The NEA described the Holocaust as having ’12 million victims’ from ‘different faiths’ without mentioning the attempted extermination of the Jewish people
The nation’s largest teachers’ union plans to promote a version of Holocaust remembrance that does not mention Jews, according to its 2025 handbook, which references “victims of the Holocaust from different faiths” and teaches that Israel was founded through “forced, violent displacement and dispossession,” its most recent guide for members shows.
The National Education Association, which represents nearly three million public school teachers and education workers, outlined the priorities in its 2025 handbook. The NEA publishes the document each year as a guide on the group’s priorities and strategic goals for the association’s national and state leaders, staff, and members. It includes the NEA’s bylaws and is updated with any new resolutions and policy positions the union has endorsed.
The news comes amid a surge in both anti-Semitism and anti-Israel extremism at public schools and within teachers’ unions themselves. The NEA Representative Assembly—the union’s parliamentary body—passed a resolution to boycott the Anti-Defamation League’s Holocaust education materials earlier this month, a vote the union’s leadership rejected.
The NEA handbook, though, indicates that union leadership does back the extremist anti-Israel and anti-Jewish positions of many of its members.
The handbook says the union will “promote the celebration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day” by “recognizing more than 12 million victims of the Holocaust from different faiths, ethnicities, races, political beliefs, genders, and gender identification, abilities/disabilities, and other targeted characteristics.” The description does not mention the attempted extermination of the Jewish people by the Nazis.
The book does, however, give a lengthy description of its plans to “educate members and the general public about the history of the Palestinian Nakba,” while presenting a skewed version of Israel’s founding that demonizes the Jewish state.
“The Nakba, meaning ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, refers to the forced, violent displacement and dispossession of at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 during the establishment of the state of Israel,” said the handbook.
“Educating about the Nakba is essential for understanding the Palestinian diaspora narrative and experience, including the ongoing trauma of our Palestinian American students today. Teaching about the Nakba fosters critical thinking and empathy among students, promoting a deeper understanding of historical injustices and their contemporary ramifications.”
On the same page, the NEA outlines as another priority the task of teaching its members that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism.
“NEA will use existing digital communication tools to educate members about the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism,” the handbook reads. “NEA will use its existing media outlets to defend educators’ and students’ academic freedom and free speech in defense of Palestine at K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.”
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