Maskot/Getty Images The teacher’s union in Oakland, CA is under fire over its statements on the Israel-Hamas war referring to Israel as an apartheid state and accusing Israeli leaders of “genocidal rhetoric” toward the Palestinians.
KRON4 reported that on Friday, the Oakland Education Association (OEA) wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post, “We, the members of OEA, express our unequivocal support for Palestinian liberation and self-determination. We condemn the genocidal and apartheid state of Israel. We call for an immediate ceasefire and the end of all U.S. military aid to Israel.”
Imagine being a Jewish parent (me) and wondering how teachers in Oakland feel about Jewish children after their union puts this out. I KNOW many teachers do not support and I hope they will speak out like us parents. Shame on OEA for this blatant antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/7LhLa4JX7G
— Megan Bacigalupi (@meganbaci) October 28, 2023
The OEA later posted on Facebook that the union had “passed a resolution in response to student activism around the conflict in Israel and Palestine. A post on our Instagram on Friday evening did not accurately represent our original resolution … We take responsibility and are learning from this harmful mistake.” The OEA added: “We are committed to continuing the conversation within our union as we engage in our democratic processes. Our union unequivocally condemns anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. We call for the release of hostages held by Hamas. We mourn the loss of life, and we add our voices to a growing collective calling for a ceasefire.”
The union proceeded to provide the full text of the resolution in the Facebook post, which states that the OEA mourns “the tragic loss of both Palestinian and Israeli lives these past weeks” and denounces “the 75 year long illegal military occupation of Palestine.” “The Israeli government created an apartheid state and the Israeli government leaders have espoused genocidal rhetoric and policies against the people of Palestine,” the statement continued. “As educators of a diverse community here in Oakland, including those with family and friends directly impacted, our conscience demands that we say clearly that OEA calls for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation of Palestine.”
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Central Pacific Region Director Marc Levine sent to a letter to Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Superintendent Dr. Kayla Johnson-Trammell on Monday, stating that the OEA had “endorsed a dangerous and false account that ignored entirely the atrocities’ of Hamas terror attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, while embracing an offensive narrative that will serve to isolate and target OUSD’s Jewish students, families and teachers.” Levine acknowledged that while the statements in question have “since disappeared and/or been updated … the pain, fear, and concern caused by the original statement is still reverberating in the community.”
Additionally, Levine noted that the OEA’s statements had linked to “lesson plans and curriculum” that are “laced with anti-Israel bias.” Levine concluded his statement by urging the OEA to “retract its statements and issue an apology that clearly acknowledges the harm it caused” and called for the district “to issue a statement making it clear that OEA’s statement does not reflect the values of the district and take any remedial action necessary.”
ADL Central Pacific calls out @OaklandEA for its one-sided condemnation of the war in Israel and shared our serious concerns with OUSD schools’ (@OUSDNews) potential use of OEA’s unvetted and problematic content, rife with anti-Israel bias. Read ADL’s full letter to OUSD… pic.twitter.com/QPoAXF1Ski
— ADL California (@ADLCalifornia) October 31, 2023
Asked by the Journal for comment on Levine’s letter, a spokesperson for OUSD referred the Journal to a Monday statement from the district that stated in part: “OUSD disavows the various polarizing statements on the conflict issued by organizations in the OUSD community this past weekend. During these heartbreaking times, we are focused on supporting all members of our community affected by this human tragedy.”
Megan Bacigalupi, a Jewish parent with two children in OUSD, told KRON4: “For the Oakland Education Association, which again, represents thousands of teachers, many of whom are also Jewish, who are teaching Jewish students, to say something that wasn’t just anti-Israel, it was antisemitic, it worried a lot of parents like myself about how our children are going to be treated and perceived in the classroom.”
Bacigalupi, who co-founded California Parent Power, also criticized the district’s statement for failing to mention the OEA by name. “We have to be very clear where we draw the line when something is antisemitic and I wish that the district had done that more profoundly,” she added.
Sara Holderfield, a teacher’s union representative for Chabot Elementary School in Oakland, told KTVU that she wouldn’t have approved such a divisive statement and that the union should “should be focused on keeping our students and staff safe and providing an excellent education for all students … We have no business taking a stand on complex political issues that touch the lives of so many in our community.” She also urged the union to retract its “dangerous message” and scrub any reference to anti-Israel teaching material.
The OEA did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
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