Petition state legislatures, school boards, administrators, parents and teachers unions to urge school districts expel the Anti-Defamation League and its collaborators from our schools. Demand a curriculum that challenges colonial occupation and genocide, not one that denies, ignores or excuses it.
As supporters of public education, diversity and world peace, we stand in solidarity with teachers demanding a curriculum that challenges colonial occupation and genocide, not one that denies, ignores or excuses these crimes against humanity.
That’s why we are calling on you to amplify demands to drop the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a teacher trainer and curriculum developer in our schools.
Here’s the problem.
The ADL’s lesson plans serve to weaponize the pain of the Holocaust to justify Zionist expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland, legitimize a state predicated on ethnic and religious supremacy and deny US-Israel genocide in Gaza.
For example, the ADL’s Echoes & Reflections lesson plans–distributed nationally–include in their definition of antisemitism “bias against Israel” conflating antisemitism, which is bigotry against Jews, with anti-Zionism or criticism of a political ideology. These lesson plans attack the “extreme left” for protesting US-Israel genocide that has turned Gaza into a graveyard for children, burned alive patients hooked to IV’s and starved 2.3 million people.
This is wrong. This is gaslighting.
And there’s more.
On October 25, 2023, the ADL sent a threatening letter to nearly 200 college presidents pressing for an investigation of the non-violent Students for Justice in Palestine for “potential violations of the prohibition against materially supporting a foreign terrorist organization.” In short, a US lobby group with a liaison office in Israel that claims to be a credible provider of education about genocide leveled an accusation without foundation against a student organization for leading nationwide protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Not only that but the ADL is suing school districts to silence the teaching of Palestine and Palestinian rights.
Let’s face it. The ADL’s ongoing attacks on schools should be enough to disqualify it as an educational partner.
Adopt policies, pass resolutions, voice outrage and challenge the presence of the ADL and its fellow Israel propagandists in our schools.To echo the demands of the Drop the ADL campaign, we ask state lawmakers, school districts and teachers unions to cut ties with the ADL and Israel lobbyists, including endorsement and implementation of their curricular materials, participation in their teacher training programs and contracts or grants for professional development–even if these are offered for free.
In truth, the price is genocide denial and erasure for millions of Palestinians.
Our students deserve better.
Our students deserve a real education.
Sincerely,