Petition to National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW): Speak Up NOW!

Protest the International Federation of Social Workers Vote Targeting Israeli and Jewish Social Workers

We, the undersigned, urge the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) to publicly oppose and refuse to endorse the International Federation of Social Workers motion, scheduled for a vote on February 18, 2026, to suspend or expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers. We further formally protest putting this egregious motion to a vote. 

This motion follows a censure issued last year and represents a significant escalation. It is not based on any documented ethical violations by Israeli social workers. Instead, it imposes a nationality-based collective sanction, treating professionals as ethically suspect solely because of their national affiliation. No other national association is held to this standard.

This is not ethical accountability; it raises serious civil rights concerns.

Excluding professionals based on national origin or identity raises serious concerns under fundamental civil rights principles and appears to contradict NASW’s commitments to dignity, equity, and non-discrimination. Ethical review must be conduct-based. When identity itself becomes the basis for sanction, ethics gives way to prejudice.

The pressure driving this vote appears to reflect contemporary forms of anti-Jewish racism expressed through ideological framing. Claims that Israeli participation “undermines global ethics” risk inverting moral reasoning by attributing ethical failure to identity rather than conduct. 

In this context, antizionism can function as a form of exclusionary ideology that denies Israelis and many Jews moral complexity, collective legitimacy, and equal participation in professional life. When professional institutions adopt this framework, they risk normalizing this exclusion under the guise of justice.

Both NASW and CASW have an independent ethical and civic responsibility to act. Each is bound by its Code of Ethics and by civil rights norms that require protection of social workers and clients from identity-based harm. That responsibility includes standing against discrimination affecting Israeli and Jewish social workers and safeguarding Jewish clients from hostile professional environments.

Israeli social workers include clinicians, trauma specialists, peace and coexistence practitioners, and professionals who actively oppose violence and extremism in all forms. Reducing identity to guilt erases this reality and violates both ethical and civil rights standards. 

We respectfully call on NASW and CASW to reject endorsement of this expulsion, to publicly oppose the IFSW vote, and to affirm that ethical accountability must be based on individual conduct rather than identity or nationality. This is not the time for silence as this motion carries grave consequences for our profession. 

This petition is now closed. Thanks to all who signed. For more information, please subscribe to CAEF.