Amid a surge in antisemitism within the U.S. medical community, Jewish doctors nationwide have come together to launch the American Jewish Medical Association. This organization aims to combat prejudice and provide a unified voice for Jewish medical professionals facing hostility in their workplaces and educational institutions.
For Dr. Yael Halaas, a plastic surgeon in Manhattan and the association’s founder, the alarming parallels to historical atrocities are impossible to ignore. “It’s fundamentally scary for those of us who care about humanity,” Halaas said. “It’s Nazi Germany all over again.” Halaas, whose family fled persecution in Cuba and Argentina, is driven by the harrowing reality of her father’s relatives perishing in Auschwitz during the Holocaust.
The catalyst for the association’s formation was the escalation in antisemitic incidents following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Medical schools, in particular, have become flashpoints of tension. Reports from universities highlight troubling episodes, including a panel at George Washington University that described such attacks as acts of “resistance.” Elsewhere, at the University of California, San Francisco, antisemitic slogans were displayed outside a cancer center, while protesters at Columbia University used chants many see as calling for Israel’s destruction.
Dr. Larisa Geskin, an oncologist at Columbia University, expressed her disbelief at the hate speech on campus. “I never thought I’d hear the same rhetoric in the United States that I heard in the Soviet Union,” said Geskin, who emigrated from Latvia. She described her shock at the persistence of antisemitic stereotypes and her determination to challenge the growing hostility.
The association’s leadership is drawing from deeply personal experiences to fuel its mission. Dr. Cary Schwartzbach, an orthopedist and the son of Holocaust survivors, emphasized the urgency of the moment. “October 7 was a wake-up call,” he said. “Antisemitism has made many residency programs uncomfortable for Jewish students. We need a voice to protect ourselves and the next generation.”
The group seeks to address the ostracization and silencing of Jewish medical students and staff, creating a supportive environment where discussing Jewish identity and Zionism a belief in the right of the Jewish state to exist is not seen as controversial.
These doctors underscore that combating antisemitism is not merely about addressing personal grievances but about preserving the integrity and humanity of the medical profession itself. For Halaas, Geskin, Schwartzbach, and many others, the echoes of history are both a warning and a call to action. “We see history repeating itself,” said Geskin. “It’s happening in the medical community, and we cannot stay silent.”
As the American Jewish Medical Association takes its first steps, its members hope to foster an environment where no doctor, student, or patient has to face bigotry, ensuring that the lessons of history are not forgotten.
