Ahead of a vote by the International Federation of Social Workers on whether to expel the Israeli union, a dozen Jewish and pro-Israel organizations sent a letter urging the U.S.-based National Association of Social Workers and the Canadian Association of Social Workers to oppose the measure, calling it discriminatory and unethical.
The IFSW, an umbrella organization representing about 3 million social workers worldwide through more than 150 national member associations, is set to hold a special online meeting on Wednesday to vote on whether to suspend or expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers. The Israeli association represents roughly 5,000 professionals.
The motion, proposed in October by the Irish Social Workers Union and seconded by the Hellenic and Spanish Unions, will only address the Israeli union. A 75% majority of members present and voting is required, and each member organization is entitled to one voting representative.
The organizations described the motion as “collective punishment, rendering professionals ethically suspect solely on the basis of nationality.”
“Hadassah is alarmed by this blatantly antisemitic maneuver to isolate and exclude Jewish and Israeli professionals solely based on their ethnic and religious identities,” Carol Ann Schwartz, national president of Hadassah, stated, calling on the unions “to reject this outrageous and grossly discriminatory proposal.”
The signatories say the proposed IFSW motion “targets Israeli professionals and seeks to expel them from the association based solely on their nationality, without support or documentation of ethical violations by any Israeli social worker,” adding that such action would violate civil rights and the ethical codes of the U.S. and Canadian associations.
William Daroff, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, wrote that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” stating that the motion “reflects a dangerous pattern of singling out Jews and Israelis.”
He added that the U.S. and Canadian unions “should reject this effort and make clear that Jewish professionals will not be marginalized or pushed out of international forums.”
In a Jan. 19 report to member organizations, Pascal Rudin, interim secretary general of IFSW, outlined the proposal, which calls on the federation to “condemn the genocide in Gaza,” demand a ceasefire and immediately suspend cooperation with Israeli state, professional and academic institutions operating in what it described as “illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” including Ariel University.
The Jewish Social Worker Consortium described the planned vote as “a clear escalation in selective enforcement,” citing what it called “coordinated pressure by anti-Zionist organizations” to push member groups to endorse the Israeli union’s expulsion.
