Moral Crisis in Psychoanalysis: Anti-Israel Hate Allowed in the Profession

In March of 2023, the Executive Committee of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) decided to disinvite a controversial speaker, Dr. Lara Sheehi, for its summer conference following a civil rights complaint against George Washington University (GWU), where Sheehi stands accused of antisemitism, promoting anti-Israeli hate speech, harassment, and discrimination against her Jewish and Israeli students.

Dr. Dorthy Holmes, Chair of the Holmes Commission for Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis (HC) and her co-chairs, Drs. Anton Hart, Dionne Powell, and Beverly Stoute, immediately issued a statement condemning APsaA and its then president, Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz, for perpetrating racism and discrimination against Sheehi, who is Lebanese and a person of color. Sulkowicz in turn resigned as president of APsaA and cited antisemitism as a factor.

Although Sheehi has denied being antisemitic, despite evidence to the contrary, she has become a Hamas apologist and sympathizer after the October 7 massacre in Israel. She then left GWU in the lurch with its impending civil rights complaint in front of the US Department of Education after taking a new faculty position in Qatar, the lavish host of Hamas. Dr. Sheehi, who is currently president of the Psychoanalytic Division (39) of the American Psychological Association (APA), has yet to be terminated from her position by the Board of Directors of Division 39 or the APA, despite her support of a terrorist organization. It is incomprehensible how the APA leadership would continue to incorrigibly champion a defender of a terrorist group.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, why do Jewish colleagues, people of color, and any of her contemporaries still support her, knowing full-well that her actions, deception, and denials are simply subterfuge for her anti-Jewish hatred? Some of Sheehi’s friends and colleagues have confided in me that they were duped by her charisma and what they now understand to be lies; however, they have been reluctant to denounce her publicly. How can the Holmes Commission for Racial Equality of the APsaA remain silent about these new-found facts after having unequivocally backed her? Why does the Division 39 Board of the APA not issue a statement condemning her, let alone take the moral imperative to terminate her as president after public outcry and scores of resignations from Jews and members disgusted with the Division’s complicity in promoting antisemitism?

What is most disgraceful are current Division 39 Board members who wrote a letter “on behalf of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel” in support of Sheehi. These are just some of the officers who signed the letter: Secretary Leilani Salvo Crane, Counsel Representative Almas Merchant, Members at Large Carter J. Carter and Elizabeth Clark, Committee Chairs Kori Bennett, Stephen Anen, Romy A. Reading, and Brian Brown. It has become a matter of professional ethics for the Division 39 Board to take a moral stand by deposing their president.

To make matters worse, the Division 39 Board supports a Section of its membership that is openly antisemitic and have proudly espoused anti-Israel/Zionist contempt. The Board of Directors of Section IX: Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility, which are mainly comprised of social activists, has issued a statement in support of the liberation of Palestine and says that “Zionist ideology” is not legitimate.

This missive says that it is “a statement of the Board of Directors of Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility (Section IX).” The entire Board includes President Matt LeRoy, Past-President Carter J. Carter, President-Elect Molly Merson, Treasurer Drew Madore, Secretary Sara Blair Jenkins, Section Representative Sodah Minty, Co-Chairs of the Publications Committee Andrea Recarte and Rossanna Echegoyen, and Members-at-Large Tara Lasheen, Brianna Suslovic, Charla Malamed, Diana Shencherey, and Mamta Dadlani. Do they all support this statement? If not, why have they not come out to oppose it?

This public statement flagrantly violates the APA Code of Ethics, yet nothing has been done to sanction these rogue members. The entire Board should be terminated from office, and the Section disbanded for bringing disgrace to the profession.

Sheehi has managed to pull the wool over so many people’s eyes. But what is unfathomable is that more than 240 Jews signed a letter in support of solidarity with Sheehi after she was accused of antisemitic harassment by her Jewish students at GWU — without having any access to the facts. But now that the facts are public, what do these Jewish colleagues have to say for themselves? Do they still stand by this letter?

Jewish psychologists, psychoanalysts, academics, and scholars who signed the letter supporting Sheehi are some of the most respected and revered people in the profession. While you can peruse the complete list of signatories for yourself, I would like to draw your attention to some of the most highly recognized clinicians and influential scholars in the field including: Judith Butler, Andrew Samuels, Susie Orbach, Jessica Benjamin, Alan Bass, Joel Whitebook, Doris Brothers, Stephen Soldz, Steven Reizner, and Irwin Hoffman. Given that Soldz and Reisner were given an award for their activism exposing psychologists’ involvement in torture at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have they commented on Sheehi and her comments about Hamas’ savagery on October 7?

The question is, will my esteemed colleagues now go on record to denounce their support of someone who condones terrorism? I hope they will do the right thing, as no one should be perennially judged or condemned for holding a previous mistaken belief when new evidence presents itself, especially if they were tricked or feel personally betrayed. This is the time for a new beginning. If they don’t, they should be ashamed of lacking moral courage and bringing dishonor to the profession.

Jon Mills is a Canadian philosopher, psychoanalyst, and psychologist. He is an honorary professor in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex and is the author of over 35 books in philosophy, psychoanalysis, psychology, and cultural studies, including most recently, End of the World: Civilization and its Fate. Follow him on X @ProfJonMills