March 20, 2025
The following column originally appeared in the Jewish Journal of Greater Boston.
By Allison Rubenstein
On Feb. 10, Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) President Max Page generated national outrage when he sat before the state’s Special Commission for Combatting Antisemitism and refused to condemn blatantly anti-Jewish content (including the now-notorious image of a Star of David made of dollar bills) featured in the union’s recently released “curriculum resources” on “Israel and Occupied Palestine.”
Page’s testimony was so shocking and disturbing that some may have chalked it up to an unfortunate lapse in judgment. But a deeper look at the ideas and actions that appear to be guiding the MTA reveals that its promotion of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish ideas is no accident. Rather, it is a reflection of the MTA’s extreme political commitments that not only put Jewish students and teachers at risk, but undermine the very principles of education.
Under the umbrella of social justice, the MTA promotes the notion of an inherent, predetermined power hierarchy that casts individuals, based on fixed identity traits like race, as either oppressed or oppressors. For example, the MTA’s website features a worksheet that maps one’s identity to their “privilege position” and “oppressed position.” Many proponents of this framework advocate for radical educational reform that would “liberate” students from what they argue is an inherently white supremacist society.
Consistent with its actions and the ideas it promotes, the MTA also features an article about why Jews must acknowledge their privilege as white people and work to counteract the role they play in an unjust social order. With the insinuation that Jews are white oppressors, it becomes easier to see how this ideology deems, in neatly dichotomous terms, Israel an oppressive colonizer, and Palestinians its victims who must be liberated. In this flattened portrayal, it doesn’t matter that Israel is the indigenous homeland of the Jewish people or that most Israelis are of Middle Eastern or African origin, not European Ashkenazi descent. Never mind the two million Arabs living fully integrated lives in Israel today, serving in the government and the army. None of that matters. The incredibly complex history of the region, and of a conflict with many legitimate perspectives, is filtered down to a simple story, a singular narrative about oppressors versus oppressed.
This narrative, which casts doubt on Israel’s very right to exist, has been peddled to MTA members not as narrative, but as fact. It has been promoted through webinars, literature, films, and other media. And alternate ways of understanding this complex conflict have been almost entirely absent from the MTA’s programs and resources.
This one-sided, politicized framing predated the release of the MTA’s “curriculum resources.” For example, in March 2024, the MTA held a webinar to address “anti-Palestinian racism,” where attendees were instructed that “Zionism is” – is, as in, definitively – “a multi-million dollar, Israeli state-funded propaganda machine.” Then in July 2024, at its summer conference, the MTA hosted a workshop titled, “Teaching and Learning about Palestine,” led by Salma Abu Ayyash, an activist who, in November 2023, said that Palestinians “have the right to resist by any means possible” and that Israel has “no right to ‘defend itself.’”
Despite national and local outrage, and persistent calls for corrective action following the release of the “curriculum resources,” the MTA has still not removed the overwhelming majority of its 89 offending materials. Perhaps this is because, in the words of Page, the resources reflect the “wish of the MTA Board.”
The MTA leadership appears committed to advancing an extreme political agenda that demonizes Israel and its supporters. This should be a matter of profound concern to Jewish teachers and families, and to all in Massachusetts who believe that educators should teach students how – not what – to think.
If the MTA continues on its path, it will risk polarizing and politicizing K-12 classrooms across Massachusetts. Our classrooms should be places for education, not indoctrination. Regrettably, it appears that MTA leadership has other ideas.
To learn more about the extreme ideology that appears to be driving the MTA’s actions, read AJC New England’s March 2025 report, and its earlier December 2024 report chronicling the MTA’s deepening commitment to extreme ideas and activities. Θ
Allison Rubenstein is the assistant director of communications and advocacy at the American Jewish Committee (AJC) New England.
