Ostracized post-Oct. 7, US doctor forms new association for Jewish health professionals
Jewish medical professionals say that since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, they face a hostile atmosphere. The AJMA seeks to provide them resources and support
Reporter at The Times of Israel
NEW YORK — In her 23 years of practice, Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer at the Tufts Medicine health system, never thought much about being Jewish while seeing patients, ordering tests or completing charts.
“Most of us don’t wear our Jewishness on our sleeves. It doesn’t come to work with us. That all changed after October 7,” Doron said.
After Hamas’s October 7 massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel and abduction of 251 to the Gaza Strip, Doron mistakenly thought she would be met with support. Instead, Doron found indifference — or worse, justification.
She found solace in the newly formed American Jewish Medical Association (AJMA), a non-profit, non-political organization guided by the motto of “Medicine Free From Hate.”
Dr. Yael Halaas, a facial plastic surgeon in New York City, started the AJMA as a WhatsApp group for Jewish and non-Jewish health professionals to offer and find support in the wake of the Hamas atrocities. When the number of people in the group surpassed 1,000 in less than a month, she realized a more permanent organization was needed.
“It’s been so deeply troubling to see antisemitism rearing its head in medicine, and there’s been no unifying voice,” said Halaas, AJMA president. “There is a Catholic Medical Association, a Palestinian American Medical Association, a Syrian American Medical Association, but there wasn’t a Jewish Medical Association.
“I felt it was important to have an organization to celebrate the contributions of Jewish healthcare professionals and to combat antisemitism,” she said.
As the sole nationwide organization in the United States representing medical students, physicians and other health professionals, the AJMA aims to stand strongly with Israel, promote Jewish values and ethics in medicine, design curricula for the medical environment to combat antisemitism, and, when called for, advise Congress on action. It’s also one of many Jewish sub-groups to form following October 7, from new bar associations to alumni associations.
Aiming to give a voice to Jewish professionals, the AJMA also hopes to “restore humanity” to a field that has seen a sharp uptick in anti-Israel sentiment that many feel crosses the line into antisemitism. This includes social media posts saying Zionists don’t belong in medicine, doubt cast on the sexual violence that occurred on and likely after October 7 as hostages remain in captivity, and healthcare panels focused on accusing Israel of medical genocide.
For example, on May 10, a virtual event was held at Cornell University’s medical school and biomedical research facility in New York City titled “Grand Rounds: Medical Genocide in Gaza.” The panel discussion was organized by the Muslim Students Association at Weill and the Student National Medical Association.
Within Our Lifetime, a radical anti-Israel organization that espouses violence against Israel and demands the abolition of Zionism, has frequently staged demonstrations with Healthcare Workers for Palestine. In January the two groups targeted the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan in a demonstration that included shouts of “Shame!” as cancer patients looked on from inside the building.
Additionally, in December a group called Doctors Against Genocide attempted to stage an anti-Israel protest at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Describing it as an “urgent action,” the group’s online flyer implored fellow physicians to “stop the genocide in Gaza.”
The group canceled the event after receiving backlash and issued a statement saying it had meant to organize a visit to the museum to educate and engage the medical community.
Dr. Nir Hoftman, an anesthesiologist at UCLA and member of the American Jewish Medical Association, told The Times of Israel that he has felt an unsettling change in his work atmosphere following October 7.
“During my 20-plus year career, I have cared for many thousands of patients — famous actors, athletes, politicians, and business people have put their lives in my hands, trusting me during their most difficult times,” Hoftman said. “At UCLA, I was a respected clinician, scientist and teacher — until October 7, 2023. Now, medical students attack me on social media and undergraduate students physically assault me on campus. Why? Because I am a Jew and a Zionist.”
“It’s disquieting, to say the least,” said Halaas, who graduated from Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medicine. “We would never want patients to think they would get less care from a health care provider because of their beliefs. We never want students and residents to be expressing open hatred of any minority group. It’s Nazi Germany all over again.”
In 1930s Germany, a disproportionately high number of doctors and nurses joined the Nazi party compared to the general population — and were among the first to do so, with more than half of all German physicians joining the party by 1942. Meanwhile, in the US, most medical schools had quotas limiting the number of Jewish students allowed to enroll which remained in place until the 1970s.
As antisemitism continues to rise in the healthcare space — such as the panel discussion at George Washington University’s medical school in December where members of the faculty justified the October 7 Hamas atrocities and neglected to mention the American and Israeli hostages still in Hamas captivity — Doron said she will continue to turn to the AJMA for support.
“I feel so alone now, [antisemitism] weighs on me so much. I see it every day, but as a Jew, I don’t have the luxury of looking away. The AJMA is the only thing getting some of us through this,” she said.
