UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz (Photo: UTLA Facebook video screenshot)
LA Teachers Union Rallying Teachers to Condemn Israel
The ‘UTLA has demonstrated it is a political organization and not a union seeking the best educational system possible’
By Katy Grimes, June 11, 2021 7:52 am
The UTLA teachers union has been rallying teachers throughout the district to support a resolution condemning Israel and supporting Palestine – creating more unnecessary divisive politics amongst teachers and students and families.
Last week, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz released a statement to members encouraging adoption of a resolution, along with a motion form that said:
“UTLA denounce(ing) the recent bombings in The West Bank and Gaza by the Israeli resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilian people, mostly women and children. The high intensity aerial warfare is unjust and inhumane. Palestinians have the right to self-determination free of violence and occupation. UN Resolution 194 asserts their right of return to their homes, unjustly seized by the Israeli government Israel must stop evictions of Palestinians currently taking place in East Jerusalem and end its 55-year old military occupation of The West Bank and Gaza strip.
Our tax dollars should go to public schools and healthcare not incessant warfare against an indigenous people in the Middle East. UTLA should unite with and stand up for workers everywhere, especially the most oppressed of them, especially as the Palestinian Federation of Trade Union of Gaza urges solidarity. The World Federation of Trade Unions has also denounced the attacks against Palestinians. It is time we do, too.”
A resident of Los Angeles contacted the Freedom Foundation about this, and reported: the vote “already is taking place at 8 school sites. It was voted down in West LA, voted in favor of in Harbour and North, still pending votes in the other 5 sites. Either way, it will probably go to UTLA House of Representatives bc 2 sites passed it.”
The Freedom Foundation fights back
“Leaving aside for a moment the jaw-dropping ignorance of the Middle East situation manifest in Myart-Cruz’s grotesque over-simplification, it simply beggars belief that anyone could contemplate marshaling the combined resources at UTLA’s disposal in defense of an ideology that make no apology for the use of terrorism and death in its relentless quest to eradicate the entire Jewish race,” said Shella Sadovnik, litigation counsel at the Freedom Foundation, a national organization that fights government union abuses.
“For more than a year, the United Teachers of Los Angeles has demonstrated it is a political organization and not a union seeking the best educational system possible. But this is beyond the pale,” Sadovnik said.
“It is unconscionable that after a year of sacrificing our children’s education and well-being on the altar of their leftist political agenda to defund the police, ban charter schools and raise taxes on California residents, UTLA is now wasting taxpayer resources to condemn Israel, causing further political division at a time we need it least,” continued Sadovnik.
“Los Angeles has the second-largest Jewish community in America. UTLA’s statements in light of the recent anti-Semitic attacks is unfathomable. Moreover, union leaders are callously alienating and isolating Jewish teachers and students, who are already feeling anxious about being labeled.”
“It’s as if the UTLA is hell-bent on inflicting mental and emotional damage on the children and parents in the district,” concluded Sadovnik. “When will the politicians in Los Angeles stand up to these union thugs? This union needs to be held accountable, and it looks like we’re the only ones prepared to do it.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that the San Francisco teachers union has moved on a faster track, adopting a pro-Palestinian position in May, calling essentially for the same actions.
2021-06-02 UTLA Motion for Palestine
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We are ranked near the bottom in nearly every metric in this state, graduation rates, math proficiency, literacy, and now IQ. I could keep going but I will spare us all.
It is good to see that the UTLA have their priorities straight. Don’t know about you all but demonizing Israel is at the top of my list to advance our students learning! With these priorities just maybe we can achieve the lowest bar and rank 50th instead of 48 or 49 in the country!????
Glad my kids graduated before all this nonsense!
Who cares! All my Jewish friends in L.A. send their kids to private school!
The division will continue with union Marxists like the puppet Cecily.
What America does she hail from? Central or South?
The UTLA is an anti-America political organization, and should have ALL it’s tax-exemption status for federal and state taxes CANCELLED. IMMEDIATELY.
While doing some supervised elementary school teaching in East LA, I could see the importance of small businesses, the nuclear family, schools and the church. Leftist leaders like this UTLA president have CLEARLY lost touch with this community. Imo, Latinos like those in the LA area, with these conservative values can be the KEY to RECALLING NEWSOM:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/06/07/marco-rubio-shift-hispanic-vote-toward-gop-under-trump-permanent-unless-republicans-revert-pre-trump-ways/
ahhh a union thugette..who joins the current trend of hating jews..
teachers unions: we will care about the students when the start paying dues !!
I wonder what she teaches and if she is effective at it? For shits and giggles it would be fun to see how this POS union leader would do on a high school proficiency test
@Waiting2inhale, I love that idea!
My guess is she would fail, bigly????
God help the children!!
If you were not really clear about the role of the teachers’ unions before, it’s pretty obvious now that their mission has nothing to do with educating your kids.
Just get your kids out of public school. They’re not learning math, science, reading/writing to any level of aptitude anyway; they’re learning climate change, critical race theory and pushed LGBTQ propaganda. Remember, every day that your kid is enrolled, the Marxist teachers’ unions get funding. Get out now. What do you have to lose? Really? Get some direction, join California School Choice Foundation http://www.californiaschoolchoice.org/
Who stole Palestine?
This sadistic, lying union boss should take some time to read both the Hamas and the PLO charters. She will find out that both groups of Islamic killers assert that “the Holocaust was a mere lie that was devised by the Zionists to blackmail humanity,” written by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook in “Hamas Speaks,” Opinion, LA Times, January 8, 2009.
Therefore, the 6 MILLION JEWS who were brutally murdered in the Shoah were actually very busy running out of their mass graves a few thousand miles to the Holy Land to steal Palestine, and then running back to their graves, quietly in the night.
This is what this very, very foolish, sadistic woman believes, thus she is dangerous to our children, their parents and their teachers.
If Palestine “started it,” why is Israel “guilty” for defending their own turf??? It is THEIRS, and has been for most of history. The minute Palestine stops, Israel will stop as well. They are not the aggressors here. Just protecting their own amazing tiny little country with precision. God bless Israel!
I am a Jewish Israel supporter who grew up in West LA. I went to public schools and my children did, as well. I felt that it is was important for my kids to grow up up with children of other races, religions and backgrounds because understanding and respecting differences in others was what made our community exceptional. For years now, there has been an insidious movement of anti-Semetic “progressives” (many who are sadly Jewish themselves) who have been promulgating the anti-Israel agendas (BDS etc) that have also allowed the growth of voices, such as the subject UTLA members and politicians like Ilan Omar, to become a normal and accepted part of our society. I urge those Jews in my community who still embrace a strong Jewish identity to stand strong against these hateful voices. The silence in our community is simply deafening.
Most LA Jews won’t see it coming again.
I was a member of UTLA for years before I retired. I don’t understand why this organization needs to voice anything outside the realm of education. It represents concerns of a PUBLIC school district comprised of many ethnicities and should therefore refrain from making ANY political comment.
After 35 years as a teacher with LAUSD and an active union member , I refused to join when I retired. They don’t really care about education.