Representatives for the nation’s largest teachers union passed a resolution aimed at recognizing Palestine as a state and shot down a resolution aimed at publicly boycotting Israel.
The resolution that passed during the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual representative meeting was “referred to the appropriate committee” and was crafted by NEA leadership that insists the union “must recognize the existence and sovereignty of Palestine and Palestinian children and families and their human right to access a quality education and live freely.”
The passed resolution openly refers to Israel as “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” It demands that the NEA use its existing digital communication networks to “educate members and the general public about the history, culture, and struggles of Palestinians, including the detention and abuse of children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The resolution also demands that the NEA highlight and publish articles that recognize the work done by members “fighting for the rights of Palestinian children and families.” State and local affiliate chapters were also told that they must “protect the rights” of pro-Palestinian — and often anti-Israel — members.
As it stands, the NEA is set to endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state pending committee review. Uri Pilocowski, a writer at The Times of Israel, opined that a Palestinian Authority administered state “would pose a danger to Israel’s security.”
“A government that promotes and turns a blind eye to terror can not be entrusted to run a state,” Pilocowski wrote. “A Palestinian government would have to include Hamas, a terrorist entity that vows to destroy Israel. This would make a Palestinian state a terror organization.”
During the NEA’s annual meeting, representatives shot down a resolution that claimed that Israel was participating in the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. The proposed item would have cost the NEA more than $71,000.
“The NEA will publicize its support for the Palestinian struggle for justice and call on the United States government to stop arming and supporting Israel and Saudi Arabia,” the defeated resolution reads. “The NEA will further publicize its support for refugee status for the millions of people across the region who are forced to move and seek refuge for themselves and their families because of the ongoing conflict and repression.”
The same resolution claimed that the Arab population was heroically rising up against Israel in the most recent terrorist attacks lobbed against the Jewish state.
“The Arab population of Palestine has again risen up in a heroic struggle against military repression and ‘ethnic cleansing’ by the Israeli state and extreme nationalist forces in Israeli society. The NEA’s support of this struggle will weaken reaction internationally,” the resolution reads.
The NEA is not the only teachers union making comments about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. According to the Washington Free Beacon, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten criticized Jews as being “part of the ownership class” in an interview.