We, the rank and file members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people against the recent assault on Gaza by Israeli security forces and the ongoing oppression and persecution of Palestinians and Arab Israelis. We condemn the violent displacement of Palestinian families from their neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and the deadly airstrikes and raids on Gaza that resulted in more than 200 Palestinian deaths over the past week, including dozens of children.

For over 70 years, the Palestinian people have suffered under an unjust military occupation by the Israeli government. Human Rights Watch has charged the Israeli state with crimes of apartheid and persecution: https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution. Through military aid and silence, the US government has enabled Israel’s apartheid regime and the systematic dispossession and disenfranchisement of Palestinians. As US taxpayers, we refuse to be complicit in the violent suppression of Palestinians’ human rights, and we applaud Palestinians’ efforts to carry out a one-day general strike against racism and settler colonialism.

As rank-and-file academic workers, we believe in internationalism-- that working people around the world are united in our struggle against capitalist exploitation and nationalist chauvinism. We mourn all loss of life and recognize that Israeli civilians were also killed in this recent conflict. Yet unlike Israelis, Palestinians have been deprived of a nation-state to protect their rights and dignity. In this defenseless condition, they are subject to an alarming level of violence and brutality at the hands of the Israeli government. We're heartened by Israel's agreement to a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, but we know the Israeli state's relentless persecution of Palestinians and its occupation of indigenous Palestinian territories won’t end without pressure from the world community, including labor.

The one-day general strike in Palestine was a testament to what an organized, collective push from below can achieve, and we must stand in solidarity. Our struggles are connected. The same system that exploits our labor also facilitates the persecution of Palestinians in the Middle East.

We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and call on AFT national, our union's leadership, to issue a public statement condemning the continued oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli state. In addition to issuing a public statement, we call on AFT national to distribute a press release to media and visibly publish a solidarity statement on both their website and social media accounts.

As a union, it's time to show our commitment to human rights and the collective struggle of the Palestinian people!

Signed,

Deepa Bhandaru, AFT 1789
Cristóbal Borges, AFT 1789
Vero Barrera-Kolb, AFT 1789
Peter Knutson, AFT 1789
Chad Miles, AFT 1789
Matthew Hitchman, AFT 1789
Althea Lazzaro, AFT 1789
Brian Holt, AFT 1789
Eric Herbig, AFT 1789
Paul Mitsuo Kurose, AFT 1789
Jean Fallow, AFT 1789
Ila de Leon, AFT 1789
Jenny Mao, AFT 1789
Kimberly Tate-Malone, AFT 1789
Anna Schindler, AFT 1789
Alecia Spooner, AFT 1789
Dawn Smithson, AFT 1789
Phebe Jewell, AFT 1789
Helena Ribeiro, AFT 1789
Caroline Pew, AFT 1789
Sharon Spence-Wilcox, AFT 1789
Kimberly McRae, AFT 1789
Alyssa Jocson Porter, AFT 1789
Dave Ellenwood, AFT 1789
Shaan Shahabuddin, AFT
Carolina Forero, AFT 1789
Jae Hyeuk Suk, AFT 1789
Anna Hackman, AFT 1789
Paul Kikuchi, AFT 1789
Ruby Kaur Hansra, AFT 1789
Amal Al Faiz, AFT 1789
Tracy Lai, AFT 1789
Jim Jewell, AFT 1789
Peggy Martin-Waters, AFT 1789
Desiree Simons, AFT 1789
Ralph Jenne, AFT 1789
Salimah Osman, SEIU 1199 NW
Karen Strickland, AFT 1789 and 8045
Maureen Kill, AFT 1789
Laura Kingston, AFT 1789
Bryce Walb, AFT 1789
Liese Rajesh, AFT 1789
Yoav Duman, AFT 2195
Akemi Fujimoto, AFT 1789
Kyle Nunes, AFT 1789
Denise Grollmus, AFT 1789
Christine Landon, AFT 8045
Caroline Conley, AFT 1789
Ana Villar, AFT 1789
Emily Beals, AFT 2195
James To, AFT 8045
Devin Klein, AFT 2195
Cortney Marabetta, AFT 8045
Andrew Bossie, AFT 1839
Shannon Sharpe, AFT 2195
Yilin Sun, AFT 1789
Kirsten Higgins, AFT 2195
Jon Nachman, AFT 1789
Grace Sparks, AFT 1789
Zahra Alavi, AFT 1789
Vik Bahl, AFT 2195
Damon Ellington, AFT 1789
Kris Hardy, AFT 1789
Robin Bowles, AFT 2195
Ann S. Modzelewski, AFT
Anthony Warnke, AFT 2195
Laurie Kempen, AFT 1789
Mark Thomason, AFT 2195
Linda Bevis, AFT 1789
Michael Manzer, AFT
Laurie Acheson, AFT 1789
Rebeka Ferreira, AFT
Sandrine Hocde, AFT 1789
Laura McCracken, AFT 1789
Justina Rompogren, AFT 1789
Kelle Rose, AFT 1789 and 4821
Hugo Alamillo, AFT 1789
Farhana Loonat, AFT Human Right Committee
Irene Morrison, AFT 8045
Reham Elkhayat, AFT 1789
Scott Ku, AFT 1789
Elena Bianco, AFT 4985
Emily Hudson, AFT 1789
Elinor Appel, AFT 1789
Alice Enevoldsen, AFT 1789
Yvonne Willis, AFT 1789
Marcia Horton, AFT 1789
Jay Mclean-Riggs, AFT 1789
Ajay Narayanan, AFT 2195
Toni Anderson, AFT 1789
Abby Forster, AFT 1789
Trish Root, AFT 1789
Emily Campbell
Michael Reagan, AFT 1789
Josh Bergeron, AFT 6297
Katy Dichter, AFT 1789
John Toutonghi, AFT 1789
Erin Gibbons, AFT 1789
Betty Williams, AFT 1789
Ryan Hamann, WFNHP Local 5000
Anne Richards, AFT 1789 and 1950
Chuck McKeever, AFT 1789
Rebecca Yedlin, AFT 1789
Ruben Murcia, AFT 1789
Hannah Berry-Chee, AFT 2195
Cathryn Cabral, AFT 1789
Todd Barnes, AFT 2274
Beth Goss, AFT 1789
Terri Chung, AFT 1789
Tracy Furutani, AFT 1789
Jeff Schuhrke, AFT 6456
Barry Rickman
Greg Campbell, AFT 4169
Anissa Anderson, AFT 2195
Kurt Dunbar, AFT 4985
Tram Dang
Adam Miyashiro, AFT 2275
Lauren Whitmer, AFT 3550
Jill Lane, AFT 1789
Sara Keene, AFT 2195
Sudie Allen-Henn, AFT 1789
Charles D’Amato, AFT
Diana Ma, AFT
Susan Barclay, AFT 1789
Stephanie Colbert, AFT
Elisabetta Valenti, AFT
Jamie Wilson, AFT 1789
Kate Kenderish, AFT
Jess White, AFT 2275
Tim Jones, WEA
Chris Dixon, AFT 2195
Laura Sposato
Hugh Sheehy, AFT 2274
Nicole Bade, AFT 1789
Ariel Wetzel, AFT 2195
Krystle Balhan, AFT 1789
Anna-Marie Magdalena, AFT 8045
Erin Steinke, AFT 1789
Seth Greendale, AFT 3591
Christine Landon, AFT 8045
Wendy Wineland, WEA
Melissa Grinley, AFT 1789
Joel Shaver, AFT 1789
Albert Engel, AFT 1789
Greg Bem, AFT 3533
Stephanie Solomon, AFT 1789
Millie Priebe, AFT 2195
Carla Thompson, AFT 6550 and 1789
Tsega Gaim, AFT 2195
Laura Wadlin, AFT 2277
Emari DiGiorgio, AFT 2275
Rania Kanaan
Marc Barrington, AFT 2195
Dr. F. Taylor
Katie Cunnion, AFT 2195
Matthew Cullen, AFT 2195
Heather Price, AFT 1789
David Ha-Becherer, AFT
Lori Ann Miller, AFT 1789
Leonard Wainstein, AFT 2195
Lindsey Smith
Krysta Walia, AFT
Katy Shaw, AFT 2195
Dawn Webster Williams, AFT 2195
Ray Carrillo, AFT 8045
Jake Heare, AFT 2195
Amanda Chin, AFT 2195
Katrina Sire, AFT 4603
Oussama Alkhalili, HCEA
Hanan Al-Zubaidy
Kelsey Denton, AFT 2195 and 1789
Katie Baker, AFT 2195, HCEA
Tina Young
Carolyn Brotherton, AFT 8045
Claudia Jean Roberts
Joan Brousseau
Laila Suidan, AFT 1789
Catherine Thomas
Anna Wolff, AFT 3591
Vishal Bakshi, AFT 2121
David Purucker, AFT 3544
Mary Saldin, AFT 1789
Michael Dean, AFT 1789
Andrew Turgeon
Ian Sherman, AFT 2195
Catherine Rabold, AFSCME
Jaeney Hoene, AFT 2195
Paul Metivier, AFT
Amanda Clifford, WFSE 304
Joel Perdue
Zeinab Saab, AFT 2277
Huma Mohibullah, AFT 1789
Norman C. Koerner, AFT of PA
John Calavitta dos Santos
Lavada Marion Dawan
Max Lasky
Zuleyha Ozturk
Marwa Almusawi
Ameer Kiani
Tehya Jackson
Michael Eisenscher, AFT 1603 (retired)
Anita Rapone, AFT 2190
Dennis Hogan, GLO-AFT 6516
Keenan Wilder, AFT 6516
Michael Scheinberg, AFT 2373
CC Grippers, AFT 2/UFT
Les Pauls, AFT 1600
Sarah Kenney, ACSE 6056
Sarah Redd, AFT 3914
Per Faaland, AFT
Tommaso Vannelli, AFT 3591
Cody Hiatt, AFT-SPS 6550
Eric Hamako, AFT 1950
David Shapiro, AFT 6191
Rachel Dorn, AFT 1485
Annette Stofer, AFT 1789
Sophia Ryechner, AFT 6153
Chuck Lambert, AFT & WEA
Tran Phung, WCCFT 3591
Travis Margoni, AFT 1485
Renee Potter, AFT 8045
Tara Blanton Hughes, AFT 3591
Melissa Tamminga, AFT 3591
Jerome Szpila, AFT 6056
John King, AFT 7902
Carol Jean Gallo, AFT 4531
Larisa Mann, AFT 4531
Deborah Lemieur, AFT 4531
Josh Stern, AFT 6290
Susan Bertolino, AFT 4531
Ariane Fischer, AFT 4531
Wende Marshall, AFT 4531
Max Avener, AFT 4531
Laurie Robins, AFT 6290