Both the leaders and the members of the Massachusetts Teachers Union are embracing antisemitism and anti-Israel policies. Here are three recent actions:

  1. Earlier this month, Joe Herosy, a member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), accused Israel of “genocide,” “settler colonialism,” “land theft,” and “ethnic cleansing.” He views Israel as an “apartheid state” perpetrating “the same kind of violent displacement we recognize when we do land acknowledgments at the start of our meetings.” 
  1. The Massachusetts teachers union’s Anti-Racism Task Force recently hosted a virtual webinar entitled “The Struggle Against Anti-Palestinian Racism.” The “team of MTA rank and file members” who planned the event described it as “a workshop to engage their MTA siblings in a conversation about questions such as: What is anti-Palestinian discrimination? How does Palestine fit into the larger framework of colonialism and imperialism? What are Zionism and anti-Zionism, and what are their histories? Why is anti-Zionism not antisemitism?” The Anti-Defamation League New England expressed concern that the “programming reinforces antisemitic and anti-Israel falsehoods.”
  1. On December 9, 2023, the MTA Board approved a ceasefire resolution stating: “The MTA will join in solidarity with the UAW, CTU, and other labor unions across the country, in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. The MTA President and Vice President will urge the president of the NEA to pressure President Biden to stop funding and sending weapons in support of the Netanyahu government’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

The National Education Association (NEA) has also demanded a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and has instructed their 3 million members to petition Congress for a ceasefire. To learn more about how the teachers unions oppose Israel and exacerbate antisemitism, read “Teachers Union Support For Hamas Is Further Evidence For School Choice,” “Educators for Palestine,” and “UFT And Hamas.”

For more information about teachers unions, check out the IWF Education Freedom Center’s Teachers Union Resource Center.