The National Education Association’s decision to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League is a seismic moment in the American Jewish story. This is not just another news cycle. It is a moment of reckoning. One that should force every Jewish leader, every parent and every serious communal institution to ask a sobering question:
How did we get here?
For four decades, the NEA—the largest teachers’ union in America, representing more than 3 million educators—partnered with the ADL
to bring Holocaust education, anti-hate resources and diversity programming into classrooms across the country. That relationship is now over. At its July national assembly, the NEA’s 7,000 delegates voted to sever ties with the ADL. The union will no longer cite the ADL’s data, promote its educational tools or partner on anti-bias training.
The reason? According to activists inside the union, the ADL is too “anti-Palestinian.” CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, praised the move. They cheered the ADL’s removal as a victory for “equity.” In other words, a Jewish organization that defends Israel, and by extension the Jewish people, is now considered too controversial to remain in America’s classrooms.
This is not a bureaucratic shuffle. It is a political purge. And it happened at a time when antisemitism in American schools is at an all-time high. Jewish students are being harassed, threatened and silenced. Holocaust education is being gutted. And instead of protecting Jewish voices, the NEA chose to side with those who want them erased.
How did the ADL respond? With a polite press statement. No press conference. No call to action. No outrage. No fire.
Some inside the ADL and its orbit have tried to spin this as a badge of honor, as proof that they’re still standing up to extremists. That is wishful thinking. The truth is harder to swallow.
This was not persecution. It was a rejection. And it wasn’t because the ADL was too bold. It was because it had become too weak.
The NEA would never cut ties with an organization it feared or respected. The ADL no longer inspires either.
This is what happens when an institution loses its moral compass. During the past decade, the ADL has drifted from its core mission of fighting antisemitism and defending Jewish life. Under the leadership of CEO and national director Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL has tried to be everything to everyone. It has issued statements on voting rights, climate change and gun control while soft-pedaling its Jewish advocacy in the hopes of staying in the good graces of the political left.
It didn’t work.
The activists who pushed the NEA to cut ties with the ADL were never going to be satisfied. No amount of progressive posturing was going to save the ADL from their wrath. Because to them, defending Israel is unforgivable. And being Jewish in public, proudly and unapologetically, is the ultimate offense.
The ADL tried to play both sides. It wanted the applause of the activist class and the trust of the Jewish community. In the end, it lost both.
This isn’t just about one Jewish communal organization. It is about a much larger failure of leadership in the American Jewish community. For too long, our institutions have chosen comfort over courage. They have chased influence instead of wielding it. They have mistaken press releases for power.
But our children are watching. They see the silence. They feel the fear. They know who is standing up and who is backing down.
What we need now is not more nuance. We need clarity. We need leaders in the Jewish community who are willing to say that being proudly Jewish includes defending Israel. That fighting antisemitism requires confronting it on the left, not just the right. That we will not outsource our security to institutions that treat us like a political liability.
The ADL’s collapse is not the end of the story. It is the start of a new chapter.
This is the time for a reset, for bold, unapologetic Jewish leadership. For organizations that do not beg to be included but demand to be heard. For a Jewish future built on strength, not survivalism.
The ADL failed its test. That is not something to be proud of. That is a wake-up call. And if this moment does not shake us out of our complacency, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.
The ADL’s finest days are behind them. Let it be replaced by something better. The Jewish future demands it.
