Members of the American Federation of Teachers, along with AFSCME, SEIU and several other national labor unions, are showing their true political stripes by joining the “Labor for Palestine” movement.
These groups are not just calling for a Palestinian homeland in the Middle East and a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian/Israeli standoff. They’re suggesting that the creation of Israel has been a disaster for the Palestinian people.
It’s clear that they don’t share the commitment to Israeli security that American presidential administrations – Republican and Democrat – have maintained since 1948. They are radically anti-Israel, and they offer no apologies for that. The following passage can be found on the Labor for Palestine website:
The establishment of Israel in 1948 inflicted on the Palestinian people a continuing campaign of displacement, discrimination, exploitation and brutality that has continued to this day.
The anti-Israel rhetoric is just the tip of the iceberg. The group suggests that American foreign policy was to blame for the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. In other words, 3,000-plus people deserved to die due to American support for the continued existence of Israel.
The group also protests recent U.S. military actions in the Middle East – calling them an endless “war of terror,” – and suggests that Iran may be the next innocent victim of American “colonialization.”
Their allies — including racist demagogue Pam Geller, the Anti-Defamation League, Rudolph Giuliani and prominent Neocons — promote bigotry to fuel increasingly unpopular U.S. wars against the Muslim world, while shielding Israeli apartheid from growing international isolation.
Workers, abroad and at home, have long paid the price for these disastrous policies. On 9/11, we suffered blowback from decades of U.S./Israeli war, occupation and colonialism.
9/11, in turn, has been the pretext for an endless bipartisan war of terror. This war has devastated Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Somalia, Yemen and other countries.
It has left thousands of G.I.s dead or maimed. It has tortured prisoners and undermined civil liberties. It has squandered trillions of dollars.
Now it targets Iran.
For these reasons, it is essential for trade unionists and all workers to stand up in defense of the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities.
Excuse me? The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were “blowback” for the “US/Israeli war?”
The leadership of these unions can’t possibly believe that a majority of their members buy into this left-wing rhetoric. They ought to denounce the radicalism within their ranks, or risk being tainted with it. Or does AFT President Randi Weingarten really believe we deserved what we got on 9/11?
Meanwhile teachers, many of whom are professionals and work hard every day, ought to demand better than the radical positions of their union leaders.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.