Effort to remove Israeli social workers from federation defeated

The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) has voted against the expulsion of its Israeli representative body despite a campaign to remove it over alleged “silence on the genocide in Gaza.”

Jewish News reported last month how a motion proposed by the Irish Social Worker Union, and seconded by the Hellenic and Spanish unions, was calling for the “suspension and/or expulsion” of the Israeli Union of Social Workers (IUSW) from the main body.

Following a campaign by a small group of pro-Palestine activists, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), the UK’s largest professional membership organisation, voted to support the controversial expulsion.

But in a vote on Wednesday, 34 countries voted against the motion, 16 in favour, while four abstained. The vote to suspend or expel the Israeli union on Wednesday would have required 75% of the union’s 67 voting member nations to vote for the measures.

Twelve prominent Jewish organisations, including Hadassah, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federations of North America,  had sent a letter to the American and Canadian members of the international federation calling on them to voice their opposition to the vote.

“Hadassah is alarmed by this blatantly antisemitic manoeuvre to isolate and exclude Jewish and Israeli professionals solely based on their ethnic and religious identity,” said Carol Ann Schwartz, the national president of Hadassah, in a statement. “We call on the National Association of Social Workers and the Canadian Association of Social Workers to reject this outrageous and grossly discriminatory proposal.”

The same day, the US-based National Association of Social Workers voiced their opposition to the vote for the first time, calling on the other voting members to “uphold the profession’s core values of unity, dialogue, and compassion.”

The motion had cited Israeli social workers’ participation as “combatants” in Gaza, and the  IFSW Statement of Ethical Principles which specifies that “social workers support peace and nonviolence,” and that this “requires all IFSW members to call on their governments/authorities to make social workers exempt from military service,” and that “failure to do so would be a breach of the ethical principles and would result in action affecting their membership status.”

But the  motion to expel the Israeli union “directly contradicts IFSW’s mission of promoting international cooperation, unity, and constructive engagement,” wrote the American union in a statement.

“Rather than fostering hope and harmony, expulsion would sow division and disharmony, eroding the trust and solidarity that are essential to our global community.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, which also signed onto Tuesday’s letter, hailed the vote Wednesday as a “victory for inclusion over discrimination.”

“While it is disappointing that the IFSW even considered such exclusionary motions, we are hopeful that this closes the door on any effort to isolate Israeli social workers initiated by international bodies that should be supporting and lifting them up,” said Guila Franklin Siegel, the chief operating officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, in a statement.

Wednesday’s decision marked the end of weeks of internal debate within the federation, during which the proposed expulsion drew mounting scrutiny from the Israeli union and Jewish groups who warned that the measure would single out Israeli and Jewish professionals for discriminatory treatment.