NEA cuts ties with Anti-Defamation League: ‘Profoundly disturbing’

The largest teachers union in America has voted to cut all ties with the Anti-Defamation League — which called the move “profoundly disturbing” as antisemitic attacks in the US are at a record high.

The National Education Association, which is also the US’s largest union with more than 3 million members, approved a proposal Sunday to drop the ADL as an education partner, accusing the New York-based Jewish civil rights group of using the term antisemitism to punish any and all criticisms of Israel.

“Allowing the ADL to determine what constitutes antisemitism would be like allowing the fossil-fuel industry to determine what constitutes climate change,” NEA delegate Stephen Siegel claimed at the group’s meeting over the weekend, according to the Mondoweiss outlet.

Siegel is a special-education teacher at Oregon’s Reynolds School District, where he’s advocated for racial equity in education and pushed motions in the NEA to provide resources for schools and teachers who are targeted by “anti-CRT” groups, his Oregon EA bio states. 

CRT, or Critical Race Theory, asserts that racism is ingrained in US institutions including the courts.

Siegel also previously backed an NEA motion to condemn the Biden administration for its support of the Israeli military’s operation in Gaza, according to WorkDay Magazine. 

“If the ADL is not kosher, none of us are kosher,” raged Dov Hikind, the founder of the American Against Antisemitism group and a former New York state assemblyman from Brooklyn, to The Post after the NEA’s vote nixing its ties to the ADL.

“We Jews are in freaking trouble,” he said. “We are in hell.

“The world is upside down. Should we be surprised that students are in the street supporting terrorism? It’s a tragedy.”

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.

“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,” the group said. “It is our understanding there’s an internal NEA process that deals with issues like this, and it is far from a completed process.

“We will continue to call out this antisemitism and prioritize our Jewish students and educators.”

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. 

“The Anti-Defamation League is the most respected, mainstream Jewish civil rights organization in the country. You can’t separate the demonization of the ADL from the demonization of Israel and ultimately Jews,” Lancman said. 

The NEA’s 7,000-member assembly had congregated in Portland to set the roadmap for the teacher and support staff union’s upcoming school year, which included the vote to end its partnership with the ADL.

“NEA will not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), such as its curricular materials or statistics,” the approved measure read.

“Educators embrace the urgency to respond to the questions of racism, injustice, and all forms of bigotry. Despite its reputation as a civil rights organization, the ADL is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be,” it concluded.

In a dismal, record-breaking statistic, Jews in America faced more than 25 antisemitic incidents per day last year — more than one per hour — with the attacks largely tied to the Israel-Hamas war, according to an ADL report released in April.

The ADL has worked with US schools for nearly 40 years to help develop curriculums and train teachers to combat antisemitism in K-12 schools.

But the group has found its relationship waning with the NEA since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Jewish state was attacked by Palestinian Hamas terrorists and retaliated in a conflict that is still ongoing.

Tensions between the NEA and ADL came to a head earlier this year when the Jewish group slammed the former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) over a presentation on Islamophobia and attacks against Palestinians.

Merrie Najimy, the former president of the union, was one of four speakers at the controversial presentation, which made headlines and was even discussed in the state’s Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism in February.

The Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism and American Jewish Committee (AJC) New England ultimately accused the MTA leadership of demonizing Israel and spreading “anti-Zionist propaganda” in the classrooms.

The fallout resulted in death threats against members of the MTA, with Najimy recounting the incident in the lead-up to the NEA vote, according to Mondoweiss.

“Why would we partner with an organization that does us harm?” Najimy asked.

Najimy continues to serve as an educator at the Concord Public Schools District, where she has worked for nearly 30 years, and as a union leader at the MTA according to her LinkedIn account. 

The NEA’s measure to end the partnership with the ADL was listed as a “boycott” by the union’s legal team, which means it will need to go through additional steps before it’s officially implemented.

The union said in a statement to The Post that the organization is still committed to tackling issues of antisemitism, racism and bigotry and will continue to do so even if the proposal is passed by its executive committee.

“There is a critical need for us, as educators, to model the type of respectful dialogue and discourse we want to see in the world, in our classrooms, and on our campuses,” an NEA rep said.

“We will not shy away from difficult or controversial issues that affect our members, our students, or our schools, nor will we tolerate antisemitism, anti-Muslim bias, or hateful rhetoric or behavior.”

But Liora Rez, the founder of StopAntisemitism, said, “The most radical fringe has taken over the NEA and they actively promote bigotry against Jews and lies about the Jewish state.

“Rather than trying to educate our children, they want to indoctrinate them to hate each other.”