Gottheimer urges NJEA to cancel “Teaching Palestine” session, citing concerns over antisemitism and misinformation
NEW JERSEY — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) has called on the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) to cancel its planned “Teaching Palestine” session at the organization’s annual convention in Atlantic City, citing concerns that the program promotes misinformation and antisemitic narratives.
In a letter sent this week to NJEA President Steve Beatty, Gottheimer said the session’s content and the background of its instructors raise serious questions about bias and the appropriateness of the material for New Jersey educators.
“The individuals you have invited to teach our state’s educators about the Middle East and combating antisemitism have a clear bias against our key democratic ally, Israel, and the Jewish people,” Gottheimer wrote. “The program presents a clear political narrative that promotes one side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a skewed view of antisemitism, while ignoring key historical facts. This type of biased content has no place in New Jersey classrooms, undermines our state’s values, and raises serious concerns about potential targeting of Jewish students and educators.”
Gottheimer also accused the NJEA and its national affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA), of showing a “troubling pattern and practice” of allowing antisemitic rhetoric and biased materials. “The NJEA’s behavior reflects a troubling pattern and practice — both within NJEA and its national parent, the NEA — that have deeply upset our community and state, and, unfortunately, have led me to send multiple letters addressing antisemitic incidents linked to NJEA and NEA,” he said.
The congressman’s letter pointed to several past controversies, including the NEA’s vote to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League, and the NJEA’s hiring of Ayat Oraby as an editor despite her history of “hate-filled rhetoric toward Jews and Christians.”
Gottheimer also took issue with the “Teaching Palestine” session’s materials and instructor, Adam Sanchez, who is affiliated with the Racial Justice and Organizing Committee (RJOC). Members of that group, he noted, have participated in demonstrations that described the October 7 Hamas attacks as “resistance.”
According to Gottheimer, the session’s curriculum is based on the book Teaching Palestine, which he said “reads less like an educational resource and more like an extremist political activist agenda.” He cited sections of the book that describe Israel’s creation as a “colonial war,” accuse Israel of “apartheid,” and encourage educators to support the BDS movement to boycott Israel.
“New Jersey educators have a duty to teach facts, not ideology,” Gottheimer wrote. “Programs like ‘Teaching Palestine’ replace facts with bias and use our classrooms to push divisive, politicized agendas. Our children deserve to learn history based on facts, not bias.”
He urged the NJEA to review and remove the session from its conference agenda, adding that classrooms should be “places of learning — not platforms for political propaganda.”
