Jewish educators in NYC say they’re leaving teacher union due to antisemitism

Several dozen Jewish activists gather outside the office of a leading teachers union in New York City to protest against alleged antisemitism by the union. The protest takes place outside the office of the United Federation of Teachers in lower Manhattan.

Jewish teachers hold signs that say, “UFT leadership: Failing Jewish students. Failing New York,” and, “Educate against hate.” The protesters chant “Enough is enough.”

Some of the protesters are UFT members who wear the union’s shirts, but write, “UFT doesn’t represent me” on the back of the shirts.

The activists accuse the UFT of a “pattern of silence and inaction that has eroded trust with Jewish teachers, students, and parents,” such as endorsing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a harsh critic of Israel.

Karen Feldman, co-founder of the New York City Public School Alliance, an advocacy group established after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, says she was a union member for 26 years before leaving due to antisemitism.

“We are gathered here today because students and educators in New York City public schools no longer feel safe,” she says, citing incidents in which a Jewish teacher was surrounded in a cafeteria and derided as a “Zionist,” the slogan “From the river to the sea” posted in a hallway, and a Jewish student group that was excluded from student equity meetings.

Moshe Spern, a history teacher with the United Jewish Teachers group, shows the crowd a stack of about 50 opt-out letters from Jewish union members who are leaving the union in protest. He says another 100 educators have reached out to him about leaving.

“Why is the Jewish community always ignored? Just talk to us, stand up for us,” he says. “We’ll come back to this union, we’re not done, we believe in the union, but only when the union wants to make a difference for Jewish educators, all educators and our students.”

The protesters demand the UFT adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism; ban classroom content that demonizes Jews, Zionism or Israel; provide antisemitism training to UFT members; retract endorsements of politicians who “normalize antisemitic slogans,” such as “Globalize the intifada” — a reference to Mamdani; and audit UFT materials for antisemitism.

The protest is organized by an array of groups opposing antisemitism and bias in schools, including the New York City Public School Alliance, the Lawfare Project, EndJewHatred, Parents Against Antisemitism and SAFE Campus for Equality.