As many of us are aware from media coverage, the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) recently produced — and after significant backlash, eventually removed — at least two pieces of anti-Israel propaganda aimed at explicitly “teaching and organizing for Palestine within Portland Public Schools.”

The first was a document titled “Teach Palestine!” that encouraged K-12 educators to use lesson plans, reading lists, videos, posters and other “resources” to help students to side with Palestine and against Israel — beginning in preschool.  The second was a guidebook offering the union’s contractual and other legal protection for teachers who do so.

While PAT’s actions are shocking, they are, unfortunately, not in the least surprising.

At the state and national levels, PAT is an affiliate of the Oregon Education Association (OEA) and the National Education Association (NEA). The NEA has regularly proposed or adopted official pro-Palestinian stances at each of its last three annual conferences, one of which in 2021 explicitly called for the union to “publicize its support for the Palestinian struggle for justice and call on the United States government to stop arming and supporting Israel….”  

Meanwhile, both the OEA and PAT signed a public resolution in December of 2023 calling for “an immediate ceasefire and end to the siege of Gaza,” around which time PAT also hosted a “Palestine 101: Joint Struggle Panel” at its headquarters.

Nevertheless, the pro-Palestinian educational materials published by PAT in May sparked the most outrage yet among Jewish educators, parents and the public — and understandably so. Because unlike the many other controversial stances taken by union leaders outside of the workplace, PAT’s new anti-Israel resources were developed for the express purpose of indoctrinating children within the classroom and backing up teachers who do so.

Among other things, the resources promoted by PAT included a collection of 100 revolutionary posters “in support of a Free Palestine,” many of which feature fighters wielding assault rifles or grenades and explicitly glorify violence against Israel.

The material also led to a pro-Palestinian rally toolkit teaching the chant, “It is right to rebel! (I)srael go to hell!”

The union’s propaganda was developed in collaboration with “Oregon Educators for Palestine,” an informal group about whom little is known but which appears to be associated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Nationally, DSA has created a similarly named “Educators for Palestine” project with the stated goal of encouraging teachers to advocate for Palestine’s “heroic struggle for liberation” against Israel and is well known for its aggressive antisemitism, having celebrated and blamed Israel for the horrific attack on Israeli citizens by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.

It’s shameful union leaders would collaborate with such hateful interests but, again, it’s entirely in character. Even before the recent fire storm in Portland, the OEA had already been allowing DSA to use its district offices in Salem.

The OEA and PAT claim to represent teachers’ best interests, but for Jewish educators and others who feel betrayed or threatened by the union’s involvement in promoting Palestinian violence against Jews, the evidence rightfully calls into question whether union leaders truly care as much about teachers’ workplace representation as they do about using their positions in the labor movement to advance their own political and ideological goals steeped in a reductive, radicalized worldview.

Thankfully, teachers do not have to support their union’s divisiveness.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public employees can no longer be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Broadly speaking, it’s precisely because of behavior like PAT’s that the court ruled in favor of public employees—it recognized that requiring public employees, including teachers, to financially support the union’s political and ideological views violated individuals’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech and association.

For teachers in Portland, there’s never been a better time to exercise that right.