Educators sound alarm over ADL presence in schools

Protests over Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza have been occurring across college campuses for over a year, with students facing crackdowns and suppression.

These battles have been well-documented, but fights over the issue haven’t been limited to just universities. Although not covered as much, similar struggles are occurring at the K-12 level.

One such effort is the Drop the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) from Schools campaign, which is an offshoot of the Drop the ADL movement.

In 2020 the group published a primer detailing the ADL’s history of repressing Palestinian rights, aligning itself with the police, and backing surveillance efforts against activist groups. A coalition of organizations (including Palestinian Youth Movement and the Adalah Justice Project) also published an open-letter calling for action.

“Even though the ADL is integrated into community work on a range of issues, it has a history and ongoing pattern of attacking social justice movements led by communities of color, queer people, immigrants, Muslims, Arabs, and other marginalized groups, while aligning itself with police, right-wing leaders, and perpetrators of state violence,” it read. “More disturbing, it has often conducted those attacks under the banner of ‘civil rights’.”

The Drop the ADL from Schools campaign is a specific response to the ADL’s presence in U.S. schools, which is widespread. According to the ADL’s website, the group reached 7 million students in 2023 alone.

The ADL presents itself as a resource for schools that are trying to teach students about antisemitism with programs like “No Place for Hate,” an effort made possible through the sponsorship of corporations like Bank of America and Northrop Grumman.

Critics point out that the ADL openly equates criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism with antisemitism through its embrace of criteria like the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

An April 2023 analysis at Jewish Currents found that the ADL’s annual antisemitism audit contains multiple examples of anti-Zionist action and protest.

“‘No Place for Hate’ is a K-12 curriculum, largely centered at the middle school in the and high school level,” Larry Miller, a Rethinking Schools editorial board member who spent 17 years teaching in Milwaukee Public Schools told Mondoweiss. “Every time you visit their website they put something new up. They’re constantly expanding it and offer a list of bullying areas, LGBTQ, racism. They really do try to give the impression that this program can address all of this.”

“However, the program starts with antisemitism,” Miller continues. ” The ADL propagates hate, distorts the definition of antisemitism, and restrict genuine inquiry in classrooms. It has to be exposed.”

Farida Mallah, who works with the group Teaching While Muslim, says educators who oppose such programs, or attempt to teach about Palestine, are often targeted by pro-Israel groups.

“Teachers can just be talking about human rights abuses, but if there’s a parent who happens to be Zionist is in that classroom or if anybody in the building gets wind of it, they are blasted on social media platforms such as Canary Mission,” Mallah told Mondoweiss. “Schools are being bombarded by phone calls. Anybody who’s pushed back on the ADL gets the ADL coming into the schools, sending letters about them, calling them antisemitic.”

The ADL’s work at K-12 institutions isn’t limited to educational programs. ADL officials recently announced that they would increase its legal pressure on schools over allegations of antisemitism and criticism of Israel.

“A lot of promises have been made that things will be better, things will be different, and we want to hold those institutions accountable,” ADL’s vice president of advocacy Shira Goodman told parents on a recent webinar.

Educator and activist Nora Lester Murad told Mondoweiss that resistance to the ADL is especially crucial during the current Gaza genocide.

“The ADL always knew that education was the front line of the narrative war,” said Murad. “I think it’s very clear that if we don’t fight for the inclusion of Palestinian humanity in schools, it will end up in a through line to a society that can support a genocide.”

“When you deem the word ‘genocide’ or the phrase ‘From the river to the sea’ antisemitic and that is incorporated into culture of schools, teachers can’t teach,” she continued. “Good teaching requires ideas to be engaged with and explored. This kind of censorship prevents teachers from teaching and, if they do teach, they can be disciplined. It creates a chilled environment in the school where principals are literally telling teachers, don’t touch it with a 10-foot pole.”