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Critics are accusing the American Federation of Teachers of antisemitism over several resolutions that will be voted on at the AFT conference in Houston this week. This reflects a troubling trend in teachers unions–labeling resolutions critical of Israeli policies .  

In reality, the AFT resolutions mirror views of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza that are held by the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, as well as numerous human rights groups, Middle East experts, and historians, including many in Israel. 

This doesn't mean the AFT resolutions are correct, but it does mean that they're not unreasonable. It also means it is grossly unfair to label them antisemitic. 

For example, veteran journalist Carl Campanile criticizes an “eyebrow-raising proposal [that] even goes so far as suggesting the US is ‘enabling genocide’ in Gaza.” 

Yet earlier this year the that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention. It issued what Human Rights Watch calls a “binding order requir[ing] Israel to against Palestinians in Gaza…with immediate effect”, an order Israel rejected. HRW and Amnesty International condemned Israel for its failure to comply with the order.

Many other experts agree. For example, reports issued by both the and the label Israel's actions a genocide. 

Israeli historian Amos Goldberg of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently in Israel called “Yes, It Is a Genocide” in which he states, “I acknowledge that this is a serious allegation, and I don’t take it lightly.”

Yet for a coalition of Jewish education groups, calling Israel’s actions “genocide” is reviving “ against Jews worldwide.”

Michael Starr, the Diaspora Affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, explains that with an AFT resolution that refers to Israeli “apartheid.” Yet the Israeli human rights groups and , as well as , , and others, have all accused Israel of apartheid. 

Tova Plaut, the founder of the New York City Public School Alliance, says the AFT resolutions “equate” Zionism with “colonialism”, which she calls “a dangerous narrative that fuels discrimination and hatred against Jews.” However, for decades Zionists themselves to refer to their attempts to create a Jewish state in Palestine.

The , an American-led inquiry regarding the disposition of former Ottoman Empire territories, found in 1919 that Jews were no more than 10% of the total population of Palestine, as contrasted with a Muslim population of 80%. The Commission saw creating a Jewish state as a colonial effort that would mean “complete dispossession of the present non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine.”

The AFT is also being criticized for its proposed resolution that the “American military cannot be used in ways that facilitate the seizure of Palestinian land, the violent dispossession of Palestinian communities and the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory.” 

Again, agree or not, there’s widespread international support for the viewpoint expressed in this resolution. Under the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 446, which was passed in 1979 and reaffirmed in 2016, “the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity.”

Like the UN, most of the world sees Gaza and the West Bank as “occupied territory.” In 2016, President Obama “Israel must recognize that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land." 

A found a sharp increase in Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and that almost 30,000 new housing units had been proposed in Palestinian territory within the first six months of that year. 

The AFT is also being criticized for a resolution calling on college campus administrators to “cease their campaign of threats, suspensions and expulsions against peaceful protesters and cease using law enforcement agencies to disrupt and attack them.” However, an organization of educators should speak up for academic freedom and free speech. Educators work hard to prepare students for college–we have a moral obligation to defend their rights.

One of the critics' main objections is that the AFT is “singling out” Israel for criticism. However, the AFT has a long history of passing resolutions condemning human rights violations in a wide range of countries. Over the past 15 years, the AFT has passed resolutions condemning China’s , attacks on striking teachers by Mexican police, and abuses in Haiti, Iran, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, Honduras, Saudi Arabia, India, Hungary, the Philippines and numerous other countries, including the United States and Canada.

Many AFT resolutions have been supportive of Jews and, at times, . Examples include a 1986 resolution condemning the Soviet Union for its persecution of educators who were and/or applying for exit visas to Israel, and a 2002 resolution in Europe and North Africa.

Amy Leserman, chairwoman of the Los Angeles-based Educators for Israel, argues that AFT leadership should not have “allowed” the Israel/Gaza resolutions to “move forward.” Yet these resolutions were introduced by AFT members in compliance with democratic AFT rules and procedures. In effect, Leserman demands that union leaders violate the rights of their members. 

Pro-Israel educators are afforded every opportunity to argue against these resolutions. They’re also welcome to sponsor and advocate their own Israel/Gaza resolutions. 

Would a pro-Israel resolution pass? Maybe, maybe not. But if it were to fail, that’s not antisemitism, that’s union democracy.