Last month, the Israeli embassy in the US experienced tragedy when two of its employees, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were murdered by a Chicago-born American citizen. During the Shavuot holiday, demonstrators in Colorado, peacefully protesting for the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, were hit by Molotov cocktails. These deadly cases are in line with the many anti-Israel marches at Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale universities, which led to the US Department of Education's investigation of 60 campuses.
But antisemitism is not only expressed in violence, demonstrations, and public ridicule. It is also expressed in quieter, more subtle actions, through discrimination, bullying, and even dismissal, and can be found everywhere, whether at hospitals, law firms, government companies, high-tech, or academia.
For example, an Egyptian-born executive at a major semiconductor firm shared tweets supporting the murder of IDF soldiers; the Israeli employee who filed a complaint was fired. At another company, a manager fired a Jewish employee who wanted to present his colleagues with the Israeli position on what was happening in Gaza. A female employee complained that her supervisor called her "Anne Frank" repeatedly and asked sarcastically if she had time to write a diary. These are just a few examples of the many antisemitic manifestations of exclusion and silencing.
An internal Harvard University report from last April revealed that nearly 60% of Jewish students had experienced discrimination or exclusion rooted in antisemitism. In several instances, faculty members allowed students to refuse collaboration with their Israeli peers, labeling them as "oppressive." In the wake of these findings, the US Department of Homeland Security terminated Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, barring it from accepting foreign students.
Speaking at the "Globes" TECH IL conference last April, Shaun Maguire, a partner at US VC firm Sequoia Capital (an investor in Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz) said, "For the vast majority of people in Silicon Valley under the age of 40, Israel's status has plummeted. The amount of antisemitism has risen to unbelievable levels. It's silent antisemitism. Someone looks at a college application, and if they think the candidate is Jewish, then they don't recommend them. This is happening on an unbelievable scale. It’s not really talked about, but we’ve got to understand that it's happening."
Ever since October 7, American Jewry, which for the past century has been part of the American elite and has become accustomed to a society that is sympathetic to Israel, has found itself in a hostile environment, where the line between expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and antisemitic bullying is very thin. Most cases go unreported, and only a few choose to fight them in the courts or report them to the authorities.
Complaints against lecturers
Those who do agree to speak out are usually more mature, financially well-off, at the peak of their careers, people who grew up in a different America and do not accept this reality. One such person is Douglas Hauer-Gilad (53), a Boston lawyer and a partner at the venerable local firm Mintz-Levin for 13 years until his retirement earlier this year. At the same time, he was an adjunct professor at the prestigious Boston University, lecturing on immigration, ethics, and Jewish law. "I never experienced antisemitism in the United States until October 7," he tells "Globes." "From a highly popular lecturer, I became a white Zionist, a loudmouthed colonialist."
A public confrontation on social media between Hauer-Gilad and Prof. Sahar Aziz, one of the most prominent anti-Israel spokeswomen in academia, ended with him leaving the academic ranks. Aziz, an expert in social law and Middle East law at Rutgers University, is known for her calls on social media to "free Palestine." She spoke out against Israel, and he chose to confront her, in part because Boston University officially recognizes Aziz as a member of an anti-racism research institute.
"She complained that I had sexually harassed her. She tried to intimidate me so that I would shut up and stop my protest against her violent online activity," says Hauer-Gilad.
"My protest is transparent, legal and respectful. I have the right to protest against antisemitic scholars who use their positions of influence in academia to spread prejudice against Jews or to deny the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7. But the purpose of Title IX, under which I have been charged, is to prevent sexual misconduct on campus. The most serious form of sexual misconduct in this section of the law is hostile environment harassment, which means that I was asked to go through an invasive semi-legal process."
Posting on LinkedIn, Hauer-Gilad claimed that "Instead of telling the truth, senior Boston University leadership deliberately lied to the university's own Title IX office in order to incriminate me in a false semi-legal proceeding for hostile environment harassment... My opposition was legal and civilized. The only way to silence me was to make a baseless complaint under the regulations of Title IX."
Hauer-Gilad, who resigned from the university, stated, "I felt compelled to come out with my case, an act that entails many dangers to my personal safety and privacy. Jewish and Israeli staff members are afraid that if they speak out, they will be retaliated against. I speak only for myself, but I do so publicly because Boston University has created an atmosphere of fear. Jews and Israelis are afraid of their management."
Boston University did not respond to a request for comment.
Dr. Ralph Stein (a pseudonym), an endocrinologist from Texas, found himself ousted from a medical school (which he asked not to be named) following a complaint filed against him by a student of Gazan origin. Stein (79) was a volunteer instructor on the history of antisemitism in medicine - including addressing the crimes committed by Nazi doctors against Jews - and a lecturer on ethics. During one class, he presented an ethical dilemma from his personal life: a young doctor, an American Jew who defines himself as a Zionist, is required to take care of a woman of Palestinian origin. One of the students, a Libyan student whose parents are Gazans, filed a complaint against him for using this example, after which the course was canceled. After a few months, Stein's volunteering was unilaterally terminated after a 50-year career.
"I used to have students come to me after class, and if there were any complaints, they were about their discomfort in seeing the horrors I showed from the Holocaust, such as bodies piled up in gas chambers," Stein told "Globes" in a video call from his home in Texas. "At first, I was told that they would cancel my course if more complaints came in, but in the end, they closed it -- even without them coming. I tried to raise awareness about what had happened, I sent letters to local newspapers in Texas and wrote an article with a senior rabbi and a well-known cardinal, and we sent it to the Wall Street Journal, but no one published them. I tried to put pressure on the university through the Jewish members of the board of directors, but everyone is just afraid to talk about it."
The picture on the wall
Debra Gassman has been employed for 28 years as an Assistant Public Defender at the Cook County Public Defender's Office in Illinois, the most populous US state. She is an outstanding employee who has been praised by management and lauded for her advocacy of the city’s many minority communities, including Muslims and Palestinians, which she says have been very satisfied. But a photo of her as an IDF volunteer, which had been hanging in her office since 2002, suddenly raised a commotion.
Gassman, who had volunteered to pack gas masks at the Tel Hashomer base in the days before the Second Gulf War, was photographed wearing civilian clothes, with a large Israeli flag behind her and a rifle borrowed from one of the soldiers. A Public Defender's Office employee complained to management, who then requested that she should remove the photo. "I was so surprised and shocked that someone complained about it right after October 7, which indicates that there is so much old or unconscious antisemitism. This picture was hung 22 years ago, and no-one had ever complained about it. In fact, they just gave compliments and were interested in the story behind it."
Gassman decided to sue her workplace after discovering that the photo had been moved on one occasion, and on another occasion, someone from management compared the "provocation" of its display to that which might result from displaying a swastika. The deputy public defender reprimanded her for her loud speech, and a cruel campaign was launched against her on social media, initiated by lawyers in Cook County, who called her a "war criminal" and a "murderer."
David Fish, an attorney specializing in labor law, is representing Gassman in a lawsuit that is still pending in court - a case that recently withstood another attempt to have it dismissed. Fish explains the rationale: "US government employees are allowed to express themselves in their workplace without being restricted." The lawsuit, which is in the process of document discovery, could even reach a jury trial next year. Says Fish, "I’ve represented thousands of workers and I don't recall a case of a labor law lawsuit on the basis of antisemitism before October 7. Now it's routine. I’ve personally received dozens of complaints."
Gassman believes that the legal arena is the most important element in the fight against antisemitism in the US, which manifests itself in various offenses. "This is sometimes the only effective way to put an end to it," she says. "The court procedures include a factual investigation and a document discovery process where you can get all the internal communications, text messages and emails - which shed light on these cases and show what people really think and where their hearts lie."
From discrimination to revenge firing
Deedee Bitran, a young lawyer from Miami with Israeli roots, worked at one of Florida's largest firms, Shutts & Bowen, and was considered a promising candidate for the position of junior partner. But the shock of the Hamas terror attack and the rise in the number of antisemitic incidents led her to StandWithUs, where she now serves as a Senior Counsel in the Saidoff Legal Department.
"Before October 7, the organization received 270 requests for legal aid a year," she says on a Zoom call with "Globes." "Since then, we've been receiving an average of 150 requests a month. Demand has soared. Our legal team has also more than tripled - from two to six full-time lawyers and another three part-time. Demand has risen not only in the areas of antisemitism in the workplace, but also in criminal issues from kindergarten to 12th grade and issues on campuses and communities. Antisemitism permeates every part of the country, every industry, and it’s a problem that’s becoming more serious every day. I think that October 7 encouraged people to be blatantly antisemitic and to vent frustration on their Jewish or Israeli colleagues under the guise of social justice."
A study by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found evidence of covert discrimination against Jewish and Israeli candidates in the US labor market; about 3,000 identical resumes were sent in applications for jobs in dozens of cities where the names of candidates were changed according to ethnic background. The findings showed that Jewish Americans had to send about 24% more applications to receive the same number initial positive responses from employers as other candidates. Israeli Americans had to send about 39% more.
In article published by the Jewish New Syndicate (JNS), Bitran exposed a series of antisemitic scandals, causing a stir among American Jews, and proving that this community is on the defensive. The story mentioned an employer who called his Jewish employee "Anne Frank" and mocked her by asking whether she "had a diary to go write," and another manager who refused to accept a Jewish job applicant, telling her during her interview that everyone should be able to agree that "killing babies is wrong."
But Bitran argues that not every case of antisemitism can be dealt with legally. "If an employer or colleague is racist, that doesn't constitute legal grounds; only when it becomes practical behavior - discrimination against employees because they are Jewish or Israeli, or harassment for those reasons. If an employee can prove in court that they are being treated differently because of their background, then they can possibly sue."
In the workplace, she says, there are four most common forms of discrimination against Jews. The first is discrimination in which the employer adopts double standards for employees: "This is a policy against political statements that is applied only to employees who express pro-Israel views, or who wear the necklace or pin of the hostages, but turn a blind eye to workers who wear keffiyehs or other Palestinian symbols."
Another offense is creating a hostile work environment that is not addressed, such as employers who express a lack of concern for an environment that includes antisemitic flyers, swastikas, Holocaust jokes and racist slurs. Bitran says that "even the phrase 'American Jewish princess' and a reference to Jewish money have been accepted in the past by the federal court.
The third type is revenge firing: "Employees are fired for unfounded reasons, when the real reason is revenge for opposing antisemitism in the workplace."
The fourth type is a lack of consideration for workplace accommodations on a religious basis: "If an employee states that he cannot work on Shabbat or holidays, the employer is supposed to try to make it work or prove that it will cause financial damage."
Bitran notes, "The lawsuits send a strong message in the right direction, that bad actors should be punished in the end, that there should be consequences, and the only way to make sure that there will be consequences is by using the law." However, she also admits, most of the lawsuits end in an out-of-court settlement: "Financial compensation is received and the plaintiffs sometimes demand a public apology, workplace training against antisemitism, and even psychological treatment."
Shaming antisemites on social media
The legal arena is not the only one in which American Jews are fighting against the prevailing sentiment. The StopAntisemitism project aims to disseminate via social media the names, photos, and roles of people who post anti-Jewish hatred ("doxxing") and put an end to their activity by shaming them online or by pressuring their employers to take action against them.
"Our huge presence on social media allows for quick and efficient action," says StopAntisemitism COO Elizabeth Coplon, explaining that publishing the identity of the attackers on social media greatly speeds up the process. "When we approach employers directly about antisemitic workers, we’re usually met with silence. But after we publish the cases, half of them take appropriate action. It's still not enough."
According to Coplon, StopAntisemitism uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Task Force (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, and publishes only cases that meet this threshold. "There’s nothing wrong with criticizing the Israeli government, but as soon as the criticism denies the state’s right to exist, applies standards to Israel which are not applied to other countries, refers to Jews as a collective, or uses antisemitic images such as Jewish control, blood libels, influence or money as a cover for criticism, we post it."
The initiative has more than half a million followers on social media and has been posting new faces and names of antisemitic workers almost every day since October 7. "Tablet" magazine tracked the posts and found an unusually high proportion of healthcare workers - doctors, nurses, carers, pharmacists, technicians, and lab workers - among the hate-mongers. At least three doctors were also fired as a result of the project's exposure.
In fact, of the 702 identified by name and position as having made antisemitic remarks, 190 (27%) were healthcare workers - a significantly higher percentage than their proportion in the population (10.8%). A particularly high percentage, almost half, were doctors. Of these, 91 physicians, more than half (52%) received their medical education outside the US, representing only one-quarter of the US physician population. More than two-thirds had studied in the Middle East (40%) and Pakistan (28%).
A study published last December by StandWithUs found that nearly 40% of Jewish healthcare professionals in the US had reported direct exposure to antisemitism in their workplace or school. More than a quarter of respondents (26.4%) reported feeling insecure or threatened by antisemitic incidents. Despite the existence of anti-discrimination training programs in health institutions, only 1.9% of participants said that these trainings included content on antisemitism, versus a much higher proportion said that racism or hatred towards other groups was mentioned.
"Medicine has become a major area of concern for us - because these are people who are in charge of caring for vulnerable patients," says Coplon. "Mistakes happen in medicine, but when someone has extreme prejudices, how can we be sure that those mistakes are not intentional?"
Days after the October 7 massacre, Manhattan-based facial plastic surgeon Dr. Yael Halaas founded the American Jewish Medical Association, which now numbers 2,000 members. "Surprising as it may sound, there was no organization that united all the Jewish doctors in the United States, even though there were similar organizations for the Catholic, Hindu, Muslim and even Palestinian communities," she says.
The prominence of healthcare workers in the US among antisemitism cases does not surprise her. "The most extreme trends are always led by doctors," she says. "The Muslim Brotherhood, Che Guevara, Bashar Assad - they all studied medicine. Among all professional groups, doctors and nurses had the highest rate of membership in the Nazi Party. Doctors may be more susceptible to persuasion by ideological social theories."
Within a month, the WhatsApp group she started became a full-fledged organization with 30 chapters across the country. The organization met with members of Congress and senators and created an antisemitism curriculum for nursing and medical schools. The doctors' desire to unite was greater than she had imagined. "I personally know Jewish doctors at large medical centers who were called 'white oppressors' because they expressed Zionist views, and some were fired from their jobs," she says. "Jewish and Israeli doctors are excluded from professional conferences, professional journals, silenced by scientific presentations - even when the content is related, for example, to emergency medicine or medicine related to Jews in the Hamas tunnels. Worse yet, there are documented cases of hesitation and reluctance to treat Jewish and Israeli patients, and there are at least two testimonies of deliberate medical negligence, one of which ended in death - both are being investigated by the authorities."
Liem Rizman assisted in preparing this article.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 18, 2025.
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