Portland, Oregon teacher's union wants to indoctrinate Pre-K-12 students in anti-Israel, pro-Hamas propaganda

PORTLAND, OR- Get your kids out of public schools…especially in liberal enclaves like Portland. The teacher’s union in Portland, the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) is promoting and collaborating in an anti-Israel lesson plan designed for students from pre-K through high school, The Jerusalem Post reports. 

That lesson plan would have teachers instruct students that Israel is “an illegitimate settler-colonial state,” and would push anti-Zionism and encourage participation in anti-Israel (pro-Hamas) protests. 

At an information session last week, PAT and Oregon Educators for Palestine (Hamas) presented a document called “Know Your Rights: Teaching and Organizing for Palestine Within Portland Public Schools,” and a companion lesson guide, “Teach Palestine! Resources for Portland Public Schools.” 

PAT says the first document was created due to alleged censorship by the Portland Public School district of “teachers and other education workers who are teaching about Palestine, posting pro-Palestine sentiments in schools, and even those wearing pro-Palestine messages.” 

The union alleges members are censored from having students learn about “settler colonialism and Zionism,” presentations about Palestinians, and the wearing of politically driven clothing with the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” That is of course code language for the destruction of Israel. 

The document explains so-called legal and contractual protections, as well as the rights to far-left educators to teach from a pro-Palestinian point of view. It also provides definitions for key terms from a leftist point of view. For example, antisemitism is described as a “European Christian phenomenon,” and Zionism as a “settler colonial political ideology and movement.” 

The guide advises that in the English and Language Arts curriculum, teachers should have the academic freedom to choose content to teach reading and writing and “they should use literature on Palestinians or by Palestinian authors so that they can offer context on the author’s background.” 

In a resource book for Pre-K teachers, it offers lessons on grief, death and genocide; the portion on genocide is “Holocaust-themed but is included to discuss current events in the Levant,” The Post wrote. The resources claim that Israel has “illegitimately taken control of Palestinian land and is oppressing Palestinians,” which is absurd. 

One suggested book is called “P is for Palestine” and pushes intifada in a positive note and defines it as “rising up for what is right.” Another book, Eliyas Explains What’s Going on in Palestine” attempts to justify the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel as being justified. The main character’s mother says that “...since the occupation, the Palestinians have tried to resist. They have tried all the ways they can think of. Sometimes peacefully, like marching, and sometimes with force. This time it was with force, so there has been violence in Israel and Palestine.” 

The book then goes on to tell children to “free Palestine” and “end the occupation.” A workbook features a Palestinian cartoon character relating that “a group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land, so they stole it by force and hurt many people.” 

Lesson plans for older grades include using “ceasefire” and “protest” as a word of the day, and a color by number sheet has students color Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank under the Palestinian flag. Indoctrination? You decide. 

Grade plans for grades 3-5 talks about “settler colonialism and Palestine” and teaches children, “The people who are taking over Palestinian land have no right to kick anyone out. This is settler colonialism. This is not okay.” 

The lesson plans completely ignore Palestinian terrorist attacks and bombings of Israel but accuse Israel of “attacking and killing Palestinian people there. This is not the first time this happened, the Israeli army has done this many times and many Palestinian people have been hurt by this.” 

High school lessons are even worse. In one lesson, it asks students to role play as the child of Anwar al-Awlaki, who was tied to al Qaeda and was killed in a US drone strike. 

“My dad was increasingly angry about the racist behavior of the US government, and he used some strong language, like calling for ‘jihad,’” the lesson plan read. “”It is easy to get scared of foreign words, and yes, my dad was calling for war against the US government (though jihad can also be expressed positively as a struggle of great importance in a desire for self-improvement and social justice, like in the term ‘gender jihad’). I understand that my dad’s words were threatening, but why not put out a warrant for his arrest and try him in a court of law?” 

Understandably, the lesson plans drew sharp criticism from the Jewish community. Jewish Federation of Greater Portland CEO and founder Marc Blattner slammed the PAT in a blog post published last week. He condemned the PAT’s contention that the October 7 terrorist attacks were “justified resistance,” and that Israeli intelligence was homophobic because it allegedly blackmailed gay Palestinians with threats of outing, a virtual death sentence for LGBTQ individuals in Palestine. 

“This is an effort by the teachers’ union to promote what many feel is a biased and historically revisionist curriculum, "said Blattner. “The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland received numerous complaints from Jewish PPS teachers, parents, and even elected officials about the meeting and the materials. Sadly, the PAT continues to engage in and lead anti-Israel activism.” 

Blattner said the Jewish community was in the process of creating “K-12 parent advocacy groups.” 

Former Republican presidential candidate and current South Carolina Senator Tim Scott slammed the guides last week, calling them “indoctrination.” 

“The antisemitic hate that is being permitted, and often promoted, at schools across the country is a disgrace,” said Scott. “No Jewish student should ever feel threatened in any classroom or on any campus!”