A Swedish Jewish consultant has claimed he suffered antisemitic abuse from a colleague at a Meliva health clinic in Stockholm, and that his contract was ended after he reported it.
In an interview with Swedish paper Expressen last week, Gregory-Zvi Wirschubsky, 69, recounted an incident that took place in a cafeteria of a Meliva clinic.
A colleague of Middle Eastern descent publicly asked him if he was Jewish, and when he affirmed, she asked: “Why are you killing Palestinian children?”
"I said 'I am not killing any Palestinian children. I came here when I was seven years old. I am Jewish, but I do not live in Israel and have nothing to do with the Israeli army,'" he told Expressen.
Wirschubsky added that several colleagues witnessed the incident but remained silent. She then allegedly said: “Go to hell, you damn Jew.”
He allegedly faced repurcussions for speaking out
Wirschubsky reported the incident to his manager.
"I felt that it was discrimination, and I brought up that we had agreed not to discuss the Israel conflict at the workplace. The manager then says that they will handle the matter themselves. And then I found out that I was no longer allowed to stay. It was very strange," he told Expressen.
Wirschubsky was employed through a staffing company and not by Meliva directly. The agreement, which Expressen reviewed, stated that the client has the right to terminate the contract early with one month’s notice. It did not state that any reasons must be provided.
Wirschubsky told Expressen that he does not believe that he lost his assignment because he was Jewish, but he believed it was related to the conflict
Linn Christiernin, Meliva’s communications manager, told Expressen that they “are aware that there was a conflict between him and another person within the organization.”
“Decisions regarding consulting assignments and their extensions are always made on operational grounds. We have reviewed the matter carefully. The person’s background or religion had no impact on the decision,” she said.
Meliva claims that his contract was not terminated because he is Jewish
Christiernin said that, following a review, Meliva found no evidence that Wirschubsky's Jewish background influenced the decision not to extend the consulting assignment.
"Neither of the two individuals involved is currently working at Meliva,” the statement said.
"Beyond this, we cannot comment on individual personnel matters or individual people’s accounts of one another,” Christiernin concluded.
The case is reminiscent of a previous case in Sweden involving a Jewish doctor at Karolinska University Hospital.
In a landmark victory in July 2025, the doctor reached a substantial settlement in his case about systemic anti-Jewish discrimination and unlawful retaliation.
Dr. Svensson (not his real name) detailed a pattern of anti-Jewish exclusion, harassment, and intimidation he endured during his time at Karolinska, culminating in his termination after he reported the abuse.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Karolinska agreed to pay SEK 3,000,000 (approximately USD $315,000) to him in a clear acknowledgment of the serious harm suffered.