Boston Medical Center accused of isolating Israeli intern to make sure ‘everyone feels safe’

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The retaliation culminated in a negative final evaluation issued on September 5, which the Brandeis Center says blamed the intern for the breakdown in workplace relationships. By Jessica Costescu, The Washington Free BeaconThe Boston Medical Center (BMC) was slapped with a federal complaint Tuesday alleging that it discriminated and retaliated against a Jewish Israeli intern for reporting antisemitic posters in shared office space, according to a copy of the complaint shared with the Washington Free Beacon.The complaint, filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law with the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR), alleges that the hospital allowed clinical staff to harass and ostracize the mental health counseling intern. It argues that the discrimination brought academic and professional ramifications.On her first day at BMC in May 2025, the intern spotted posters at a colleague’s workspace bearing the slogans “They killed our babies” and “They stole our lands,” according to the complaint. The materials were visible from the intern’s desk.When she reported them to her supervisors, one acknowledged that the posters might violate BMC policy.Most of the materials were gone when she returned from a trip to Israel about a month later, but she was physically separated from the rest of her clinical team, with one supervisor allegedly telling her it was to make sure that “everyone feels safe,” the complaint alleges.Her supervisors later told her that her colleagues formed an “alliance” against her in support of the clinician she reported, according to the complaint.One colleague stopped communicating with her entirely, even failing to deliver patient briefings on days he covered her clients.That lapse, she said, impacted “not only my learning experience at my practicum site but also client care.”The intern met with her supervisors in July 2025 to describe the retaliation.They told her BMC “expected” some members of her team to take issue with her Israeli identity and warned them in advance that she would be joining but reassured them that her application didn’t indicate that she held unacceptable political views on the conflict in Gaza.She eventually brought her concerns to BMC’s human resources department.The office told her via email that they “addressed the concerns you raised” but didn’t specify how. She told her clinical training adviser she didn’t observe “any meaningful changes.”She remained isolated through the remainder of her internship.The retaliation culminated in a negative final evaluation issued on September 5, which the Brandeis Center says blamed the intern for the breakdown in workplace relationships.She was rated poorly for her “ability to function as part of a team,” and the evaluation stated she would benefit from “expanding her trauma informed approach to include her collogues [sic] and staff, acknowledging that people bring their lifetime of experiences into the space which influences their interactions.”Her academic program also received a poor rating for how well it prepared her in the “Social & Cultural Diversity” category, according to the complaint.BMC noted it “would appreciate if the program was more transparent about any problems that students are having with their academic training which likely (and has) carried over to their field placement.”Her supervisor declined to meet with her, writing that there was nothing “additional for us to expand on beyond what was already shared.”The intern told her adviser that the evaluation left her feeling “very distraught,” particularly since she believed she handled the situation “with a high degree of professionalism.”By April, the intern was facing broader consequences. She was forced to omit her BMC supervisors on a reference form for a prospective employer, even though the internship represented her primary clinical experience to date.One mentor at her academic program said word had already spread among faculty that she experienced a “cultural disagreement” at her internship and that she needed extra reassurance from colleagues.BMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Brandeis Center CEO and chairman Kenneth Marcus said antisemitism in health care settings creates significant risks for the broader public.“The growth of anti-Semitism in the healthcare sector is a hazard not only for healthcare providers, trainees, and students, but for everyone who depends on the American healthcare system,” he said in a statement.“When a student reports offensive conduct and is then isolated, marginalized, and penalized for speaking up, serious civil rights concerns are raised, as are serious concerns about the future of healthcare in this country.”The Brandeis Center’s complaint comes as the Trump administration targets federally funded organizations that fail to rein in antisemitism.BMC receives tens of millions of dollars in federal grants and funding, including from HHS in 2025 and 2026.Earlier this month, HHS OCR opened an investigation into the American Psychological Association after the Brandeis Center filed a complaint accusing the group of antisemitic discrimination by promoting practices such as “Decolonial Therapy,” which frames Zionism as a mental illness.The Brandeis Center also filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Education Association—the largest teachers’ union in the country—alleging that the union allowed activists within the organization to harass Jewish members, including at its 2025 Representative Assembly where delegates aligned with anti-Israel advocacy physically positioned themselves near Jewish caucus members, shouted down Jewish participants, and created an atmosphere in which Jewish delegates reasonably feared retaliation and physical harm.The post Boston Medical Center accused of isolating Israeli intern to make sure ‘everyone feels safe’ appeared first on World Israel News.