The Radicalization and Ethical Crisis in Social Work

When Social Work Fails Its Ethics: The Radicalization of Social Work

The field of social work prides itself on principles of antiracism, diversity, equity, and inclusion for communities that have been marginalized. Yet since October 7th, a glaring hypocrisy has emerged — one that not only undermines these values but actively contributes to the radicalization of students. Schools of social work, once committed to anti-oppression frameworks, are now complicit in a dangerous ideology: one that excludes Jews from Antiracism Diversity Equity and Inclusion (ADEI) conversations, erases antisemitism, and frames the world in a simplistic binary of  oppressors and  oppressed. This is not just academic negligence — it is an ethical violation that contradicts the very foundation of the NASW Code of Ethics.

The Radicalization of Social Work

In the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel, Jewish students, faculty, and professionals expected the field of social work — an industry built on compassion and human dignity — to stand against terrorism and antisemitism. Instead, we witnessed silence, equivocation, and, in some cases, outright justification of violence.

Columbia University has failed Jewish students and faculty by allowing antisemitic rhetoric to spread unchecked under the guise of liberation, fostering a hostile environment where Jewish individuals face harassment, intimidation, and exclusion. The university’s inaction in response to violent incidents — such as blocking Jewish students and faculty from campus spaces while tolerating antisemitic rhetoric — has further endangered their safety and well-being, undermining its commitment to equity and inclusion.

The National Association of Social Workers itself has issued ADEI statements that fail to explicitly address antisemitism, despite the alarming rise in hate crimes targeting Jewish communities (NASW Social Justice Brief).

The ADEI framework that dominates social work education has adopted a binary, race-based view of oppression, where whiteness is synonymous with power and colonialism, and people of color are automatically victims. This worldview erases the complex history of the Jewish people — many of whom in America are white-passing but have faced centuries of persecution, genocide, and displacement (Lipstadt, Antisemitism: Here and Now)

By excluding Jews from ADEI and ignoring modern antisemitism, social work institutions are not just failing Jewish students — they are actively radicalizing them. Young social workers are being trained to view oppression through a racialized lens that disregards historical and present-day antisemitism. This creates a distorted reality where Jewish suffering is either dismissed or seen as deserved, reinforcing dangerous biases that lead to exclusion, hostility, and even violence.

When Social Work Mimics Extremism

Social work is supposed to challenge discrimination — yet in many institutions, it is now practicing it. When a social worker’s job is to discriminate against one population — Jews — they are engaging in the same behavior as extremists. This is exactly what radical groups do: target and exclude an entire people. By teaching that Jews are inherently privileged and complicit in oppression, social work programs are not dismantling extremism; they are mimicking it.

It’s also critical to understand how this ideological radicalization is not happening in isolation. The Iranian regime, for example, has long funded and armed terror organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which openly call for the destruction of Israel and use antisemitic propaganda to recruit and radicalize supporters worldwide (ADL). The Islamic Republic of Iran’s state-sponsored narratives frame Jews and Israel as global oppressors, which dovetails dangerously with oversimplified anti-colonial discourse on Western campuses. When schools of social work fail to critically examine how these foreign-funded ideologies exploit social justice language, they risk becoming inadvertent vehicles for extremist propaganda.

Why This Is More Dangerous Than a Neo-Nazi or a Jihadist

While Neo-Nazis and jihadists pose clear threats to Jewish communities, their ideologies are openly recognized as extreme and hateful (Lipstadt, Antisemitism: Here and Now). What makes social work’s current trajectory more insidious is that it cloaks exclusion and bias under the guise of social justice. Students are not being told outright to hate Jews — they are simply being taught that Jews, particularly Ashkenazi Jews, are “white” and therefore complicit in oppression. This erasure enables antisemitism to flourish in academic spaces while shielding it from criticism.

The NASW Code of Ethics explicitly states that social workers must:

• Challenge social injustice — which includes antisemitism.
• Recognize and respect the cultural and ethnic diversity of clients and communities — which must include Jewish identity and lived experience.
• Avoid discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin — yet social work programs are actively sidelining Jewish voices.

Despite these ethical mandates, a recent NASW Social Justice Brief on DEI failed to mention antisemitism at all, reinforcing the exclusion of Jews from anti-oppression work. Furthermore, when Jewish social workers raised concerns about antisemitism within the field, many were met with dismissal or accusations of “Zionist propaganda” rather than meaningful engagement.

The Path Forward: Reclaiming Ethical Social Work

Social work must return to its core mission: standing against all forms of hate, advocating for all communities experiencing oppression, and ensuring that concepts such as liberation, intersectionality, inclusion, diversity, equity, and antiracism fully recognize Jewish experiences (Lipstadt, Antisemitism: Here and Now)

Schools of social work must:

• Explicitly include antisemitism in ADEI frameworks and acknowledge the diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds of Jewish people.
• Publicly condemn antisemitism and address the silence since October 7th (ADL)
• Reassess radical ideological teachings that frame oppression solely through a racial lens, ignoring global history and complexity.
• Ensure that Jewish students and faculty feel safe and included rather than gaslit or excluded from social justice movements.
• Equip students to recognize and resist how regimes like the Islamic Republic of Iran weaponize antisemitism as a political tool and critically examine how this propaganda infiltrates student activism
• If you, your students, colleagues, families, friends, or community need support, you can contact  Parents 4 Peace. They provide education, intervention, and resources to help prevent radicalization, violence, and extremism.

The failure to act now will not only damage the credibility of social work as a profession but will continue to fuel dangerous ideological radicalization on college campuses. Social work must do better — not just for Jewish students and professionals, but for the integrity of the profession itself.

“Unchecked antisemitism doesn’t just harm Jewish students — it feeds radicalization.” — Dr. Miri Bar Halpern