Therapists 4 Palestine Promotes “Therapy is Political” Event After Sharing Pro-Terror Posts
The Instagram-based collective behind the May 21 event has endorsed “armed resistance” and shared posts commemorating the 1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre, which killed 18 Israelis
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Therapists 4 Palestine, an Instagram-based collective of mental-health professionals with over 5,700 followers, is hosting a May 21 virtual event featuring Dr. Lara Sheehi to promote her new book advocating “psychic militancy” and revolutionary psychoanalysis. The event page directs attendees to an opaque Lebanon-focused fundraiser with limited public information about how donations are handled.
The group’s mission statement explicitly endorses “diverse forms of Palestinian resistance, including armed resistance,” and calls for professional psychology bodies to adopt Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) positions.
Therapists 4 Palestine has also used its social-media platforms to circulate content that appears to glorify Palestinian militancy, including posts commemorating deadly attacks on Israeli civilians. The group posted a graphic commemorating the 50th anniversary of the April 11, 1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre, carried out by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).
The group also shared posts praising Ghassan Kanafani, a former spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
The Event: “Therapy is Political”
On May 21 at 7 p.m. EDT, Therapists 4 Palestine will host Dr. Lara Sheehi for a 90-minute Q&A about her May 2026 book, From the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures.
Sheehi’s 192-page book argues that psychoanalysis has been co-opted by capitalist and colonial structures and must be “seized” as a revolutionary tool. Central to her framework is the concept of “psychic militancy”—a form of psychological resistance to what she describes as “psychic intrusions” from capitalism, colonialism, Zionism, and “cis-heteropatriarchy.”
The book includes sections titled “Warfare Psychologically Waged,” “Psychic Intrusions,” and “Affirmations for Psychic Militancy.” In her writing, Sheehi frames Palestine as a central case study, rejecting therapeutic neutrality in favor of explicit political activism. She has described Israel’s military actions in Gaza as “genocidal” and argues that mental-health professionals have a duty to use their clinical training to support “liberation” movements globally.
Mission Statement in Support of “Armed Resistance”
Therapists 4 Palestine’s mission statement declares: “We support diverse forms of Palestinian resistance, including armed resistance.” It goes on to assert that “all therapy is inherently political” and that therapists must confront systems of harm rather than remain neutral. The group’s two-part mandate includes working with professional bodies to adopt solidarity statements and BDS motions, and integrating “anti-Palestinian racism” into diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks. The statement also pledges to “drive change in our workplaces” to protect therapists who take pro-Palestinian positions.
Posts Commemorating Terror Attacks
One post shared by the group’s Instagram account marked the 50th anniversary of the April 11, 1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre, in which three PFLP-GC terrorists killed 18 Israelis, including children, before being killed by Israeli forces. The post romanticizes the attackers and includes imagery celebrating their “martyrdom.”
The group also shared a graphic comparing Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara to Ghassan Kanafani, a former PFLP spokesman.
Event Promotes Lebanon Fundraiser with Limited Public Transparency
The May 21 event page directs attendees to donate through a Chuffed.org campaign associated with Al Tansiqiyeh Al Shaabiye. The Chuffed page identifies the organizer as “Workers For Palestine,” lists its location as the Netherlands, and describes the appeal as “Lebanon Emergency Relief.” The linked Instagram account, @tanseqeye_shaabeye_lebanon, uses a different name and identifies itself as Lebanon-based.
The Instagram account for @tanseqeye_shaabeye_lebanon appears to have been created in November 2024. Publicly available information about the group appears limited, including details about its leadership, governance, regulatory oversight, financial transparency, and how donations are transferred to displaced families on the ground.
The Network: Institutionalizing Anti-Zionism
Therapists 4 Palestine appears to be part of a broader international network of mental-health professionals organizing around Palestinian activism. The USA Palestine Mental Health Network coordinates campaigns urging professionals not to attend conferences in Israel, promotes BDS resolutions within psychology organizations, and has issued statements accusing Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid.”
Sheehi’s ties extend beyond Therapists 4 Palestine. She is a founding member of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, which launched in August 2023. According to the ADL, the organization seeks to dismantle Zionism and its stated mission is to “support the delinking of the study of Zionism from Jewish Studies.”The institute publishes the Journal for the Critical Study of Zionism and runs a research project titled “Zionist Smear as Weapon & Ideology.”
Sheehi also serves on the advisory board of Forensic Architecture, a group that uses architectural and spatial analysis to investigate alleged human-rights violations, with a heavy focus on Israel-Palestine. Critics have accused the institute and similar organizations of promoting one-sided narratives and advancing BDS goals under the guise of academic research.