The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a new report on Thursday documenting what it claims are alarming levels of anti-Jewish conduct, hostile rhetoric, and institutional failure experienced by Jewish K-12 employees across US teachers’ unions.
Titled “Antisemitism in US Teachers Unions,” the study combines quantitative survey data and qualitative focus groups to assess the breadth and impact of antisemitism within labor organizations that the report states “have become sources of profound alienation and exclusion” for Jewish educators.
The findings are based on a mixed-methods study combining a survey of 307 Jewish members of US teachers’ unions across 24 states, with large representations from California, Massachusetts, and New York, alongside qualitative focus groups.
Nearly all respondents, or 98.7%, worked in public schools, spanning kindergarten through high school. The study aims to give voice to experiences that the ADL states are frequently dismissed, illuminating the scope of the problem and providing a foundation for advocacy and cultural change within teachers’ unions nationwide.
ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt stated in an official press release on Thursday that “teachers’ unions were built on the promise of solidarity, fairness and dignity for every worker,” but that “this report makes clear that this promise is being broken for Jewish educators across the country.”
Greenblatt said that “what we found is not the work of a few bad actors,” but rather “a structural and cultural failure” where Jewish educators are “self-censoring and fearing backlash for raising concerns.”
According to the report, anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist, and anti-Israel conduct is pervasive across local, state, and national union spaces. More than 70% of surveyed Jewish union members somewhat or strongly agreed that union statements about the Israel-Hamas War that fail to condemn Hamas or the October 7, 2023 atrocities are a problem in their union.
Antisemitism drastically increased since October 7
Additionally, 71% agreed that resolutions accusing Israel of apartheid, genocide, or ethnic cleansing are a problem, and 68.1% agreed that calls to cut ties with mainstream Jewish organizations are a problem.
The report stated that antisemitism existed in teachers’ union spaces before the events of October 7, 2023, but the subsequent conflict accelerated and intensified existing dynamics. The ADL claimed this empowered individuals who had previously kept antisemitic attitudes beneath the surface to express them openly, with one survey respondent describing how October 7 became a “permission structure to express their antisemitism.”
The report detailed personal accounts and survey responses where participants watched their unions pass resolutions that blamed Israel for the October 7 massacre, promote curricular materials containing links to antisemitic content, and distribute unendorsed training materials.
One survey respondent stated in the report, “[my local union] passed a resolution as official union policy that blamed Israel for the October 7 Hamas attack... We tried to come up with... amendments, but they voted us down and shouted us down.”
Another respondent said “my union leadership actively works against Jews/Zionist...” and that “they even hosted several events promoting extremely biased and anti-Israel curriculum, including giving out flyers that praised the Al-Aqsa flood operation (the October 7 massacre) and glorified their martyrs... My wife... was physically intimidated at a union event. She was also attacked publicly by union leadership online on social media.”
Over the past 12 months, Jewish union members reported encountering hostile rhetoric across various union spaces, including meetings, social media, trainings, and conferences. According to the study, more than half of respondents, or 53.4%, reported experiencing inconsistent enforcement of anti-harassment norms when the targets were Jews or Zionists, while 51.8% witnessed the minimization or denial of October 7 atrocities. Nearly half, or 48.9%, heard the word “Zionist” used as a slur or pejorative, and 43.7% saw speakers who justified violence against Jews or Israel platformed at union events.
FURTHER DATA showed that 36.5% of respondents encountered Jewish members being shouted down, mocked, or accused of bad faith when raising objections, and the same percentage reported Jews being labeled with pejorative terms such as “genocide supporters,” “baby killers,” or “colonizers.” Nearly three in 10 respondents (27.4%) encountered rhetoric equating Jews or Zionists to Nazis.
Hostile environment has driven Jewish members to reduce participation
The ADL said that this hostile environment has driven widespread self-protection and withdrawal among members. The study found that 70% of respondents agreed that vocalizing concerns about the treatment of Jews in union spaces could lead to reputational or professional consequences, while 73.6% reported feeling a need to self-censor. Nearly half (47.6%), stated they had reduced their participation in certain union activities or spaces as a result.
Personal testimonies illustrated these impacts; respondents noted that “some have become afraid to show their Star of David” and that “Jewish educators have gone into hiding. They do not admit to being Jewish or wear any identifying clothing/jewelry. We are still being told not to speak.”
One respondent stated that “we have to either claim to hate a part of our own identity, be quiet, or be shunned.” Another respondent recounted being told that “the way I was speaking about antisemitism in the union was causing backlash against teachers. I was asked to stop speaking publicly about it.” Others reported being mocked, minimized, or told by leadership that “I’m not in a protected class.”
Shira Goodman, vice president of public affairs and special initiatives at the ADL, stated in the press release on Thursday that “Jewish educators have shown extraordinary courage, showing up to meetings, filing complaints, running for leadership positions and advocating from within, often at real personal and professional cost.”
Goodman said that “they are not asking for special treatment,” but rather “the same dignity and belonging that unions promise every member,” adding that “the reforms they are calling for are reasonable, achievable and entirely consistent with the values these institutions claim to uphold.”
Respondents called for reforms, not closure, of unions
Among respondents who raised concerns with union leadership, 69.1% reported being not at all satisfied with the response received, and not a single respondent reported being extremely satisfied. Furthermore, 28.3% of respondents said their union had sponsored or promoted programming related to Jews, Zionists, or Israel in the past 12 months, with 78.2% of that group stating the programs were biased.
The report noted that 85% of surveyed members were still at least a little happy with their union when setting aside the treatment of Jews, Zionists, and Israel. Rather than calling for the end of union membership, respondents said they wanted the union to change course.
Requested reforms included union leadership clearly condemning threats and harassment against Jews, supported by 75.9% of respondents; balanced and evidence-based antisemitism education supported by 73.3%; clear guardrails against harassment tied to Jewish identity and Zionism supported by 71.7%; and leadership steering the union away from resolutions about foreign conflicts supported by 67.4%.
Open-ended responses echoed these priorities, with members urging unions to refocus on their core mission of bargaining and workplace protections. One respondent stated in the report that “my union needs to focus on what it was created for, bargaining,” arguing that “our workplace protections have decreased as a result of the union’s mission creep into national and international affairs.”
Concluding the report, the ADL called on teachers’ union leaders at all levels to take immediate action to unequivocally condemn antisemitism, implement and fairly enforce protections for Jewish members, vet union programming for balance, and refocus union activity on core labor issues.