Israel-Bashing on the Agenda for National Teachers Union

A series of anti-Israel resolutions proposed by members of the second biggest teachers union in America has other members in revolt, saying they target Jews and “libel the Jewish state.”

The resolutions before the American Federation of Teachers include calls to “halt U.S. military aid to Israel” and to “stop enabling genocide,” and include praise of pro-Palestinian protesters who faced “state-sanctioned violence.” 

They accuse the Jewish state of “apartheid” and “genocide,” and criticize Israel for “scholasticide,” a term referencing the destruction of schools in Gaza. One resolution calls for the AFT to divest from the Jewish state by pulling member pensions out of companies with even tangential connections to Israel—such as Boeing and Palantir. Of the eight proposed resolutions that mention Israel, only one advocates for a “two-state solution” and the “safe return of Hamas’s hostages.” 

The union, which represents 1.7 million members, will vote on the resolutions at its annual convention, which begins in Houston on July 22.

Now, a group of members is circulating an anonymous letter, hoping to convince union leaders to drop the inflammatory resolutions and “avoid the public stain of antisemitism.” 

Anti-Israel resolutions from members of a teachers union are mostly symbolic and, if approved, won’t have any impact on Israel’s policy in Gaza or the West Bank. But what’s alarming is the extent to which they reflect the mindset of some teachers, said Tova Plaut, an AFT member and Jewish educator in New York City. 

Plaut fears the resolutions would have a spillover effect, encouraging teachers to portray “Israel as a colonizing country that is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.” And she added the resolutions send a signal: “It’s telling their members this is what we want you to teach about.” 

As Robert Pondiscio reported for The Free Press in June, this is already a problem in U.S. public schools. According to an Anti-Defamation League complaint, teachers in Fort Lee High School in New Jersey tell students that the terrorist group Hamas is a peaceful “resistance movement,” while teachers in Berkeley, California, “indoctrinat[e] students with antisemitic tropes.” 

AFT President Randi Weingarten told The Free Press that the union has already “condemned antisemitism and Islamophobia and clearly established our values on this issue,” citing a resolution passed by the AFT’s executive council in January. She also defended union members’ rights to propose any resolution to be voted upon. 

“In a democratic union, members have the right to propose any resolution they like—and I will be advocating at the convention to uphold our position,” she said. 

Though Weingarten does not vote as president of the union, when asked if she would support or oppose the resolutions, her spokesperson said she would back a resolution that calls for a “two-state solution” but did not comment on the others. 

Amy Leserman, an educator and AFT member from Los Angeles, said the resolutions have nothing to do with the AFT’s mission, whose purpose, she continued, is to advocate on behalf of teachers and the quality of their workplace.

“We are not international politicians,” she said. “And there is no foreign government that has any interest in what the teachers union or any labor union has to say about how they should function. . . . So the entire purpose behind these motions and these resolutions is that they generate a hostile teaching environment and learning environment for students.” 

Francesca Block is a reporter for The Free Press. Follow her on Twitter (now X) @FrancescaABlock and read her piece “Union Lawyers Call Jewish Colleagues ‘Deranged’ and ‘Fascist’. ”

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