Public school teachers’ unions and university faculties in California are facing a backlash from parents and board members after taking radical anti-Israel and antisemitic positions that, in some cases, celebrated the Hamas terror attacks on Israel October 7.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported:
Top leaders of the Oakland teachers union were facing significant backlash and calls for resignations this week after they posted a declaration associating Israel with genocide and apartheid while urging district educators to teach a pro-Palestinian curriculum.
Outraged teachers, parents and elected officials criticized the Instagram post put up on Friday and since deleted, as well as an amended statement still available on Facebook that continues to espouse the position that “the Israeli government created an apartheid state and the Israeli government leaders have espoused genocidal rhetoric and policies against the people of Palestine.”
The union leaders also voiced opposition to the existence of Israel and support for a free Palestine.
Last week, as Breitbart News reported, the University of California Ethnic Studies faculty slammed the university for condemning Hamas “terrorism,” claiming that the term was insulting to Palestinians and that it made Palestinian students unsafe.
In response, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday, UC Board of Regents member Jay Sures, who is also the vice chairman of the United Talent Agency in Hollywood, pushed back.
Sures called the Ethnic Studies faculty’s letter “appalling” and “repugnant,” saying it “seeks to legitimize and defend the horrific savagery of the Hamas massacre of October 7.”
He continued: “Our statement of condemnation of the October 7th massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas was absolutely justified and necessary because terrorism has no place in our world. As human beings we need to condemn it immediately and forcefully without fear of retribution or that some may be offended. …
“It is even more disturbing that the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council and its signatories have demonstrated no empathy for Jewish life, nor seek to use their platform to advocate constructive paths to improve the situation for Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, your council has willingly chosen to be surrogates and supporters for Hamas’ destructive actions.”
Update: On Wednesday, a non-profit group called the Amcha Initiative, which monitors antisemitism, announced that it had collected over 10,000 signatures on a petition against the inclusion of ethnic studies in every high school curriculum, which the UC Ethnic Studies faculty has encouraged as a curriculum requirement in public school districts across the state.
The pushback comes amid concerns in many Jewish communities that anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests are encouraging a rise in antisemitism, including violent antisemitism.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
This article has been updated to include information about the Amcha petition.
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