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A Jewish journalist takes sides in America’s ‘slow civil war’
(JTA) — Jeff Sharlet admits up front that his book about what he and others call the “Trumpocene” epoch is not objective.
“Transparent subjectivity is a virtue for this kind of reporting,” he said. “I am trying to understand the proliferation, which is very real, of fascist flags [across America]. I don’t like it when I see a movement [creating] fascist folk art.”
In “The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War,” the religion reporter and writing professor chronicles his recent journeys across America interviewing QAnon acolytes, Christian nationalists, proud misogynists, unrepentant January 6ers, armed militia men and strict anti-abortion activists — all still in thrall to Donald Trump.
It’s a familiar story of an America on the edge, but Sharlet adds the perspective of a journalist who has long covered religion. He was among the first to note that Trump rallies were less political events than religious revivals. And like many religions, he says, Trumpism is resistant to the kinds of “civil discourse” that many people propose as an antidote to polarization.
“We cannot fact check a myth, right?” Sharlet told me in a video interview from his home in Vermont. “It’s not going to work to say, ‘That’s not true.’”
I wanted to speak to Sharlet to discuss what he calls the “gospel of Trump” and how it differs from partisan politics as usual. And I wanted to know more about his own Jewish background and how that has informed his project.
Sharlet, a professor of writing at Dartmouth College, shapes his narrative largely around the story of Ashli Babbitt, the 35-year-old woman who was killed by a Capitol police officer during the Jan. 6 riot. He talks to those who lionize Babbitt, standing on porches under flags reading “F— Biden” and “No Surrender.” He describes the ways she has become a martyr on the far-right, part of a mythology that inverts what happened on that day.
Babbitt, he suggests, was a victim of the “undertow” of the book’s title: a sense of “grief and loss and mourning” that animated protesters like her. Trump spoke directly to this “erosion of white power, which was felt more severely down the socio-economic ladder,” Sharlet said. “Ashli Babbitt experiences it as a loss, but she can’t name the structural details – like the fact that there’s such a lack of banking regulation that she ends up with a loan that literally nobody can pay back.”
So she joined the mob charging the Capitol. “Unprocessed grief curdles into rage, rage that just sits there until along comes Trump,” said Sharlet. The result is a stew that he unhesitantly calls fascism, which he has defined as a right-wing cult of personality that takes pleasure in violence, disdains democracy and considers its opponents decadent.
Sharlet visits churches where the same rage is heard in the pulpit and where Trump is regarded as a prophet, leading outsiders to wonder how faithful Christians could embrace Trump despite his own lack of Christian values.
On the latter assertion, Sharlet notes that Trump does have Christian values, rooted in the teachings of his childhood pastor, Norman Vincent Peale. The author of “The Power of Positive Thinking” and a proponent of the “prosperity gospel,” Peale saw material wealth as a sign of divine providence, and “applied Christianity” as a way to achieve it.
“Politicians have long borrowed from religion the passion and the righteousness, but no other major modern figure [before Trump] had channeled the tension that makes Scripture endure, the desire, the wanting that gives rise to the closest analogue to Trumpism: the prosperity gospel, the American religion of winning,” he writes.
He also speaks to pastors and followers who would read Trump’s words “like Scripture”: “Every tweet, every misspelling, every typo, every strange capitalization — especially the capitalizations, said [one pastor] — had meaning.” Sharlet compares this to Gnosticism, the heretical Christian movement that believed in “a form of exclusive knowledge reserved for the faithful, a ‘truth’ you must have the eyes to see.”
Sharlet, whose earlier book “The Family” was about a fundamentalist ministry influential among the Washington political elite, said Christian nationalists who are drawn to dictators and flawed strongmen often cite the story of King David. The Old Testament king gains God’s favor despite killing his rival Uriah and, depending how you look at it, seducing or raping Uriah’s wife Bathsheba. “They’re very invested in this idea of chosenness, and King David is chosen,” said Sharlet.
All this mixing of religion, power and grievance made me wonder if liberal denominations have an adequate response to the stirrings on the far right.
“In the book I go to Glad Tidings, a church in Yuba City, California. And you walk in and there’s no crosses, because the pastor thinks the cross is a weak symbol of sacrifice. Instead the pulpit is made of swords,” said Sharlet. “That’s not to say that liberal religion is always weak — I mean, you have Reverend William Barber of the Forward Together Moral Movement in North Carolina, and liberal, religiously motivated activists who put themselves in the position of abortion clinic defenders.”
Rage also curdles into conspiracy theories. Many of his interviewees share the dark fantasies of QAnon, which imagines that the U.S. government is secretly controlled by Satan-worshiping pedophiles. As outlandish as these ideas sound, he said, “It’s hard to find Republicans now who have not absorbed some element of QAnon. People have never even heard of QAnon, but are worried about pedophiles in the schools, ‘grooming’ their children, apocalyptic visions of cities as battlegrounds of crime. This is straight out of QAnon.”
An audience member holds up a large “Q” sign, representing QAnon, a conspiracy theory group, while waiting in line to see President Donald J. Trump at his rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, August 2, 2018. (Rick Loomis/Getty Images)
I ask Sharlet if his sample is selective, and if he only looked for and included people on the fringe to prove a point.
He countered by recalling his conversation with a woman who believed that the deadly Las Vegas shooting, by a high-stakes gambler who left 58 dead in 2017, was actually an attempt by ISIS on the life of Trump (who wasn’t in Vegas at the time). Sharlet was convinced the idea was hers alone. But a Google search told him that the theory was gaining traction on the far right, and that Tucker Carlson had invited a former congressman and retired brigadier general to talk about the “Vegas mystery” on his Fox News show.
Before his abrupt ouster last week, “Tucker Carlson had an audience of 4 million and a reach they say of more around 70 million – which is immeasurably greater than mine,” noted Sharlet. “So who is fringe? Me or Carlson?”
QAnon, he said, agrees with those who say QAnon draws on classic antisemitism. “It infuses QAnon,” he said. “You know, the blood of children being used to keep a secret elite, a secret cabal, directed by [Jewish financier and philanthropist George] Soros, and all the ‘globalist’ language. I was asked on a podcast what they mean by globalists and my answer was simple: the Jews. That’s what they mean, even when they don’t know that they mean it.”
Sharlet, the son of a Jewish dad and a Christian mom, describes himself as “a weird Jew, a secular Jew.”
“I was maybe more forcibly aware of this Jewishness when I grew up in a small town called Scotia, New York, and I got beat up for being a Jew,” he said.
After getting a degree in American history at Hampshire College, he went to work at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he edited Pakn Treger, its literary magazine.
“I don’t like to say that my Jewishness is formed by antisemitism,” he said. “My Jewish education is working for the Yiddish Book Center and all the complications of Yiddish.”
He says the anger he encountered on the road has come to his small town in “a very blue area.” “The folks opposed to fascism still outnumber those who are coming to praise it,” he said. “But my kid goes to a school district that is facing legal threat from far-right people, including Jews, who think that it is too supportive of kids like my queer kid and they want the school to be reporting any instances of kids showing up not wearing the right gender clothes and so on.”
That experience has also shaped his response to those who ask if he is elevating a fringe through his writing.
“I have a queer nonbinary child who is being criminalized in about 20 states now. This is where I keep coming back to,” said Sharlet. “To the folks who say, ‘It’s just terrible what they’re doing to the trans kids,’ I want to say that they really haven’t learned from history. They think that fascism is like, ‘Well, we got our victim. We’re all done here now.’ No. It comes for everybody.”
If there is a solution to this unraveling, Sharlet says it will come from liberals who learn from their right-wing counterparts and create institutions that fight for their values.
“The prime example is higher education,” he said. “For a long time liberals want to insist that higher education is neutral.” And while the left is insisting on neutrality, the right is creating colleges — Regent University in Virginia Beach, the evangelical Liberty University, Oral Roberts University, Hillsdale College in southern Michigan — dedicated to its ideas. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is diverting state funding to transform a small liberal arts college, New College of Florida, into a conservative-leaning school.
“We have to build out cultural institutions and we have to recognize and own up to the fact that colleges are places of values,” he said. “They do not sit with fascism. So own that space, defend that space, be proud of that space. I think every synagogue in America whether it wants to accept this or not and even some of the politically conservative ones have to ask, which side are you on? Neutrality isn’t an option. As Jews especially, we don’t have a choice.”
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The post A Jewish journalist takes sides in America’s ‘slow civil war’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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A new collection of Yiddish rhymes and games for children (and Yiddish students!)
עס קומט באַלד צו גיין דער יום־טובֿ פּורים, האָב איך פֿאַר אײַך לייענער צוגעגרײט שלח־מנות: אַ גוגל־דאָקומענט מיט מאַטעריאַלן פֿאַר קינדער און תּלמידים, געשעפּטע סײַ פֿון עלטערע פֿאָלקלאָר־זאַמלונגען, סײַ פֿון שאַפֿונגען פֿון דער נײַערער צײַט. ער געפֿינט זיך דאָ. װײַטער קענט איר לײענען פֿאַר װאָס איך האָב זיך אונטערגענומען אַזאַ פּראָיעקט, און זיך דערװיסן נאָך פּרטים װעגן די מאַטעריאַלן װאָס געפֿינען זיך דערין.
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אינעם הײַפֿעלע ייִדישיסטישע משפּחות צעשאָטענע איבערן ערדקײַלעך קומט נישט זעלטן אױס צו פֿילן, אַז עפּעס פֿעלט אונדז מאַטעריאַל װאָס זענען אי אױף ייִדיש אי זײ נעמען אױס בײַ די קינדער.
אָט דער כּלומרשטער דוחק שפּירט זיך אין פֿאַרשידענע תּחומען: אין גראַמען, געזאַנג, שפּילן, מעשׂהלעך — קורץ, אַלצדינג װאָס טראָגט אַרײַן פֿרײד און כּישוף אין לעבן פֿון אַ קינד. נישט אײן מאָל בין איך געזעסן און געהאָצקעט אַ קינד אױפֿן שױס און געװאָלט פֿרײלעך מאַכן, צוזינגען עפּעס אַ לידעלע אָדער אַ גראַם, נאָר פּונקט איז מיר נישט געקומען אױפֿן געדאַנק מער װי „פּאַטשע פּאַטשע קיכעלעך“, אָדער פּשוט שמײכלען און מאַכן גרימאַסן.
איז אַװדאי גוט, אַן עופֿעלע װעט נישט זײַן קײן גרױסער איבערקלײַבער, אָבער װיפֿל איז דער שיעור איבערצוקײַען די זעלבע צװײ־דרײַ גראַמען, אַז מיר פֿאַרמאָגן אַזאַ רײַכן קינדער־פֿאָלקלאָר מיט שפּילן און גראַמען? און פֿאַר װאָס זאָלן מיר כּסדר טאַנצן אױף פֿרעמדע חתונות, אָנקומענדיק צו איבערזעצונגען פֿון ענגלישע לידעלעך, אַז ס׳איז פֿאַראַן הונדערטער קינדערלידער אױף ייִדיש, אָדער סתּם ייִדישע לידער, סײַ לעבעדיקע סײַ רויִקע, צוגעפּאַסטע צו פֿאַרשידענע טעמעס און סיטואַציעס?
איך זאָג אַ „כּלומרשטער דוחק“ װײַל אין דער אמתן איז עס אַ נעכטיקער טאָג. אָט האָט ש. לעהמאַן צונױפֿגעזאַמלט און אָפּגעדרוקט אַ שלל מיט קינדער־פֿאָלקלאָר אינעם פֿאָלקלאָריסטישן־פֿילאָלאָגישן באַנד בײַ אונז יודען אין 1923. אָפּטײלן מיט קינדערלידער און קינדער־פֿאָלקלאָר קען מען אױך טרעפֿן אין די זאַמלונגען פֿון י. ל. כּהן, באַסטאָמסקי, בערעגאָװסקי און פֿעפֿער, און נאָך אַזעלכע. הײַנט, װוּ איז רוט (רבֿקה) רובינס קלאַנגאַרכיװ בײַם ייִװאָ, װאָס האַלט אין זיך גאַנצע פֿינעף טאַשמעס מיט קינדערלידעלעך? און, און, און… איר זעט שױן מסתּמא אַלײן די צרה.
מיר זענען נישט חלילה אָרעם, נאָר פֿאַרקערט: ס׳איז פֿאַראַן צו פֿיל, און װער האָט דאָס די צײַט צו צעקײַען, דורכזיפּן, און אָפּקלײַבן פֿון די אַלע מאַטעריאַלן? בפֿרט אַז אַ סך פֿון די זאַמלונגען זענען גאַנץ שלעכט געדרוקט אָדער דער טינט איז שױן אָפּגעשפּרונגען. אַראָפּצולײענען װאָס דאָרט שטײט איז נישט קײן קלײנער קונץ. און עלטערן פֿון קלײנע קינדער, אַזױ אױך פֿאַרהאַװעטע און פֿאַרהאָרעװעטע מיט די טאָג־טעגלעכע אַחריותן, זאָלן גײן גריבלען אין װיסנשאַפֿטלעכע שריפֿטן?
דערצו נאָך, אַז מע האָט זיך שױן יאָ אַ ביסל אָריענטירט אין די זאַמלונגען, דאַרף מען ערשט דערטאַפּן די, װאָס קענען שטימען מיט אונדזערע הײַנטצײַטישע השׂגות. װי למשל בײַם באַװוּסטן קינדערגראַם: „ציגעלע מיגעלע קאָטינקע / רױטע פּאָמעראַנצן / אַז דער טאַטע שלאָגט די מאַמע / גײען קינדערלעך טאַנצן“. נו, איך װײס נישט װי בײַ אַנדערע, אָבער איך קען באַשטײן, אַז דאָס זאָל בלײַבן אַ קוריאָז פֿונעם אַמאָליקן לעבן אין דער אַלטער הײם. נישט יעדע סחורה איז פּאַסיק פֿאַר הײַנטיקע קינדער.
װען סע קומט, װידער, צו ייִדישע לידער איז דער מצבֿ שױן אַ סך פֿױגלדיקער, אָבער די מענטשלעכע טבֿע איז פֿאָרט אַזאַ, אַז מע גײט זעלטן אַרױס פֿון די אײגענע דלתּ אַמות. „די גרינע קאַטשקע“ און „פֿלי, מײַן פֿלישלאַנג“ קענען דאָך אַלע, אָבער פֿאַראַן אַ סך פֿײַנע אַלבומען, נײַערע און עלטערע, פֿון דער סעקולערער װעלט און פֿון דער פֿרומער װעלט, צעשאָטן איבער דער אינטערנעץ, נאָר גײן זוכן אױף דער הײסער מינוט װען די קינדער פֿאַרלאַנגען „מוזי־י־י־י־ק!“?
כאַפּט מען זיך צו די אײן־צװײ באַליבטע און באַקאַנטע און שױן. װאָס שײך געזאַנג, זענען די מלאָטעק־ביכער אַװדאי אַ געװאַלדיקער אוצר, אָבער יעדעס מאָל גײן אױפֿמישן אַ באַנד און האָפֿן, אַז מע װעט אָנטרעפֿן אױף עפּעס גוטס, איז אױך נישט קײן פּלאַן. אַז מאַכט זיך יאָ אַ פּאָר פֿרײַע מינוט און מע װיל זיך אױסלערנען אַ נײַ ליד, דאַרף מען ערשט װיסן װוּ צו געפֿינען די גוטע סחורה.
צום גליק האָב איך אין די לעצטע חדשים יאָ געהאַט צײַט זיך אַ טונק צו טאָן אין דעם ים פֿון קינדער־פֿאָלקלאָר און קינדער־מאַטעריאַלן, צעשאָטענע איבער זאַמלונגען און װעבזײַטלעך, אָפּקלײַבן פֿון זײ אַזוינע װאָס זאָלן זײַן צוטריטלעך פֿאַר עלטערן און צוציִיִק פֿאַר די קינדער, און מאַכן פֿון דעם אַ שטיקל װעגװײַזער. דאַכט זיך, אַז דאָס קען אױך נוציק זײַן פֿאַר לערערס און תּלמידים, װאָס זוכן פֿריש, אינטערעסאַנט לערנװאַרג. דער װעגװײַזער באַשטײט פֿון פֿינעף אָפּטײלן:
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- גראַמען און לידעלעך. אין דער קאַטעגאָריע גײען אַרײַן קינדערגראַמען, סײַ צו יעדער געלעגנהײט, סײַ פֿאַר ספּעציפֿישע פֿאַלן אָדער קאָנטעקסטן, למשל: אַז דאָס קינד גיט אַ גרעפּס, אָדער אַז דאָס קינד טוט זיך אָן דאָס העמד, אָדער אַז מע דערזעט אַ שנעקל, צי אַ משה־רבינוס קיִעלע, אָדער אַז סע רעגנט… און נאָך אַ סך אַזעלכע.
- שפּילן. נישט נאָר האַנט־ און פֿינגער־שפּילן און גלאַט פֿאַרשפּילענישן, װי, צום בײַשפּיל, „באַראַן־באַראַן־בוץ“, „שׂרהניו װאָרעניע“, „אַ זעקעלע מעל“, „אין אַ שטעטעלע פּיטשעפּױ“, נאָר אױך שפּילן פֿאַר עלטערע קינדער, װאָס מע האָט אַ מאָל געשפּילן אין חדר און אין די הױפֿן — „בלינדע קו“, „פֿײגעלע פֿליט“, „רודענע ראַנע“, און פֿאַרשידענע שפּילן אין באַלעמס, מטבעות און ניסעלעך.
- רעקאָרדירטע מוזיק. נישט נאָר אַלבומען געמאַכט פֿאַר קינדער, נאָר אױך אַן אָפּקלײַב פֿון די שענסטע אַלבומען פֿאָלקסלידער װאָס קענען אױסנעמען אױך בײַ קינדער.
- געזאַנג. אין דעם אָפּטײל װערט געבראַכט אַ רשימה לידער װאָס מע קען זינגען מיט אָדער פֿאַר די קינדער, סײַ רויִקע סײַ לעבעדיקע, סײַ קינדערלידער סײַ גלאַט פֿאָלקסלידער, װי אױך לידער מיט באַװעגונגען — אַ שטײגער, „בלעטער“, „מיכלקו“, און „פֿון אַ קלײנעם גרינעם הױז“. בײַ יעדן ליד װערט געגעבן אַ לינק צום טעקסט און צו אַ רעקאָרדירונג.
- מעשׂהלעך. פֿון די פֿאָלקס־מעשׂיות און װוּנדער־מעשׂיות, פֿון בערן און לצים און כעלעמער חכמים און באַהאַלטענע אוצרות, װאָס מע פֿלעג דערצײלן די קינדער שבת אױף דער נאַכט, אָדער אין שול צווישן מינחה און מעריבֿ, אָדער װינטער הינטערן אױװן.
צום סוף געפֿינען זיך עטלעכע הוספֿות: װײַטערדיקע רעסורסן פֿאַר די װאָס װילן אַלײן אַרײַנקוקן אין די רױע מאַטעריאַלן, איבערזעצונגען פֿון פּאָפּולערע ענגלישע לידער (אַ מאָל מוז מען דאָך נאָכגעבן!), און אַ רשימה חיה־קלאַנגען אױף ייִדיש. האָט איר געװוּסט אַז אױף ייִדיש מאַכט דער בער „בו־בו“?
אַ לעצטע באַמערקונג: כאָטש דעם גרעסטן טײל מאַטעריאַל האָב איך געשעפּט טאַקע פֿון עלטערע מקורים, האָב איך אױך אַרײַנגענומען שאַפֿונגען פֿון דער מאָדערנער צײַט, צי פֿון דער פֿרומער־חסידישער װעלט, צי פֿון די ייִדישע שולן, צי פֿון אונדז ייִדישיסטן פֿון 21סטן יאָרהונדערט. איך האָף, אַז אינעם דאָזיקן װעגװײַזער װעט יעדער טרעפֿן עפּעס װאָס װעט געפֿינען חן בײַ די אײגענע קינדער, און באַװײַזן דערמיט אײַנצופֿירן אַ גרעסערע מאָס געװאָרצלטקײט און פֿאַרשידנקײט אין דער שפּראַכיקער סבֿיבה פֿון די קינדער (אָדער תּלמידים). טאָמער געפֿעלט עפּעס נישט, אָדער מע װיל עפּעס צוגעבן, מעג מען איבערלאָזן אַ קאָמענטאַר אינעם גוגל־דאָקומענט אַלײן, אָדער קען מען אַלײן אױפֿמישן די זאַמלונגען געבראַכטע אין די הוספֿות און דערבײַ אױפֿדעקן די אוצרות, װאָס װאַלגערן זיך נאָך הײַנט אין די פֿאַרגעלטע בלעטלעך און װאַרטן אױף זײער תּיקון אין די מײַלער פֿון ייִדישע קינדערלעך.
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Mass shooter at Canadian elementary school tweeted antisemitic content 2 days before attack, ADL finds
(JTA) — The shooter who killed eight people and wounded dozens more in one of Canada’s deadliest mass shootings Tuesday allegedly tweeted antisemitic content two days before the attack.
“I need to hate jews because the zionists want me to hate jews. This benefits them, somehow,” Jesse Van Rootselaar, the alleged Tumbler Ridge school shooter, tweeted on Sunday, according to research by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
Authorities in British Columbia have identified Van Rootselaar, 18, as the shooter who killed six people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School and two family members at home before also dying, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to the ADL, Van Rootselar had a “troubling pattern of online radicalization” that included using WatchPeopleDie, a platform that glorifies violence and has been linked to several mass violence events.
The ADL also found what it believes to be Van Rootselar’s X account, which it says “regularly shared antisemitic and racist content and material glorifying previous mass killers, including the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooter and the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter.”
Additionally, the ADL said, “The Tumbler Ridge shooter’s X profile photo also featured an image of the Christchurch shooter superimposed over a Sonnenrad, a neo-Nazi symbol, and a transgender pride flag.”
Other recent mass shooters have been WatchPeopleDie users. In August, alleged Minneapolis shooter Robin Westman entered a Catholic mass at an elementary school and allegedly used a gun featuring antisemitic and anti-Israel writing to kill two children and injure another 17 people before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The gun also included writing with the name of the man convicted of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, the 2018 mass shooting on a Pittsburgh synagogue.
The alleged shooter behind the January 2025 Antioch High School shooting, Solomon Henderson, was found to have extensive online documents that praised Adolf Hitler and included links to “groyper” content.
Authorities in British Columbia say they cannot speculate on the motive of Van Rootselaar, who they said dropped out of school in Tumbler Ridge, a town of about 2,500, about four years ago. The dead included a 39-year-old teacher; five students, ages 12 to 13; and Van Rootselar’s mother and 11-year-old stepbrother.
Tuesday’s attack was the deadliest mass shooting in Canada since a 2020 attack in Portapique, Nova Scotia, left 23 people dead, including the shooter. A gun buyback program was implemented days after that shooting, but has proven both logistically challenging and unpopular.
“To the students, the teachers, the parents, and every resident of Tumbler Ridge: all of Canada stands with you. May the memories of those lost be a blessing,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement Wednesday morning. “May this community, which has shown its resilience so many times before, once again find the strength to heal.”
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International social workers group set to vote on expelling Israeli union for ‘not acting to promote peace’
(JTA) — The Israeli Union of Social Workers could be booted from a global federation after at least three countries called for a vote on its expulsion on allegations of ethical breaches.
The countries — Ireland, Spain and Greece — charged that the Israeli union should have moved to seek exemptions from military service for its members or “issue a call for peace.” Their call for an expulsion vote escalated the International Federation of Social Workers’ January 2025 censure of the Israeli union over the alleged breaches, which the federation said violated ethics rules that say social workers “should not use weapons in their professional or personal capacities against people.”
The Israeli union has called for the vote to be abandoned while signaling that it remains committed to dialogue with Palestinian colleagues.
“Expelling or suspending a social workers’ union will not promote change — rather, it will promote polarization and radicalization, which arise in situations of isolation or perceived threat,” it said in a statement issued on Monday. “In our reality, this means that expulsion or suspension would hinder our ability to promote dialogue with our neighbors or with other countries. Those who oppose shared life between Israelis and Palestinians would welcome such an outcome. It would serve as an excuse to maintain extreme positions and continue fighting.”
In the statement, the Israeli union also said that the demand to request Israeli social workers be granted an exemption from military service was “entirely unimaginable within Israeli society.”
“Demanding that specifically during wartime (a war Israel did not initiate) social workers receive different treatment is not feasible in a society where military service is a universal civic duty,” the statement read.
The International Federation of Social Workers represents 141 national associations of social workers. It has previously sparred with the Israeli union, which it censured in 2018 for “failing to act as an independent professional voice on issues of occupation and Palestinian rights.” The 2018 censure was lifted in 2022 after the Israeli union invited the Palestinian Union of Social Workers to engage in dialogue.
The expulsion vote is set for Feb. 18 and will require a 75% majority to pass. Each member union gets one vote.
The vote comes as Israelis have faced marginalization in a range of international associations during the war in Gaza. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, for example, suspended its Israeli affiliate in 2024 before reinstating it the following year.
The Jewish Social Work Consortium argued in a statement that the expulsion proposal at the International Federation of Social Workers “advances an ideologically driven effort to isolate Israeli social workers as a collective, based on nationality rather than actual professional conduct.”
“This is not principled critique or ethical debate. It is antizionism operating through professional institutions, denying Israelis moral complexity, collective legitimacy, and equal participation in global social work,” the statement continued. “When professional bodies adopt this framework, they normalize collective punishment under the guise of ethics.”
The consortium and several other Jewish groups have petitioned American and Canadian members of the international federation to “publicly oppose and refuse to endorse” the vote. The petition had gained over 10,000 signatures by Thursday morning.
“Ethical accountability must be based on individual conduct rather than identity or nationality,” the petition says. “This is not the time for silence as this motion carries grave consequences for our profession.”
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