Days after the National Education Association walked back a decision by its members to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt praised the move but cautioned that the union still has a “long way to go” toward making clear that it respects the Jewish community, he said in an interview on Monday. 

“I am glad that they recognize what’s wrong about calling out the most consequential organization fighting antisemitism at a time of rising antisemitism,” Greenblatt told Jewish Insider. “Yet at the same time, there are elements of even the statement that lead me to believe that we’re still in this fight. We’ve got a long way to go to make sure that the ADL and our community is respected for who we are.” 

While the board of directors of the NEA — the largest teachers union in the country — condemned antisemitism in the statement released last week, the board also stated that the organization’s rejection of the anti-ADL measure was “in no way an endorsement of the ADL’s full body of work.”

Further, the NEA called on the ADL “to support the free speech and association rights of all students and educators.” 

“We strongly condemn abhorrent and unacceptable attacks on our members who dedicate their lives to helping their students thrive,” the NEA’s board of directors continued. “Our commitment to freedom of speech fully extends to freedom of protest and dissent whether in the public square or on college campuses.”

That rhetoric surprised Greenblatt, who said he was “pleased” to see the NEA shoot down the anti-ADL measure but concerned and confused about the inclusion of language that he viewed as a swipe at the ADL.

“The idea that the ADL — which, of course, all of our work is predicated on protecting the First Amendment — that we are ‘not supporting the free speech of all students and educators?’ Give me a break. Find the evidence to even support this assertion,” Greenblatt said. “We don’t have a problem with freedom of assembly. We have a problem with those people who use that speech to slander Jews or other minorities. We have a problem with those who use the right to associate to attack Jews and other marginalized communities.” 

The NEA and the ADL have never had a formal partnership, Greenblatt confirmed. The ADL would be “amenable” to working more formally with the NEA, but he said their relationship was “not quite that far along.”