Antisemitism is invading psychology, and Jews are becoming victims of the very people they trust to help them ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, May 05, 2025

Antisemitism is invading psychology, and Jews are becoming victims of the very people they trust to help them

This post from Dr. Orli Peter should get you angry:

Enough is enough.
This post marks the beginning of a collective effort to push back against a disturbing pattern many of us have experienced: Jewish psychologists, social workers, and counselors being held to different standards, erased from trauma spaces, and pressured to stay silent about our own pain unless we meet a newly invented political litmus test.
When I launched the Israel Healing Initiative a year and a half ago to provide trauma treatment to October 7 survivors, I was shocked by the backlash from some trauma psychologists—both privately and publicly—criticizing me for helping Israelis.
I’m in the uncommon position of having provided trauma treatment to both Palestinians and Israelis—in the Middle East. Not one of the psychologists who criticized me for helping Israelis had ever helped both. But even that wasn’t enough to avoid their disdain. The standard applied to me was not just that I had helped Palestinians—it was that I had to help them simultaneously while helping Israelis. A newly invented standard for trauma treatment that of course would thwart helping traumatized Israelis.
More recently, in a closed Facebook group hosted by a well-known therapist, author, and trainer, I witnessed an outpouring of antisemitic responses to a letter by a Jewish lawyer who shared how his family’s Holocaust legacy inspired his commitment to justice. He was accused of “manipulating” people by referencing the Holocaust, and one therapist even wrote that for a Jew to speak of their trauma now is “unforgivable.” Coded comments questioned his integrity as a Jew.
No one—among nearly 1,300 mental health professionals—spoke up, except for a loyal friend. Not even the leader of the group, despite my multiple appeals to him.
This is not isolated. It's spreading. And it’s time to respond.
If you are a Jewish mental health professional—or an ally—who has experienced or witnessed similar dynamics, I invite you to share. You don’t have to name names. Let’s begin to gather what’s happening from all corners of the field.
If there is enough interest, I’d like to start a private group where we can safely talk, reflect, and plan a path forward.
We are not alone, and we are not powerless.

Others have noted the increasing levels of antisemitism in psychology and related fields. Even worse, some antisemites in the mental health field are weaponizing psychology itself against Jews. From TheJC:

[S]ome members of the mental-health community engage in a new form of this pseudoscience that obliterates the Jewish identity and demonises the Jewish people.
The practice is called decolonising (or decolonial) therapy, and it aims to address the psychological impact of colonialism, systemic oppression and historical trauma. It emphasises reclaiming cultural identity, dismantling internalised oppression and healing from colonial violence.
While this framework uses a social-justice framework, it labels Zionism – a key component of the Jewish identity – as a root cause of mental illness, despite its conspicuous absence in the DSM.

Here is an anti-Zionist book by Wendy Elisheva Somerson ,a "queer non-binary, disabled, Ashkenazi Jewish somatic healer, writer, activist, and visual artist residing on Duwamish and Coast Salish land [and] one of the founders of the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace" that uses psychological pseudo-science and even antisemitism to promote hating Jews, today:

An Anti-Zionist Path to Embodied Jewish Healing: Somatic Practices to Heal Historical Wounds, Unlearn Oppression, and Create a Liberated World to Come by Wendy Elisheva Somerson PhD (Author)
Unapologetically anti-Zionist and firmly rooted in Jewish spiritual values—a liberatory model for Jewish healing
...How does ancestral grief live on in our bodies and keep us from feeling safe—and how is that fear enacted on other peoples? How do we reconcile a history of persecution with the state power of Israel today?
Rooted in justice, care, and spiritual depth, this book asks us to live into a Judaism beyond Zionism. It invites us to heal toward liberation—to reclaim Jewish faith and release Jewish identity from the colonial project of Israel in power, skill, and community.

Maybe I have tunnel vision because of what I've been working on lately, but I genuinely believe that the most effective way to confront this new form of antisemitism is to train ourselves - and others - to see through a clear ethical lens.

This new generation of Jew-haters isn't abandoning morality; they are weaponizing it. They wrap their hatred in moral language.

Judaism has something profound to say in response.

The best way to expose their hypocrisy is not with counter-slogans or defensive postures, but with a transparent, principled ethical system that reveals their claims for what they are: deeply immoral. And when that’s made clear, their self-righteous posture collapses under its own weight.

In my next article I plan to present a manifesto of sorts on how to fight today's morality-based antisemitism using the world's oldest extant ethical system.

(h/t Jon S)