1[Video below.] The Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday sharply criticized comments made by Dr. Mehmet Oz in a recent interview, accusing him of promoting harmful stereotypes about Hasidic Jews and warning that such language can worsen the current climate of antisemitism. The organization circulated excerpts from a two-week-old appearance Oz made on Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders,” saying the remarks risk fueling discrimination.

The comments came as Oz, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, was speaking about investigations into healthcare fraud in Minnesota. In trying to show that fraud cases are not confined to a single state, Oz referenced the Hasidic community in New York in a manner the ADL said unfairly cast them in a negative light, suggesting they were “foreign, criminal, or ‘not real Americans.’”

“Casting Hasidic Jews as foreign, criminal, or ‘not real Americans’ is straight out of the antisemitic playbook,” the ADL wrote on X. “This kind of rhetoric fuels harmful stereotypes and discrimination. Falsely blaming New York’s Hasidic population directly contributes to the climate in which the city just reported a 182 % year-over-year spike in antisemitic hate crimes in January. Words matter, and public officials must do better.”

Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, a former Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, and a self-described secular Muslim, has taken on a more visible role in public policy discussions in recent years. Advocacy groups said that while he appeared to be drawing comparisons between states, his choice to single out New York’s Hasidic community drew particular concern.

Civil rights advocates have long warned that comments made by prominent figures about minority groups can shape public attitudes and, in some cases, contribute to discrimination or violence. The ADL said its response reflects broader concerns that even remarks made weeks earlier can take on renewed significance as antisemitic incidents continue to rise across the country.

WATCH:

Casting Hasidic Jews as foreign, criminal, or “not real Americans” is straight out of the antisemitic playbook. This kind of rhetoric fuels harmful stereotypes and discrimination. Falsely blaming New York’s Hasidic population directly contributes to the climate in which the city… pic.twitter.com/pD0t1bWRSN

— ADL (@ADL) February 5, 2026