In August, the second-largest teachers' union chapter in the country - United Teachers Los Angeles, with over 35,000 members - gathered at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles for a conference, reports the Free Press's Abigail Shrier.
Among the topics discussed was how to subtly indoctrinate K-12 students against Israel. In a session titled “How to be a Teacher & an Organizer… and NOT Get Fired,” history teacher Ron Gochez led a workshop on covert methods to influence students' political views, specifically regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Seated before a PowerPoint presentation, Gochez outlined how teachers could engage in political activism without raising alarms. “We have to be really intelligent about how we do this,” he said. “We know we’re under a microscope. Zionists and others will be watching, trying to catch us in any way they can to get us into trouble.” His message? Teachers should be strategic in organizing students for pro-Palestinian rallies during the school day—without attracting suspicion from administrators or parents.
During the session, Gochez hinted at ways to take students to anti-Israel rallies without raising red flags. "If you organize students, it’s at your own risk, but it’s something that’s necessary,” he said, acknowledging the potential consequences but also underscoring the importance of such activism.
He also warned the group to be cautious of “Zionist” teachers or even administrators who might attempt to expose their activities. "You have to be careful with admin trying to be all chummy with you. Even sometimes our own students can be a threat,” Gochez cautioned.
Fellow panelist William Shattuc, a history teacher at John Adams Middle School, echoed Gochez’s sentiments. Draped in a keffiyeh, Shattuc framed history education as inherently political. “Good history education is political education,” he asserted.
“And when we’re coming up against political movements like Zionism that we disagree with, we’re in conflict with…they have their own form of political education and their own tools of censorship.” Shattuc’s remarks made it clear that to these educators, teaching history is often intertwined with advancing political activism.
Interviews with parents, teachers, and organizations that track radicalism in schools suggest that anti-Israel activism is no passing trend. It’s a movement that’s spreading beyond elite private schools and into public K-12 classrooms.
One Catholic parent, who monitors radicalism in schools through the Substack Undercover Mother, noted, “They’ve moved on from BLM to gender unicorns to the new thing: anti-Israel activism. Anti-Israel activism is the new gender ideology in the schools.”
This growing trend signals a shift in how political movements are influencing the curriculum, and it raises serious questions about the role of educators in shaping students’ political beliefs.
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