New York City Jewish educators say they’re leaving teacher union due to antisemitism

NEW YORK — Several dozen Jewish activists on Thursday gathered outside the office of a leading teachers union in New York City to protest against alleged antisemitism and inaction by the United Federation of Teachers.

Jewish teachers at the rally, held outside the UFT’s office in downtown Manhattan, chanted, “Enough is enough,” and held signs that said, “UFT leadership: Failing Jewish students. Failing New York,” and, “Educate against hate.”

Some of the protesters were UFT members who wore the union’s shirts to the rally, but wrote, “UFT doesn’t represent me” on the back of the shirts.

The activists accused 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, despite opposition to the move by Zionist Jews.

The UFT pushed back against the accusations.

“The UFT has a long history of working with, listening to, and protecting the diverse Jewish community in our schools and our city, and we will continue to do so,” a spokesperson told The Times 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, said 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, and the United Federation of Teachers, the union meant to protect us, is failing in that responsibility,” she told the crowd, citing incidents in which she said a Jewish teacher was surrounded in a cafeteria and derided as a “Zionist,” the slogan “From the river to the sea” was posted in a hallway, and a Jewish student group was excluded from student equity meetings.

“A culture of antisemitism has taken root, spread, and become normalized in our schools, and within our union, Jewish teachers and students are being harassed, silenced, targeted,” she said.

Moshe Spern, a history teacher with the United Jewish Teachers advocacy group, showed the crowd a stack of opt-out letters from Jewish union members who were leaving the union in protest, including himself. He said around 50 educators had signed opt-out letters and another 100 have reached out to him about leaving.

“Why is the Jewish community always ignored? Just talk to us, stand up for us,” he said. “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 demanded 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 was 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, the Gevura Fund and SAFE Campus for Equality.

Concerns about antisemitism in New York City schools became a major issue shortly after the outbreak of the Gaza war, when a Jewish teacher at a high school in Queens was targeted in a raucous protest, and a pro-Palestinian student walkout saw young people shouting epithets against Jews and Israel and chanting in support of an intifada.

Last year, New York City’s public school system unveiled a plan to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia, after coming under pressure from Jewish advocates, faculty and students to make reforms.

The UFT, with 200,000 members, was once dominated by Jewish teachers and had Jewish presidents from its founding in 1960 until current president Michael Mulgrew was elected in 2009.

JTA contributed to this report.