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Dive Brief:
The National Education Association is being accused of antisemitism by the Louis D. Brandeis Center Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on April 29.
The Brandeis Center Coalition filed the charge on behalf of current and former members of the nation’s largest educator union, saying they “have been harmed by the NEA’s discrimination against Jewish members and its toleration and promotion of a hostile environment.”
The allegations, which were not filed as part of a lawsuit, were brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from discrimination based on race, national origin, religion and shared ancestry, among other things, in the workplace. The coalition also claims actions by the NEA, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., violated the D.C. Human Rights Act of 1977, a local law preventing employment discrimination.
Dive Insight:
The Brandeis Center’s complaint against the NEA was filed partly due to “the hostility Jewish members faced” at a 2025 Representative Assembly, convened during an annual conference in Portland, Oregon. The assembly is the union’s principal governing body, and members meet once a year in the first few days of the conference to discuss issues of national importance and vote on policy and governance initiatives.
Prior to the conference, the complaint says, Jewish members had “a reasonable and objectively grounded concern for their physical safety” due to the political climate at the time.
The complaint alleges that “NEA leadership announced that abusive behavior would not be tolerated during the RA, but that prohibition was not enforced with respect to conduct directed at Jewish member-delegates.”
One incident cited in the complaint was documented in a July 12, 2025, email to NEA leadership from a Jewish NEA member, who is a complainant in the EEOC charge. The email’s subject line was titled, “What I Witnessed at the NEA Representative Assembly Shook Me to My Core.”
“I watched as delegates lined up wearing keffiyehs, donned in Palestinian flags, and sporting shirts accusing Jews of genocide — ready, coordinated, and rehearsed to speak against anything remotely Jewish,” said the complainant’s email. “These were not spontaneous remarks. They were strategic efforts to erase and vilify. It was a preplanned coordinated attack to demonize, vilify and make Jews feel unsafe.”
In a statement to K-12 Dive, a NEA spokesperson said the organization “does not tolerate antisemitism in any form and remains committed to ensuring that all members and students, including Jewish members and students, can work and learn in a safe and welcoming environment.”
“We always ensure our meeting rules and programs serve and support all members, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, background, sexual orientation, or gender identity,” said the spokesperson in a May 5 email.
The allegations in the nearly 300-page complaint reflect a fracture within the education community that surfaced following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023. The sentiment fracturing NEA’s membership is similar to concerns raised by other educators and students around or after 2023.
In October 2023, K-12 students in San Francisco Bay Area participated in a “Walk Out for Gaza,” worrying some members of the local Jewish community at the time.
“We are extremely concerned by this action, the messaging, and its impact on Jewish students’ safety and sense of belonging,” said a letter addressed to former San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Matt Wayne and the school board. “Our Jewish students and families are vulnerable, and need to know that we belong here.”
The letter, which came from the Russian-speaking Jewish Community of SF Bay Area, asked Wayne to prevent staff and teachers from “from participating in or promoting” the protest.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the New York City Department of Education over allegations that Jewish K-12 students faced discrimination because of actions by a group of pro-Palestinian teachers.
The federal agency’s Office for Civil Rights said it has received multiple reports that a group of district employees called NYC Educators for Palestine held a “teaching seminar” series on “Palestine, Zionism, and Resistance.”
