Support for the National Education Association’s (NEA) vote to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) poured in from Jewish activists, longtime educators and advocates as an executive committee weighed the recommendation.
“Among many items debated at NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly, delegates voted to forward a recommendation to the NEA Executive Committee that the National Education Association (NEA) not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) or participate in ADL programs,” said a July 10 news release from the organization.
The NEA is the nation’s largest labor union, representing more than 3 million members, including educators, students, and activists, according to the group’s website.
Its 7,000-member Representative Assembly voted on July 6 on the measure. The rationale for cutting ties, according to the group’s “NEW BUSINESS ITEM 39,” submitted by 50 delegates?
“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,” stated an image of the resolution, posted online.
“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.
We will not shy away from difficult or complex issues that affect our members, our students, or our schools, nor will we ever tolerate antisemitism, anti-Palestinian bigotry, or hateful rhetoric or behavior,” stated NEA President Becky Pringle in the July 10 news release.
According to the NEA, it does not have a partnership with the ADL but will consider recommendations from delegates in accordance with its governing rules.
Supporters of the NEA’s effort include Jewish Voice for Peace, which is critical of many of Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians, #DropTheADLFromSchools (a campaign by longtime educators and advocates), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the anti-war group, CODEPINK.
“CODEPINK applauds the NEA’s rejection of the ADL, a lobby organization that has lost credibility with teachers,” said Marcy Winograd, a retired public high school teacher and member of the California Teachers Association and United Teachers Los Angeles, to The Final Call.
“The vote symbolizes a shift in attitudes to recognize the dignity and humanity of Palestinians and to reject ADL propaganda that has no place in our schools,” stated Ms. Winograd, who also coordinates CODEPINK’s Drop the ADL campaign.
“The ADL only pretends to be a civil rights organization. In reality, it operates as a pro-Israel lobbying group, focused on co-opting and abusing accusations of antisemitism to smear criticism of the Israeli government as bigotry,” Jewish Voice For Peace, said on its website.
Over the years, ADL has attacked groups and activists who support Palestinian rights, oppose Israel’s actions and genocide against the Palestinian people, the movement for Black Lives, and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.
For decades, the ADL has also slandered and attacked the Nation of Islam and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan with the false charges of anti-Semitism.
NEA’s decision was commended by those who see through the ADL’s history of duplicity and false allegations.
Dr. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and Black Lives Matter Grassroots, told The Final Call, “The National Education Association should be applauded for coming into line with what most every other organization of conscience understands.”
“The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a Zionist propagandist body that seeds untruths and stokes racism and xenophobia. The ADL should be declared persona non grata by every self-respecting organization, educator, and human being,” she added.
Student Minister Demetric Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group (NOIRG), feels the NEA’s vote represents an awakening.
“I believe it could represent the fact that, as the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan have said, that there would be, as the scriptures foretell, a falling away … of people who fall under the influence of propaganda that’s negative to the Servant of God and then they’ll fall away from the Servant of God,” he said.
According to Student Min. Demetric Muhammad, the NEA delegates’ vote is a step in the right direction and in harmony with his observations in various areas.
There are fractures in the once-upon-a-time, seemingly unshakable commitment and support for Israel, from the American people, due to the recent conflict between Israel and Palestine in Gaza, and how the ADL has functioned within America, he observed.
The ADL has used its influence and leveraged relationships with many different organizations and people, including members of U.S. Congress and American politicians by using media and social media to silence and censor any voices and information that is critical of the Israeli government and Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank. But, people, from different public personalities and figures, are beginning to fall away from this once-upon-a-time unquestionable loyalty to Israel, Student Min. Demetric Muhammad observed.
In a recent poll by CNN conducted by marketing research firm SSRS, “Americans are increasingly skeptical of Israeli actions in Gaza,” and also “finds rising sentiment that the U.S. should pull back on military aid to Israel.”
Younger adults across parties express the most skepticism towards Israel. Just 1 in 10 adults under 35 say that Israel’s military actions in Gaza have been fully justified while a third say that Israel’s actions have not been justified at all.
Younger adults are also most likely to say that Israel has used too much military force (61%) and that the U.S. is doing too much to help Israel in its war with Hamas (56%),” CNN reported. The data was collected between July 13-16 from over 1,000 respondents.
In the same survey, it noted that “people of color are similarly skeptical,” and that nearly 6 in 10 people of color or 57% who responded stated that “Israel has used too much military force.”
According to a Newsweek article published in June titled “American Sympathy for Israel Reaches ‘All-Time Low’ in New Poll”:
“The U.S. has been a key ally to Israel for decades, but polls suggest an increasing number of Americans are questioning that relationship amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.”
Meanwhile, a diverse group of more than 300 organizations—from the Movement for Black Lives to the National Lawyers Guild to the Red Nation—have signed on to the #DropTheADL campaign.
Which states the ADL works with partners to bully educators and students directly by disparaging their reputations, calling for disciplinary action against them, and submitting formal complaints that subject schools, educators, and students to invasive and exhausting investigations.