Jewish organizations are pushing back after the nation’s largest teachers’ union voted to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League.
A letter from 375 civil rights groups, synagogues, museums and foundations urged National Education Association President Becky Pringle to combat “the growing level of antisemitic activity” within the union by squelching New Business Item 39.
The item passed July 6 by delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly would prevent the union from using or endorsing ADL educational materials, which focus on antisemitism and the Holocaust. The measure must still be cleared by the union’s executive committee.
“The effort to exclude ADL’s voice from educational spaces at a time of skyrocketing antisemitism — including in K-12 classrooms — speaks volumes about the climate within NEA that allowed this measure to pass, and the lack of understanding, if not outright hostility, behind it,” reads the Monday letter led by the ADL.
Those signing