Naming Hate: Antizionism in Social Work
Imagine belonging to a minority group within a helping profession that prides itself on empathy and social justice. You watch as other communities receive compassion in their moments of fear and grief. Historically, you have stood alongside them. You and your colleagues have spoken up, shown up, and held space for their pain. Not performatively, but out of a steadfast commitment to justice.
Now picture this: when your own community faces a moment of true vulnerability, that same care and concern are shockingly absent. Then in an incredible coordinated swath of gaslighting, your people are vilified. Terms like ‘colonizer,’ ‘oppressor,’ and ‘genocide’ are tossed like grenades into the midst of this shocked and grieving minority. This functions to erase your humanity. Ask yourself: could you envision any other group being subjected to such sweeping generalizations and blame?
Understanding Antizionism
This is antizionism – a form of Jew hate that has taken hold of people who would normally care. Western antizionism has been literally lifted from Soviet propaganda and and Arab nationalist rhetoric and is now, “lodged in the bloodstream of universities, media, and governments.”
Antizionism is a dehumanizing hate movement that has infiltrated the social work and mental health professions from classrooms to therapy offices to professional organizations. It must be named and expunged.
On October 8th, we Jewish social workers found ourselves fighting to respond to the outsized hate directed at us and our Jewish colleagues. Initially, we didn’t realize that we were tangling with a different animal altogether.
The Mechanisms of Hate
Jew hatred has a centuries-long ability to shape shift to serve the narrative of its time. Throughout eras and over continents, people have placed their own fears and anxieties onto Jews, turning those projections into what is known as the cycle of libel: accusation, stigma, violence, and then denial.
While classical antisemitism is widely recognized and documented, antizionism brings its own distinct machinery of hate aimed not at individual Jews, but at the very existence of Jewish peoplehood.
Antizionism demands ideological submission. If you don’t agree, you are ‘bad.’ If you collude or buy in you are ‘good’ and/or ‘safe.’ This is the very antithesis of a healthy society and indeed of ethical social work. To be able to learn, understand and help others we have to be able to hold more than one viewpoint in our minds.
There are Jewish mental health providers who identify as antizionists. They account for a minority within the Jewish community and serve as essential props for an ideology designed to erase Jewish peoplehood and dehumanize anyone who speaks up.
Impact Beyond the Jewish Community
Institutional Failures in Social Work
Jew hatred also flourishes at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and in other social work institutions. We have confirmation that ours and many other’s countless missives, petitions and calls sent to NASW leadership were received and ignored.
We will not stay silent; whether it be incidents of antizionism, classical antisemitism or any form of discrimination that affects any and all minorities.
The Jewish Social Work Consortium in Action
The Jewish Social Work Consortium pledges to pave a new way forward to fight all forms of hate embedded into institutions that used to hold the public trust. Our mission is grounded in the social work values and ethics we pledge to uphold for all clients and colleagues alike. As a think tank:
We advocate unequivocally for ethical consistency across the profession and confront antizionism and all forms of hate.
We publish academic and reflective writing to educate and bring visibility to antizionism in our field. And the harm it has inflicted on clients and colleagues, in classrooms, professional settings, and treatment rooms.
We support practitioners facing hostile, alienating environments where their identity is mocked, questioned or reduced.
We speak out when our profession falls short of its longstanding commitment to dignity and nondiscrimination.
We create space for authentic, complex Jewish voices to be heard—without tokenization, distortion, or political litmus tests.
We acknowledge and address the unique experiences of Jewish and Israeli clinicians and clients and all other minorities to ensure they are fully included, respected, and protected within our profession.
We educate and train people about antizionism and how it fosters harm within the field of mental health.
We release statements regarding pivotal issues affecting the Jewish people and other minority groups.
We affirm that the foundational principles of social work—ethical care, cultural humility, and the commitment to do no harm—apply to everyone without exception.
This is the future of social work.
Join us to ensure that dignity, safety, and justice are available to all within social work and other mental health professions.