By: Tzirel Rosenblatt

In a case that underscores the volatile intersection of free expression, workplace policy, and rising antisemitism in the United States, a Jewish nurse from Long Island has filed a lawsuit against NYU Langone Hospital in Mineola, alleging that the prestigious medical center reprimanded her, stripped her of a pay raise, and forced her to issue a coerced apology—all because she expressed support for Israel following Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023, massacre.

According to a report that appeared on Saturday in The New York Post, 27-year-old staff nurse Leviah Ehrlich is seeking damages after she claims her employer singled her out for discriminatory treatment and subjected her to retaliation for speech rooted in her religious and cultural identity. Her lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, has already sparked heated debate over whether NYU Langone crossed the line between maintaining workplace neutrality and punishing employees for personal political or religious expression.

The controversy began just hours after Hamas terrorists launched their brutal surprise assault on southern Israel on October 7, murdering approximately 1,200 people, wounding thousands more, and abducting over 250 civilians and soldiers into Gaza. Horrified by the attack, Ehrlich posted two brief messages on her private Instagram account, viewable only to approved followers.

“You either stand with Israel or you stand with terrorism,” Ehrlich wrote in one of the posts, punctuating the message with two symbols: the Star of David and Hamas’s emblem, juxtaposed to emphasize her message of moral clarity.

In another post, Ehrlich uploaded a photograph of an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas during the invasion—someone she identified as a former high school classmate. According to court papers, the inclusion of this personal detail reflected her immediate anguish, as the atrocities of October 7 were not a distant geopolitical event but a tragedy touching someone she once knew.

Yet, despite the posts being shared on a personal account outside of working hours, and despite the absence of any direct connection to her patients or hospital duties, Ehrlich’s comments soon became the subject of internal scrutiny at NYU Langone.

As The New York Post reported, about a month later, human resources representatives at the hospital summoned Ehrlich to a meeting. There, she was informed that someone had lodged a complaint about her posts, describing them as “wrought with bias and hatred.”

In December, she was called in again. This time, administrators escalated the matter, issuing her a written warning and insisting she craft a public apology post. The language of that apology, according to Ehrlich, was dictated by hospital officials and included references she had not chosen—such as the phrase “innocent people from both Israel and Palestine.”

For Ehrlich, the demand was not just disciplinary but humiliating, forcing her to dilute her message and publicly recast her solidarity with Israel into a broader statement that, in her view, misrepresented her beliefs. Her lawsuit contends this was an act of compelled speech, designed to sanitize her religious and political expression while appeasing those who had criticized her.

The dispute took an even harsher turn in January. Hospital administrators informed Ehrlich that her Instagram posts would cost her a $6,000 raise she had received the month before Hamas’s attack. Worse still, NYU Langone allegedly demanded that she repay the compensation she had already been awarded, a sum totaling more than $11,000.