Members of the Oakland Education Association, the union representing teachers in the Oakland Unified School District, held a pro-Palestinian “teach-in” on Wednesday for children ages 4 to 18, presenting anti-Israel and antisemitic materials to classes.
A slide from the Oakland Educators Association materials for a pro-Palestinian “teach in,” December 6, 2023. None of the “attacks” were launched by Israel; all began with Hamas attacks on Israel, including — most notoriously — the 2023 terror attack of October 7, which is inverted in the materials into an act of Israeli aggression.
One slide from the curriculum (above) describes Israeli “attacks on Gaza,” which were conflicts started by Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians. The current conflict is included as an “attack on Gaza,” though it began with a horrific terror attack on Israel.
Another image from the curriculum, shared on local Fox affiliate KTVU-2, featured a Jewish caricature with the arms of an octopus, a common image in antisemitic propaganda, including in Nazi Germany. Other books and materials described “Zionist bullies,” and praised so-called Palestinian “resistance,” which has included terrorism against Jewish and Israeli civilians
KTVU reported:
The webinar leads off with a video of Bay Area protests against the war in Gaza, including protesters carrying a “genocide” banner, followed by several conversations with pro-Palestinian activists.
One activist, who went by Violette, said Israeli militia displaced her Palestinian grandmother in 1948 when the state of Israel was founded.
Other speakers denounced the Israeli government and even encouraged students to boycott companies based in Israel.
The curriculum, posted online, includes materials for transitional kindergarten children as young as four, including books like P is for Palestine, which encourages children to learn about “intifada,” a form of uprising that has included the murder of civilians.
A suggested coloring book tells students: ““A group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land so they stole it by force and hurt many people.” Other curriculum elements portray Israel as the result of “settler colonialism” and as an “apartheid state.”
Additional presentations describe the supposed history of the conflict without mentioning Palestinian terrorism; the Palestinian rejection of peace proposals; the attempt by Arab states to destroy Israel; or the Palestinian Arabs’ alliance with Nazi Germany.
The New York Times reported that teach-in’s organizers claimed the curriculum was “’a corrective’ to mainstream education materials that take a pro-Israel view. … Much of the recommended content came from pro-Palestinian advocacy groups.”
The East Bay Times reported that 100 teachers participated in the one-sided, incendiary event, despite complaints from the Jewish community that it would stoke antisemitism, and despite admonishments from the school board that it was unauthorized.
KTVU reported that Jewish groups noted that “the material does not mention the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, doesn’t explain that the state of Israel was born out of the Holocaust and defines a Zionist as a bloodthirsty land grabber who wants a state only for Jews.
“To many Jews, the word Zionism simply means a love for Israel and a belief that Jews should have a safe homeland to live in.”
The Oakland Education Association defended the right of its members to impose hateful indoctrination against Israel and Jews on the children of the district, saying that teachers had the freedom of speech to discuss current events within their classrooms.
Some of the materials went beyond “discussion” and included political posters advocating for pro-Palestinian political positions.
Last month, the Oakland City Council adopted a one-sided resolution calling for a ceasefire in the current conflict in Gaza. Many of the activists who spoke defending the resolution showed complete ignorance of the topic and espoused conspiracy theories.
The resolution passed unanimously. The council defeated an amendment that would also have condemned Hamas terrorism.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.