House Education panel opens probe into alleged antisemitism at National Education Association

The House Education and Workforce Committee has opened an investigation into alleged antisemitism at the National Education Association, the largest teachers' union in the U.S.

Committee Chairman Tim Walberg sent a letter Thursday to NEA President Rebecca Pringle, writing that his panel is "gravely concerned" about antisemitic content in the group's 2025 handbook and the Representative Assembly’s vote in July 2025 to ban materials by the Anti-Defamation League.

The letter asked the union to by Sept. 4 give the committee all communication and documents from officials that included the words "antisemitism," "Israel," "Israeli," "Palestine," or "Palestinian," dating back to Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian-backed Hamas attacked Israel.

He also said the investigation will help the committee consider whether legislative changes are needed – including ones to specifically address antisemitic discrimination in labor unions and to combat antisemitism in federally funded schools.

The Representative Assembly in July passed a resolution to boycott the ADL's Holocaust education materials after union delegates said the league's antisemitism definition was too strong, according to the Washington Free Beacon. However, NEA leadership overturned the vote after public outcry.

The union's 2025 handbook says it will celebrate 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 letter reads.

The union's handbook includes plans to educate members and the public about the history of the Palestinian Nakba "but offers no context about the history of the state of Israel and the events that led to its creation," Walberg says.