Jewish War Veterans Denounce MTA Antisemitism

With more than 117,000 members in 400 local associations throughout Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) is a prominent and influential force in the Commonwealth’s public education system. For more than a decade, the MTA has allowed and promoted the dissemination of defamatory material maligning people of Jewish faith and the sovereign state of Israel.

The JWV Department of Massachusetts condemns the MTA’s distribution of biased pedagogical materials based on foreign-generated falsehoods and propaganda, its perpetuation of antisemitic bias in Commonwealth schools, and its consistently inadequate responses to legitimate concerns of the Jewish community.

Since being established in 1869, Jewish War Veterans (JWV) of the USA has battled discrimination in all forms with the same vigor, commitment, motivation, and selflessness demonstrated by the hundreds of thousands of Jewish Americans who have served (and continue to serve) in America’s armed forces and conflicts dating back to the Revolutionary War.

It is in this spirit–and to honor all military service members–that JWV fights antisemitism… especially in its most insidious form: From institutions entrusted with educating our children.

We call upon Massachusetts legislators–regardless of political affiliation–to hold the The MTA accountable for using their prominence and influence as a “bully pulpit” to spread falsehoods, bias, and antisemitic rhetoric. Until the organization reverses its anti-Jewish policies, we urge legislators to sever formal ties with the MTA.

Examples of the MTA’s perfidy are plentiful and troubling:

• The MTA endorsed and distributed in Newton Public Schools (2011–2019) a curriculum containing content sourced from Saudi and Qatari channels. The curriculum features false narratives about Israel and Islamic history, and cloaks virulent antisemitic propaganda in a veil of “pedagogical content.”

• Despite receiving numerous complaints about the biased curriculum, the MTA and the Newton School Committee repeatedly failed to acknowledge or address the serious and legitimate concerns raised by parents, students, and community leaders.

• Recent findings of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) reveal that the MTA continues to fuel anti-Israel sentiment by organizing workshops on “anti-Palestinian racism” and distributing antisemitic flyers thinly disguised as educational resources.

• MTA leaders pay lip service to calls for change: Most recently during President Max Page’s dismissive testimony at the MA legislature’s “Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism” on February 10 (“Discussion on Countering Antisemitism in K-12 Education”)

Holding the MTA accountable for disseminating antisemitic propaganda in Massachusetts public schools isn’t just a “Jewish matter”. Because it concerns the education of all our children, it demands a response by all Massachusetts residents and our elected officials.

Upon joining the military, every service member vows “to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” Bearing true faith and allegiance to the same demands that we identify and seek to fix injustices—especially when an institution entrusted with educating our youth indoctrinates them instead. In demanding accountability for the MTA’s deleterious dogma, members of the JWV Department of Massachusetts muster our fellow veterans and service members, community leaders, and elected officials to join this important battle.

Sidney L. Davis, Jr (HM1 SW/AW USN RET): Commander, JWV Department of Massachusetts (Commander, JWV Brookline-Newton Post 211)

Bruce R. Mendelsohn (LT, U.S. Army, Honorable Discharge): Junior Vice Commander (Interim Commander, COL Irving Yarock JWV Post 32, Worcester)