhetoric have been invited. These official statements and presentations have included rationalizations of 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.

Notable is that Dr. Lara Sheehi remained the president of the APA Society of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Division 39) for two years despite repeatedly engaging in antisemitic hate speech. Dr. Sheehi has stated publicly that Israelis and Zionists are “genocidal f[**]ks,” and has called the belief in Israel’s right to exist a “psychosis,” therefore pathologizing a belief that the vast majority of Jews feel is important to their identity. The antagonism expressed by Dr. Sheehi resulted most recently in a Department of Education Office of Civil Rights complaint and resolution with expression of concern against the institution in which she was employed. Most American Jews support the underlying principles of Zionism, which is simply the notion that Jews are a people with the right to self-sovereignty in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.

We note the stark contrast between APA’s swift responses to other issues and its relative silence on antisemitism. While APA has issued statements in solidarity with Ukraine and apologized to People of Color for perpetuating racism, it has remained inactive regarding the 500% spike in attacks against Jews, who represent only 2% of the population yet experience over half of all religion-based hate crimes according to FBI statistics.

The organization’s recent political activism, particularly its August 2024 statement regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict, represents a concerning departure from APA’s scientific foundation. This has enabled individual members and division leaders to adopt ideologically driven positions without proper knowledge, resulting in the alienation of countless Jewish members and their allies.

APA claims to be “committed to infusing the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of the work we do.” When it comes to Jews, however, this is not the case. We remind you of APA’s own ethical principles, specifically:

Section 3: Human Relations 3.01 Unfair Discrimination which prohibits unfair discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, national identity and other protected characteristics.

Principle E: Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity which demands respect for people’s rights and dignity and requires psychologists to eliminate the effects of biases in their work.

Furthermore, APA’s own guidelines call for civility on listservs and respect for the dignity and worth of all people (see Civility on Email Lists).

The APA has failed to confront the growing virulent antisemitism within its ranks, thereby failing to embody the virtues it claims to champion. This situation has severe consequences for the education and training of students in APA-accredited programs, the welfare of Jewish patients, the mental and spiritual health of Jewish mental health professionals, and the credibility of the psychology profession as a whole.

We call on you to undertake immediate remedial action. This would include, but is not limited to:

1. Enforcing APA’s own standards regarding inclusive language for all minoritized groups.
2. Returning to the science of psychology rather than relying on ideologically driven and politically motivated discourse.
3. Addressing antisemitic rhetoric in APA-affiliated forums and official communications.
4. Monitoring professional training to ensure that material harmful to Jews is not part of any continuing education offerings.
5. Investigating and implementing clear consequences for substantiated violations of APA’s ethical principles regarding discrimination.

Signed:

See Psychologists Against Antisemitism for more details.