Teachers’ union goes full blown antisemitic

The National Education Association (NEA), America’s largest teachers’ union with more than 3 million members, voted to sever its institutional partnership with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

The resolution calls for the NEA to no longer “use, endorse, or publicize” ADL materials or programs, effectively boycotting an organization long regarded as a leading civil rights educator on antisemitism and Holocaust history. This decision marks a dramatic repudiation of hate-­crime education at a time when antisemitic incidents in American schools and society are reaching record highs.

The NEA claims that the ADL has weaponized the term “antisemitism” to silence criticism of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians — particularly regarding the Hamas war. The adopted resolution states that “despite its reputation as a civil rights organization, the ADL is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be” and accuses the ADL of inflating hate-crime statistics to stoke fear among Jewish Americans.  The boycott comes against a backdrop of a 700 percent spike in campus antisemitic incidents since October 2023, underscoring the dangerous optics of an educational union abandoning a primary ally against Jewish hatred.

By cutting off the ADL—an organization that for four decades has provided Holocaust curricula, antisemitism training, and annual hate‐crime reports—the NEA effectively disenfranchises Jewish educators and students seeking expert resources.

ADL leaders condemned the move as “profoundly disturbing,” noting that isolating Jewish voices further endangers a community facing rising violence.  In its statement, the ADL said, “It is profoundly disturbing that a group of NEA activists would brazenly attempt to further isolate their Jewish colleagues and push a radical, antisemitic agenda on students”.

The group added, “We will not be cowed for supporting Israel, and we will not be deterred from our work reaching millions of students with educational programs every year,”

Former New York City Councilman Rory Lancman, who now serves as senior counsel for the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, called the union measure a clear example of growing antisemitic fervor in the nation.   “You can’t separate the demonization of the ADL from the demonization of Israel and ultimately Jews,”

Dov Hikind, founder of the American Against Antisemitism group and a former New York state assemblyman from Brooklyn, responded to the NEA nixing its ties to the ADL.  “We Jews are in freaking trouble,” he said. “We are in hell”.

Conversely, critics within the union objected to ADL interventions against pro-Palestinian curriculum initiatives, viewing them as politically driven rather than educationally neutral.  Several high-profile NEA activists have expressed rhetoric or supported policies that align with antisemitic tropes.

In 2024, NEA members in Massachusetts produced Palestinian-history teaching materials internally, only to have the ADL label them “glorifying terrorists” and “promoting antisemitism.”  

Delegates like Stephen Siegel condemned the ADL’s definitions of antisemitism as akin to “allowing the fossil-fuel industry to determine what constitutes climate change” — framing any Jewish civil-rights stance as suspect.  Siegel previously backed an NEA motion to condemn the Biden administration for its support of the Israeli military’s operation in Gaza. 

NEA leadership has distanced itself from U.S. policy backing Israel in its conflict with Hamas. In February 2024, the NEA Board of Directors reaffirmed a call for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the release of hostages taken by Hamas, without explicitly condemning the October 7 terror attacks. That resolution highlighted the union’s moral imperative to protect all civilians but drew criticism for equating the aggressor (Hamas) and the defender (Israel) under the banner of “violence against innocent people”.

The NEA’s break with the ADL reflects broader trends on college campuses, where antisemitic incidents surged by 700 percent after the Israel–Hamas war began. Examples include threats to “slit the throats” of Jewish students at Cornell … assaults at Tulane while burning an Israeli flag … and “Holocaust 2.0” graffiti at the University of Maryland. These and other flashpoints illustrate a worrisome normalization of antisemitism among younger educators and students.

The NEA’s decision to sever ties with the ADL is more than a policy dispute over Israel. It signals an alarming shift in a major educational institution away from established understandings of antisemitism.  By rejecting ADL resources, the NEA risks leaving teachers and students without critical tools to recognize and challenge Jewish hatred – at a time when antisemitism is escalating on campuses and beyond.

The decision by the NEA was praised by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy organization – and known for its foundational antisemitism and defense of Islamic violence.  In a statement, CAIR said, “We welcome the NEA’s vote to stop exposing public school students to biased materials provided by the Anti-Defamation League due to its long history of spreading anti-Palestinian rhetoric, using false allegations of antisemitism to silence advocacy for Palestinian human rights …”

In rather nasty terms, the statement went on to say, “The ADL has only become worse under its increasingly unhinged director Jonathan Greenblatt, who has repeatedly smeared and endangered students in recent years. This principled move is a significant step toward fostering respect for the rights and dignity of all students in public schools, who must receive an education without facing biased, politically driven agendas.”

Antisemitic forces appear to be coalescing. Eh?

In breaking ties to the ADL, the NEA has aligned itself with and further empowered the growing trend in antisemitic rhetoric and actions—including violence.  That this comes from a powerful American educational organization is an abomination.  Perhaps it is time to end unionized public education.  (Hmm?  Methinks I sense a future commentary).

So, there ’tis.

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