In California, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of teachers’ unions who have voiced support for the far-left and anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
The United Educators of San Francisco voted on May 19th to endorse BDS, becoming the first teachers’ union in the state to do so. On the same day, a similar resolution was passed by the United Teachers of Los Angeles, in which they declared their “solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
“As public school educators in the United States of America,” the San Francisco union’s statement declared, “we have a special responsibility to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people because of the 3.8 billion dollars annually that the U.S. gives to Israel.” The union then falsely claimed that this aid to Israel is “directly using our tax dollars to fund apartheid and war crimes.”
Many parents in San Francisco objected to the passing of the resolution, with one Jewish parent, Ira Gert, saying that “I feel like my race and my nation is being singled out in a negative way,” and that “it is uncomfortable to be an Israeli here.” Another parent said that the union’s support for the anti-Semitic movement only “hurts the entire community and society as a whole.”
Despite the push by smaller unions, the national American Federation of Teachers has declined to support BDS. AFT leadership spoke out against BDS in 2013, with president Randi Weingarten pointing out that such efforts to isolate Israel in particular “stifles the intellectual and democratic engagements through which the solutions to our world’s most difficult problems spring.” The AFT is yet to comment on the latest developments out of California.
BDS is a movement, supported by the far-left and jihadi sympathizers, which tries to encourage American institutions – including companies, universities, and various levels of the government – to condemn and place economic sanctions on Israel. The basis of the movement incorrectly claims that Israel is guilty of “apartheid” against the Palestinian people, even though it is Palestinian terrorists, such as the group Hamas, that are overwhelmingly responsible for terrorist attacks and violence in the region.