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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
The post Moral Crisis in Psychoanalysis: Anti-Israel Hate Allowed in the Profession first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.