Seven Jewish employees of New York City’s Health Department have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the city of antisemitic discrimination, retaliation and fostering a hostile work environment after they were investigated for organizing a gathering to mourn victims of a terror attack.
The lawsuit centers on an online support meeting arranged following the December 2025 massacre at a Chanukah celebration at Bondi Beach in Australia. The employees allege that their effort to find comfort among colleagues instead subjected them to a prolonged internal investigation.
An email inviting coworkers to the gathering quoted a rabbi warning that calls to “globalize the intifada” were calls to murder Jews and that “anti-Zionism kills.” Approximately 16 people attended the meeting.
According to the lawsuit, other employees, including prominent anti-Israel activists, subsequently complained that the invitation was discriminatory and improperly linked the Australian massacre to support for Palestinians. The plaintiffs allege that the overwhelming majority of those who complained had not attended the gathering.
The city then launched an investigation into the Jewish organizers over allegations of racial and religious discrimination. The inquiry lasted approximately four months and, according to the plaintiffs, involved aggressive questioning and unfair procedures.
The employees allege that investigators challenged them to explain why they viewed slogans involving “intifada” as threatening. They further contend that the questioning suggested their expressions of grief over murdered Jews were offensive to Arab or Muslim colleagues.
The investigation ultimately closed without definitive findings, according to the account, but the plaintiffs say they received no apology and that records of the inquiry remain in their personnel files.
Beyond the investigation, the lawsuit alleges a broader pattern of unequal treatment within the department. The employees say their request to establish a Jewish heritage group called “Hinenu” was rejected on the grounds that Judaism is a religion rather than an ethnicity, despite their description of the proposed group as nonreligious.
They contrast that rejection with the recognition, funding and access to city facilities provided to other employee groups organized around ethnicity or geographic heritage.
The plaintiffs also allege that other employee groups used city resources to host one-sided political presentations accusing Israel of “genocide” and colonial rule. Materials circulated within the department allegedly included descriptions justifying the October 7 attacks as “armed resistance.”
Senior department officials are also accused of distributing official messages comparing Israel to apartheid and using an International Holocaust Remembrance Day message to condemn Israeli actions in Gaza. The lawsuit further alleges that city-sponsored discrimination training minimized antisemitism compared with other forms of racism.
The plaintiffs connect the alleged workplace climate to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies and statements, including what they describe as the reversal of earlier measures intended to combat antisemitism and BDS.
Represented by the Jewish legal organization NJAC, the employees are asking the court to require recognition of their Jewish employee group, remove the investigation records from their personnel files and award substantial damages.
“The city told its Jewish employees that every identity counts except theirs, and then investigated them for mourning murder victims,” the organization’s chief executive said.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2622390/antisemitism-lawsuit-jewish-nyc-health-workers-say-they-were-investigated-for-mourning-terror-victims.html
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