A U.S. doctor said she would ‘purposely give the wrong meds to Jews’

Oh, don’t worry. This post isn’t going to be overly political, and I know that sadly antisemitism can foment anywhere on the political spectrum. But, seriously, when I tell you that a woman in Cleveland was a doctor at a clinic for a few months and said on social media she’d be willing to give Jewish patients incorrect medications, you’re not all that surprised anymore, are you? In the era of “Good people on both sides,” no one would blame you for being less than shocked by this, and yet…

A resident who worked at the Cleveland Clinic from July to September last year apparently said on social media that she would “purposely give all the yahood the wrong meds.” (Yahood is an Arabic word for Jews.) There were many other anti-Semitic tweets in her timeline over the course of many years, but it’s unclear if the reason she’s not working at the clinic anymore has anything to do with those tweets. (Patheos)

Here’s the tweet, screencapped:

Apparently a group that tracks antisemitic posts and activity online captured quite a bit of Nazi stupidity coming from Lara Kollab’s social media accounts. Of course, the cowardly Kollab has already scrubbed her social media presence, but unfortunately for Dr. Josefina Mengele, the Internet is forever, and Canary Mission has the goods.

Lara Kollab has called for violence against Jews, spread anti-Semitism, trivialized the Holocaust, defended the terror organization Hamas and supported terrorists on Twitter.

She has also compared Israel to Nazi Germany, spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and hatred of Israel, and accused Israel of exploiting the Holocaust.

To their credit, as soon as the Cleveland clinic that Kollab worked for got wind of her vile posts, they issued an immediate statement distancing themselves from her and condemning what she said.

This individual was employed as a supervised resident at our hospital from July to September 2018. She is no longer working at Cleveland Clinic. In no way do these beliefs reflect those of our organization. We fully embrace diversity, inclusion and a culture of safety and respect across our entire health system.

I should state categorically that I don’t actually know who Kollab voted for. It’s entirely possible she voted for Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein, or was even a Bernie-or-Buster. But there’s no denying that since Trump took office in 2017, there has been a sharp rise in stories of bigots, racists, and xenophobes feeling empowered by Trump’s moral equivalency. What his defenders never acknowledge is that it’s completely possible that Trump is not anti-semitic — his daughter converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner — but when he doesn’t wholly condemn white nationalists and Nazis who support him, he gives them aid and comfort, if not tacitly.

It should also definitely be noted that the hospital didn’t allow Kollab to treat patients by themselves. Whether or not she was able to implement her horrific ideology on people is of more concern than what kind of psychotic garbage she copped to on Facebook or Twitter. One thing is for certain though, according to Patheos’ reporting, the Cleveland clinic may want to take a good, hard look at their hiring practices.

 In January of 2017, Dr. Daniel Neides, the Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, posted an article questioning the efficacy of vaccines. He later apologized and the clinic put out another brief statement saying they didn’t approve his article in advance and that they “completely support vaccinations.”

Regardless of anything else, it’s good to know that Kollab isn’t working in the Cleveland clinic anymore, though one has to wonder if she’s gotten employment somewhere else, and what kind of danger she poses to the patients there.

Writer/comedian James Schlarmann is the founder of The Political Garbage Chute and his work has been featured on The Huffington Post. You can follow James on Facebook and Instagram, but not Twitter because he has a potty mouth.