Massachusetts Schools Teach Anti-Semitism

Fighting anti-Semitism sometimes seems like a challenging game of whack-a-mole: we fight anti-Semitism all around us—on college campuses, at street protests, but somehow it keeps reappearing to corrupt our society, especially our children and their schools. Most recently, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, 117,000 strong, has developed materials that teachers can use in the classroom. Max Page, a Jew himself, is the current president of the association. He was interviewed at a meeting of the state’s Special Commission on Combating AntiSemitism, co-chaired by state representatives Simon Cataldo and John Velis, regarding the nature of the training. Senator John Velis, a non-Jew, protested the materials that were being offered:

Velis added that the MTA’s proposed materials ‘absolutely horrified’ him. ‘The resources that they have put together are nothing short—and I said this a couple times during the hearing—than education malpractice,’ he said. ‘If this material enters our K–12 schools, then shame on us, because we know about it right now, and we’re going to do everything we can to push back on that.’ He said that he may consider legislation to keep the materials out of Massachusetts classrooms.

State Rep. Cataldo provided specific information regarding these resources:

Examples included: a poster depicting a person holding an automatic weapon with the words ‘what was taken by force can only be returned by force,’ a poster depicting a hand grabbing a snake’s tongue with the words ‘unity in confronting Zionism,’ and a storybook about a young Palestinian girl who says that ‘a group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land so they stole it by force and hurt many people,’ in describing the Nakba.

In studying this situation, the real issue becomes clear: the union leadership are trying to convince people that these materials are presenting “both sides” of a situation, but instead are publishing anti-Jewish and anti-Israel materials, because they believe that Zionism, Israel and the Jews are at fault for the war in Gaza.

To provide an example of their teaching, the union provided a webinar sponsored by Massachusetts Teachers Association Anti-Racism Task Force. One of the participants had this to say afterwards:

Leila Farsakh, a political science professor at UMass Boston who participated in the webinar, strongly denied assertions that the event was antisemitic. ‘The goal of the webinar was to explain the Palestinian perspective because often the Palestinian perspective gets denied or demonized,’ she said. ‘The aim of this webinar was to explain the settler colonial structure of Zionism, of Israel. But it was neither against Israelis or the Jewish people.’

The irony in her statement is that referring to the “settler colonial structure of Zionism” is an anti-Semitic trope. It’s not uncommon for those people who sympathize with the Palestinians to fail to recognize their own anti-Semitism.

And Max Page doesn’t see the irony in his statements either:

Page, who spoke about being a practicing Jew who lost many family members during the Holocaust, recognized both the ‘rising tide of antisemitism’ and the real fears of Palestinian educators and students. He also took time to address the larger political environment in America. Powerful people, led by President Donald Trump, want to censor books, purge the government of alternative views, annex territories, and promote eugenics, he said.

It’s difficult to comprehend the cognitive dissonance that Page must experience: is he anti-Jewish? Anti-American? It’s also not unusual to see American Jews attacking America, especially attacking conservatives, while defending the Palestinians.

The solution to this type of situation is clear. First, a union shouldn’t be offering controversial teaching materials that can be misused and misinterpreted for the schools. They are not in the business of developing education materials.

One person explained what was required:

Brett Berkman, a literacy coach in Framingham schools and an MTA member, was one of them:

‘The MTA hasn’t been involved in any other international affair, to my knowledge,’ Berkman told WBZ, ‘The MTA has many things they should be doing. We need help with contracts, best practices for students, and teaching facilities. Not this.’

Berkman says anyone who signed up to participate in the webinar was asked questions for a survey beforehand.

‘They asked participants how comfortable they felt teaching anti-Zionist narratives about Israel. Zionism is simply the belief that Jewish people should have the right to live freely and govern themselves in their homeland,’ she said.

The MTA needs to get out of the propaganda business and take care of union business.

The agenda of the Massachusetts Teachers Union is clear, and it’s not education: it’s to propagandize against the Jews and Israel.

It’s time to stop.

[Originally published in the American Thinker]