HHS Opens Civil Rights Probe Into American Psychological Association Over Antisemitism

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the American Psychological Association over allegations of antisemitic discrimination and anti-Israel bias, according to the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.

The probe follows an August 2025 complaint filed by the Brandeis Center, which accused the APA of allowing hostility toward Jewish and Israeli members and promoting anti-Israel ideology inside the mental-health profession.

The APA is one of the most influential psychological organizations in the United States, with more than 172,000 members. The complaint says the association receives millions of dollars in federal funding each year through grants, fellowships, research contracts and other programs.

According to the Brandeis Center, HHS told the group in a June 2 letter that it had grounds to investigate whether the APA broke federal civil-rights laws by discriminating against Jewish members while receiving federal funding. 

“We want to see the APA brought into compliance with federal civil rights laws,” Rebecca Harris, a litigation staff attorney at the Brandeis Center, told JTA. “We want the APA to stop promoting discriminatory and harmful psychology practices.”

The complaint alleges that Jewish and Israeli current and former APA members reported discrimination, hostility and dismissal of their concerns after raising complaints about antisemitism. It also accuses the APA of promoting or tolerating “Decolonizing Therapy,” which critics say treats Zionism as a psychological problem.

“You have anti-Israel activist psychologists teaching courses about ‘psychic militancy’ and teaching about how to incorporate the ‘resistance’ or the ‘Palestinian liberation struggle’ into the clinical practice of mental health care,” Harris told JNS.

Harris said those courses used mental-health terminology in a way that targeted Zionists and advanced political activism inside clinical training. The complaint also alleges that APA conferences featured sessions promoting “Decolonizing Therapy” and portraying the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel as attacks on military targets.

The complaint further cites messages sent through APA listservs that allegedly glorified Hamas, called for boycotts of Israel, compared Gaza to the Warsaw ghetto and prayed for Israel’s destruction.

Harris also said one Jewish therapist reported being harassed at an APA conference, and that the association did not take proper action afterward.

“She was told that the harasser would be removed from the conference. They ended up not removing him,” Harris said.

Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center, said the investigation is necessary because of the APA’s influence over the mental-health profession.

“The mental health profession is built on trust, ethics, and a commitment to do no harm,” Marcus said. “When one of the nation’s most influential psychological organizations permits anti-Semitic discrimination and marginalizes Jewish professionals, federal civil rights scrutiny is entirely appropriate.”

The HHS investigation follows earlier pressure on the APA. More than 3,500 mental-health professionals previously signed a letter accusing the association of allowing “toxic antisemitism” and saying Jewish members were “harassed, excluded and silenced.”

In December 2025, Rep. Tim Walberg, chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, opened a congressional investigation into antisemitism at the APA. His letter said Jewish APA members reported being harassed and ostracized because of their Jewish identity, their efforts to speak against antisemitism and their Zionist beliefs.

Jewish organizations have also raised concerns about representation inside the APA. A coalition including the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Hadassah, Jewish Federations and StandWithUs previously urged the APA to support the Association of Jewish Psychologists’ inclusion and voting representation in the APA’s Council of Representatives.

That dispute connects to another allegation in the Brandeis Center complaint: that the APA questioned the legitimacy of recognizing Jews as an ethnic group.

The HHS probe could determine whether the APA must change its policies or practices to remain in compliance with federal civil-rights law while receiving federal funds. The Brandeis Center said it hopes the investigation will stop discrimination against Jewish members and prevent anti-Jewish bias from spreading through the broader mental-health profession.