Antisemitism at the National Education Association (NEA) Conference

This disturbing post is from an educator who attended the National Education Association (NEA) annual conference, the Representative Assembly (RA), held this year in Portland, Oregon, July 3rd - July 6th. Our Montgomery County MCEA union belongs to the NEA. Jewish educators are grappling with this new reality as they begin to confront the antisemitism in the NEA.

🚨What I Witnessed at the NEA RA in Portland Shook Me to My Core🚨

Just returned from the NEA Representative Assembly. While our Long Beach delegation (with one glaring exception) was full of passionate, dedicated educators 💪🍎—what I saw from the broader body was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever experienced.

Let me be clear:

➡️ 7,000+ educators unanimously voted to honor AAPI Month and National Day of the Black Educator (as they should).

➡️ Then immediately debated—yes, debated—whether Jewish American Heritage Month was even worth recognizing.

Nearly HALF the room gleefully and loudly voted against it. Against including Jews in their “inclusive” vision. Against recognizing a community that’s faced thousands of years of persecution and is currently under attack globally.

😔 I saw people line up, prepared, wearing keffiyehs, clad in Palestine flags, wearing shirts accusing Jews of genocide—eager to speak against anything Jewish. They weren’t improvising. These were coordinated, rehearsed lies. Hardly an Amerian flag to be seen. A sea of Palestine.

🙏 While I felt safe in my small corner of the convention—surrounded by respectful and inclusive delegates from Long Beach and suburban L.A. County—many of my Jewish friends did not.

Educators from Oregon, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Maryland, New Jersey, and Illinois did not feel safe in their assigned sections and had to find other places to sit—near friends and allies. 🤝

There were tears. Panic attacks. Silent breakdowns.

But also hugs. Strength. Unshakable solidarity. 💔❤️

Thank God for the NEA Jewish Affairs Caucus and our allies who worked relentlessly behind the scenes—using convention rules—to keep them from getting microphones. But on Day 3… we couldn’t stop them.

They were READY. And the room voted to:

❌ Ban the ADL

📉 Discredit antisemitism statistics in schools

🚫 Silence Jewish voices under the false label of “racism”

Delegates CHEERED. They CLAPPED. They DANCED.

Some even CELEBRATED the murder of a Jewish American in Colorado.

I was stunned. Heartbroken. Horrified.

This is what too many educators—those we trust to teach our children—are modeling. Hatred dressed as activism. Exclusion masquerading as justice. 👎

I now understand what Jews in Berlin, Munich, or Düsseldorf must have felt in 1936. You think, “It can’t happen here.” But it is happening here. 🇺🇸

If America falls, there’s nowhere left. Much of the Western world is already unsafe for Jews.

We must speak out. We must fight back against this normalized hate. We must demand better from our institutions—especially those shaping the next generation.

Silence is complicity.

#StopAntisemitism #NEA #CTA #JewishVoicesMatter #EducationNotHate #NeverAgain ✡️ #Neajac  #ctajac