Massachusetts Teachers Association slammed for only removing some ‘antisemitic, deeply offensive’ resources

Promises made — but promises not kept.

That’s the message from Jewish advocacy groups, teachers and elected leaders as the Massachusetts Teachers Association reportedly removed only some of the “antisemitic” and “deeply offensive” content from its resource list on the Israel-Hamas war.

The MTA had recently come under fire after a viral State House hearing when the MTA president was grilled by the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism over its optional educational resources about the Israel-Hamas war. Those resources included a Star of David made out of dollar bills, and a poster that depicts Israelis as snakes.

Following the backlash, the teachers union said it would take down links to sites containing “antisemitic, offensive” images. But more than a week later, the MTA has only removed some of the images.

The “Resources on Israel and Occupied Palestine” for MTA members still features a children’s workbook that calls Zionists “bullies.”

“Children like me keep having their homes taken by the Zionist bullies,” the children’s workbook reads. “They are always scaring them and arresting them.”

The Anti-Defamation League said it’s “outraged” that the MTA’s resource list “remains extremely one-sided and biased and still includes inflammatory, harmful, and factually inaccurate content.”

“After the hearing of the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism that highlighted some really deeply offensive and antisemitic materials, the union had significant work to do to address that harm and restore the public’s trust,” Sara Colb, deputy director of the ADL New England chapter, told the Herald.

“Then when the MTA said it would remove the offensive materials and not direct hate at any group, we were cautiously optimistic of a course correction,” she added. “Now we remain as concerned as ever. These materials that call Zionists bullies and images that call for violence against Israelis quite clearly direct hate at a group of people… No trust has been restored.”

State. Sen. John Velis is a co-chair on the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism. He said the MTA has come up way short.

“As far as I can gather based on what MTA members have shared and told me, there are still an abundance of antisemitic and one-sided materials on the site,” Velis said. “To be sure, some have been taken down.

“But when you’re dealing with hate, and materials that have the ability to perpetuate and amplify hate, taking down some of the materials is simply not good enough,” he added. “I can think of no other world, let alone a K-12 education setting, where someone should get a pat on the back for only partially and marginally addressing hate.”

State Rep. Simon Cataldo is the other co-chair on the commission, and he did a lot of the grilling during the hearing.

“The responsible move would have been to take the entire list down and engage in a good faith effort to fix it,” Cataldo said. “However, I think it was conclusively established during our February 10th meeting that the MTA’s leadership is not a responsible arbiter of how the subject matter should be taught, so I am unsurprised that the resources remain deeply flawed from an educational perspective.

“The Special Commission will continue to collaborate with the Legislature, teachers, and other stakeholders to help our school systems navigate these complex issues in the classroom,” he added.

The Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism teachers’ group reported that 95% of the MTA’s resources remain up.

“We can’t let the MTA claim they’ve made real changes,” the group said in a statement. “They’ve removed just two links, while 95% of their resources remain online — many of which are one-sided, biased, and delegitimize Israel.

“Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism is outraged,” the group added. “We had hoped that the MTA’s decision to address some of the troubling resources would lead them to reflect on whether the intention behind these curriculum resources was truly in the best interest of its members and the students it serves. Clearly this did not happen.”

The MTA had compiled the materials to “help educators engage with their students on this crucial and difficult topic,” according to the resource sheet distributed to MTA members.

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MTA President Max Page and VP Deb McCarthy more than a week ago released a statement about resources being removed.

“As trusted educators, MTA members would never want to have antisemitic materials on the MTA website, and the MTA does not promote materials that direct hate at any group,” the leaders said in the statement. “We will remove any materials that do not further the cause of promoting understanding.

“Images displayed at a Feb. 10 hearing by the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism are not posted on the MTA’s website, but rather on outside websites, which are linked to the resources page,” Page and McCarthy added. “The links to the sites containing those offensive images will be removed.”

The Massachusetts Teachers Association did not immediately respond to comment on Friday.

The “Resources on Israel and Occupied Palestine” for MTA members still features a children’s workbook that calls Zionists “bullies.” (MTA resource list screenshot)

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