The Cost of Belonging: Conditional Inclusion for Jewish Psychologists
As the American Psychological Association’s (APA) 2026 Annual Convention convenes in Washington, D.C. for what has been promoted as the “largest gathering of psychologists in the world,” psychologists from across the globe will be coming together to share research, build collaborations, and discuss ways to advance the profession. Yet for many Jewish and Israeli psychologists, academics, and students, history appears to be repeating itself as the convention has once again become a reminder that they are not afforded the same sense of belonging, welcome, and physical and psychological safety as their colleagues.
On July 31, 2026, an email penned by Psychologists for Justice in Palestine (PsyJP) was shared on the APA Division 17 (Society for Counseling Psychology) listserv, encouraging convention attendees to “send a clear message to APA and our fellow psychologists: Psychologists do—and must—care about justice, liberation, and the lives of Palestinians.”
The email urged conference participants to show solidarity by wearing a keffiyeh or “Palestine colors,” read a prewritten “Land and Genocide Acknowledgement” before professional presentations, attend programming focused on Palestinian liberation, and participate in an open meeting hosted by the Psychology Coalition for Justice in Palestine, comprised of Psychologists for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Psychologists for Justice, APA Divisions 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women), 44 (Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity), 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race), and 48 (Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology), Section 9 of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility), and the Asian American Psychological Association.
While the correspondence begins by noting that the conference is taking place on the “ancestral homelands of the Nacotchtank (also referred to as Anacostan), Piscataway, and Pamunkey peoples,” it provides little historical context about these Indigenous communities or the contemporary issues they face. Instead, after expressing solidarity with the “enduring presence, resilience, and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples, and their ongoing resistance for justice and liberation,” the acknowledgement quickly pivots, stating, “We must also recognize—with sorrow and outrage—that this presentation takes place amid the ongoing violent dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their lands across the globe, particularly the genocide in Palestine that is actively supported by the United States government. As psychologists, we have a responsibility to speak out and actively resist systemic oppression and violence wherever they occur, both here and globally.”
Notably, although the acknowledgement references three Indigenous peoples by name, it offers no educational resources about their histories or present-day communities. Instead, the only link provided directs readers to the “How to Take Action” page of the Psychologists for Justice in Palestine website. The page includes resources that encourage participation in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, advocate for removing the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) from schools—which a subsequent resource link refers to as the “Apartheid Defense League”—and frame the Palestinian cause through a range of social justice lenses, including reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and feminism.
The page also advances several inaccurate and harmful assertions such as, “every hour, Israel murders another Palestinian child,” that “Israel’s genocide is the deadliest conflict for children on Earth,” and that Israel has “deliberately engineered genocidal conditions” through “forced” starvation and the destruction of healthcare infrastructure.
While many statements issued by the APA, its divisions, and affiliated Ethnic Psychological Associations in recent years have overlooked or dismissed the significant psychological toll that October 7, 2023, and its aftermath have had on the global Jewish community, it is unfortunately unsurprising that the very professional institutions charged with supporting colleagues and the communities they serve continue to exacerbate this distress through the minimization, invalidation, and denial of Jewish trauma and lived experiences.
However, efforts to pressure presenters into incorporating prescribed political and unilateral statements into professional presentations are not unique to the APA. In fact, similar efforts were taken in the field of counselor education prior to the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) 2024 Conference & Expo, when presenters received an anonymous email encouraging them to take one of two actions: “1.) Withdraw your participation in the conference, making your reasoning known on social media if possible. 2.) Include a statement during your presentation that acknowledges the genocide in Gaza, contextualizes it as a decolonization and social justice issue, and calls on the ACA to do the same.” The email, which was also disseminated through the Counselor Education and Supervision Network Listserv (CESNET-L), framed these requested actions as a response to what was described as the “ACA’s fail[ure] to publicly condemn the violence unfolding in Palestine.”
Merely one year later within the field of psychology, at the APA 2025 Annual Convention, numerous attendees were observed wearing keffiyehs and ribbons on their badges reading, “Stop the Genocide. Free Palestine,” while flyers were posted throughout the convention center—including in public restrooms—that characterized silence as complicity in Israel’s “genocide,” presented disputed casualty figures, questioned the legitimacy of Jewish self-determination, and encouraged conference attendees to engage in “disentangling anti-Zionism/critique of Israel from antisemitism” and emphasize the “diversity of Jewish opinion on Zionism and Israel.”
When professional development, collaboration, and open research exchange in professional settings become overshadowed by an exclusionary environment that privileges a singular narrative, the question must be asked: who is truly welcomed in these spaces? If the largest gathering of psychologists in the world cannot embrace the reality that psychologists can hold multiple truths—that one can care deeply about the lives and wellbeing of Palestinians without minimizing, dismissing, or denying the lives, histories, traumas, and experiences of Israelis and Jews—then we must question whether these spaces are fulfilling their purpose of fostering learning, collaboration, and an inclusive professional community for all participants.
Professional conferences have long served as important spaces for growth, collaboration, and connection. However, when these professional environments present disputed, one-sided claims as moral, ethical, or clinical mandates to be accepted, they risk alienating members whose lived experiences, national origins, or personal perspectives do not align with that framing. As difficult as it may be to grapple with, such experiences of exclusion are not new within the APA, nor are they unique to professional conferences.
Jewish and Israeli psychologists, academics, and students should be able to participate fully in professional communities without having to suppress or defend their identities, histories, or lived experiences. The fact that such a statement remains necessary to articulate—particularly within a helping profession—is itself a reflection of the work that remains to ensure these spaces uphold their commitments to genuine inclusion and belonging free from anti-Jewish discrimination. Yet if we do not speak up for our own safety, dignity, and professional inclusion within the very institutions meant to protect these values, we must ask: who will? Thus far, the APA has yet to demonstrate that it will.
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The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the United States government, or the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
