The New England chapter of the American Jewish Committee has released a report accusing the Massachusetts Teachers Association of demonizing Israel and promoting one-sided educational material about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“This campaign risks politicizing K-12 classrooms across Massachusetts. Our schools should be places for education, not indoctrination,” AJC New England Director Rob Leikind said in a statement. “The MTA’s actions over the last year raise questions about its commitment to this ideal. They also are contributing to an increasingly toxic environment for Jewish students and families.”
In a statement, MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy said the union’s board voted to create optional resources for teachers to help them understand the history of the conflict. Those resources include educational materials with a range of voices and perspectives, they said.
“The MTA is aware that any recommended resources on this topic will be controversial. The union moved deliberately and with much reflection to assemble materials that members could consider to enrich their own understanding,” Page and McCarthy said. “As a democratic union, we embrace healthy debate and learning, and this issue is no different.”
Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza, have already caused schisms within the MTA’s membership. On Dec. 9, 2023, the MTA’s board of directors passed a resolution calling for the United States to stop funding Israel’s “genocidal war” in Gaza. Several local chapters criticized the resolution including the Newton Teachers Association which branded it “anti-Semitic dog-whistling.”
The AJC criticized the December resolution for failing to include any reference to the hundreds of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. The MTA had previously signed on to a joint petition with other labor unions that called for both a ceasefire and the release of hostages. Four days after the resolution went out, the union’s leadership released a statement that called for peace and described Oct. 7 as a “horrific attack.”
The AJC’s report also criticized a measure passed by the MTA board in June rejecting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. That definition says examples of antisemitism include describing the existence of the state of Israel as racist and comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. The MTA’s motion said right-wing groups are lobbying to have the state adopt that definition in an effort to “manufacture hysteria” and quash legitimate discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The AJC highlighted a March webinar for teachers on anti-Palestinian racism that was held by the union’s antiracism task force. The webinar discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of a “larger framework of colonialism and imperialism,” and disputed claims that anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic.
The Anti-Defamation League said the webinar promoted “antisemitic and anti-Israel falsehoods.” In April, State Senators Jason Lewis and Rebecca Rausch sent Page a letter saying the union’s actions did not support “productive dialogue or meaningful strides toward peace.”
Page, who is Jewish and a former synagogue president, said in May that allegations of antisemitism against union leadership were “ludicrous.”
“There’s a real danger in our society today when we make sort of grand pronouncements about the essence of one person or another, and I just think that rarely helps develop a conversation,” he said.
The AJC report raised concerns about the MTA’s website referring teachers to educational materials with a pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel perspective. It levied particular criticism against Ricardo Rosa, who leads the MTA’s Training and Professional Learning division, citing pro-Palestinian posts Rosa made on social media. The report includes a screenshot of an alleged post on Rosa’s Instagram on Oct. 9, 2023, with the words “Free Palestine” above an illustration of people waving Palestinian flags and carrying slingshots.
Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis in its Oct. 7 attack, including hundreds of civilians, and abducted hundreds more to keep as hostages. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 45,000 people, including tens of thousands of women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
This story includes material from a previous Globe report.
Dan Glaun can be reached at dan.glaun@globe.com. Follow him @dglaun.