A Jewish Israeli mental health counseling intern has put Boston Medical Center at the center of a new federal civil rights fight, alleging the hospital retaliated against her after she reported anti-Israel material displayed in a shared clinical workspace. The complaint, filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, says the intern is an Israeli national and U.S. permanent resident who was completing a clinical practicum at BMC.

According to the filing, the intern saw posters at a staff clinician’s desk with slogans including “they killed our babies” and “they stole our lands.” The signs were visible from her desk, and the intern believed they violated BMC policy. After she reported the display to supervisors, one allegedly acknowledged the material might be a policy violation. The material was later removed, but the complaint says the real punishment began afterward.

The intern alleges she was physically separated from the clinical team, excluded from routine professional interactions and group lunches, denied patient debriefs and mentorship, and left professionally isolated. One supervisor allegedly told her BMC had “expected” some staff to take issue with her Israeli identity and had warned the team in advance that an Israeli would be joining, while reassuring them her application did not show unacceptable political views on Gaza.

The complaint says the isolation continued even after she raised concerns with supervisors and BMC human resources. At one point, the intern alleged that a colleague stopped communicating with her and failed to provide patient-coverage briefings, which she said affected both her training and client care. HR later told her it had “addressed the concerns,” but the Brandeis Center says the retaliation persisted through the rest of the placement.

The case then moved from workplace hostility to career damage. The complaint says BMC gave the intern a negative final evaluation that blamed her for the breakdown in workplace relationships caused by the alleged ostracization, marked her down on teamwork, and left her unable to use BMC supervisors as references in a field where clinical experience is a critical credential. The filing says she had received positive feedback on patient care, making the final evaluation especially damaging.

The Brandeis Center argues BMC violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which extend federal civil rights protections into federally funded health programs and bar retaliation against people who report discrimination. HHS says OCR enforces nondiscrimination rules for health care and social-service programs receiving federal financial assistance, while Section 1557 prohibits discrimination in covered health programs and activities.

The requested remedies are to revise the evaluation, provide a reference letter reflecting the intern’s clinical performance, adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, train supervisors and HR staff on antisemitism and retaliation, and create stronger protections for Jewish and Israeli trainees who report discrimination. Kenneth Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center, warned, “When a student reports offensive conduct and is then isolated, marginalized, and penalized for speaking up, serious civil rights concerns are raised.”

The complaint is part of a wider push against antisemitism in health care and mental-health institutions. HHS OCR recently opened a separate federal civil rights investigation into the American Psychological Association after another Brandeis Center complaint alleged antisemitic discrimination against Jewish and Israeli psychologists. The BMC complaint has not yet been adjudicated, but it sharpens the central question now facing federally funded institutions: whether Jewish and Israeli professionals can report anti-Israel hostility without being punished for it.