The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) is set to hold a vote next week on whether to suspend or expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers (IUSW) on account of “complicity in atrocities” in the war against Hamas.
The IFSW is the global body for professional social work, made up of over 140 professional social work associations representing over 3 million social workers.
ISFW has convened a Special General Meeting (SGM) on February 18, when member organizations will hold discussions and vote on the IUSW membership. The Israeli union has 5,000 members.
The questions before the SGM should be limited to the following: “Question 1: ‘That the Member Organisation be expelled from IFSW’”; and “Question 2: ‘That the Member Organisation be suspended from IFSW.’”
The motion itself was proposed in October by the Irish Social Workers Union and seconded by the Hellenic and Spanish unions.
IFSW president Joachim Mumba confirmed that the IFSW Executive did not initiate action against the IUSW on its own accord, but rather, the IFSW received numerous letters from member associations, including the Palestinian Union of Social Workers and Psychologists (PUSWP), demanding the suspension or expulsion of the IUSW.
These letters alleged that members of the IUSW were actively engaged in military combat during the war and therefore “complicit in atrocities affecting civilians, including women and children.”
Mumba agreed that active participation in combat contradicts the IFSW’s principles of human dignity, promoting peace, and working for social justice.
“Throughout our engagement, we acknowledged both the profound trauma of Israeli society, including the hostage situation and existential threats, and the equally devastating trauma of Palestinians, especially the mass killings in Gaza. Our purpose was not to deny the pain of either people, but to emphasize that social workers must stand as agents of peacebuilding, healing, and reconciliation,” Mumba said.
However, he added that the IFSW had expressed concern that the IUSW had declined to uphold the principle that social workers should serve in peace-promoting rather than combat roles.
Thus is the basis for the current censure of the IUSW by the IFSW.
'Clear escalation in selective enforcement'
The Jewish Social Work Consortium, founded by North Americans, said that the vote represents “a clear escalation in a selective enforcement campaign.”
“The vote is not grounded in any documented ethical violation; rather, it effectively singles out an Israeli institution. This is a defining feature of anti-Zionism as an identity-based hate movement,” it said.
“This campaign erases the professional reality of Israeli social workers as clinicians, trauma specialists, peace practitioners, and coexistence advocates, including those working directly with Palestinian communities and those who actively oppose violence and extremism. Their work is dismissed through a flattening narrative that treats Israeli identity itself as evidence of ethical failure.”