How Public Education Turned Against Israel

Among the most shocking developments in America in the two years since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks is the surge of anti-Israel sentiment seen in public school classrooms, teachers' unions and local school board meetings.

Just as news of a ceasefire and hostage release was breaking last week, the New York Post reported that the NEA teachers' union "sent its roughly 3 million members a sickening email containing a map that erased Israel completely and labeled it as Palestine."

It was the latest in a long list of outrageous actions against Israel from the public education community. Since the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a line has been drawn between those who unequivocally condemn terrorism and those who equivocate. 

Tragically, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)--the two largest teachers' unions in the United States--have positioned themselves on the wrong side of that line. Through public statements, internal resolutions and targeted votes, these unions have betrayed the moral clarity demanded by such atrocities.

The NEA's decision at its 2025 Representative Assembly to adopt "New Business Item 39," which commits the NEA to "not use, endorse or publicize materials from the Anti‑Defamation League" or participate in its programs, cuts off essential tools in combating antisemitism. To reject collaboration largely based on ideological grievance, particularly at a time when antisemitism has been rising since Oct. 7, is indefensible.

Resolution proposals and statements from the NEA and AFT downplay Hamas's campaign of mass murder, rape and kidnapping, or portray Israeli conduct as morally equivalent to the terrorists they are fighting. The AFT has described an "occupation" when Israel unilaterally left Gaza in 2005 and often frames Israeli actions as unprovoked rather than fully acknowledging the initial terrorist invasion and the ongoing hostage crisis.

In July, the AFT launched the "AFT Disaster Relief Fund for Gaza Humanitarian Aid" without mentioning a single word about the suffering of Israeli families.

Also in July, the NEA made headlines for a new handbook that failed to mention Jews among the 12 million victims of the Holocaust, never mind that 6 million were systematically murdered throughout World War II by the Nazis. Simultaneously, the handbook described the State of Israel's modern-day establishment in 1948 as a nakba ("disaster" or "catastrophe") and falsely claimed a "forced, violent displacement and dispossession of at least 750,000 Palestinians."

Through these votes and statements, the NEA and AFT are not merely failing to provide real moral leadership; they are complicit in advancing narratives that dehumanize and delegitimize. In war, there are always tragedies and complexities. But there are also clear violations of human rights--and choosing ambiguity or selective outrage in the face of those is a choice. It is a morally bankrupt one.

What is the source of all this anti-Israel extremism? One major influence was Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States. A professor and vocal critic of Israel who died in 2010, he portrayed the Jewish state as a colonial aggressor and routinely framed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in starkly one-sided, anti-Israel terms.

In his 2002 essay "The Others," he likened Israeli policies toward Palestinians to apartheid and American racism, accusing the Jewish state of "ethnic cleansing" while largely ignoring terrorism and Israel's security concerns. Zinn's work is widely assigned in teacher-preparation programs, shaping a worldview in which Western democracies--Israel included--are seen as oppressors by default.

His legacy continues to normalize anti-Israel bias among far too many American educators, contributing to the erosion of moral clarity around antisemitism, terrorism and Israel's right to self-defense.

Rethinking Schools--a far-left education journal and publishing enterprise--distributes radical classroom materials nationwide through the "Zinn Education Project" and is just one of many anti-Israel efforts aimed at teachers that need to be exposed. This project uses Zinn's arguments, depicting U.S. and Israeli history primarily through the lens of colonialism and racism, to shape classroom narratives. 

Rethinking Schools regularly publishes lesson plans and articles that mirror Zinn's ideology-based approach, reinforcing anti-Israel perspectives in K-12 education. In doing so, it amplifies Zinn's influence over generations of leftist teachers.

The extremists at Rethinking Schools are hyper-focused on Israel. They have devoted two of the last seven issues to attacking Zionism and earlier this year published a book titled Teaching Palestine. This is not a new phenomenon; anti-Israel articles in the magazine date back to at least 2016.

When the history is written of the post-Oct. 7 explosion of Israel-bashing and antisemitism on American college campuses, historians will not need to look far to understand how students were radicalized against Israel before ever stepping into a college lecture hall.

Originally published at JNS.org