Exclusive | Flyer urging teachers to divest pension funds from Israel is illegally distributed in NYC schools: Violated trust
A controversial antisemitic flyer urging teachers voting in union elections to back a campaign to divest pension funds from Israel was improperly distributed in some New York City public schools, The Post has learned.The incendiary petition circulated as two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed by a suspected terrorist in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night.“This UFT election season, vote for candidates who divest our pension from genocide,” the flyer said.“Sign the petition to show UFT candidates that you will be voting with divestment in mind during the election.”Jewish civil rights groups such as the Anti-Defamation League said the economic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is antisemitic because it seeks to undermine and destroy the world’s only Jewish state.Pro-Israel teachers said the handout had been distributed to at least three Manhattan schools: two in the same building on West 17th Street, the New York City Lab for Collaborative Studies Middle School and the Museum High School, as well as the Mosaic Preparatory Academy elementary school on East 111th Street, and at least one in the Bronx.Outraged teachers said the flyer has been handed out in schools by teachers claiming to be UFT officers, or who were not from their schools.“I was definitely shocked.
It violated the trust in the building.It came from a teacher from another school,” a staffer at the 17th Street building said.
“These are blood libels.They don’t belong in the education space.”Another teacher who requested anonymity said, “As a Jewish educator, I was deeply troubled when receiving this letter with clear antisemitic undertones — especially in the wake of the tragic killing of two civilians targeted for being Jewish.“This act of hate is unacceptable.
Our schools and communities must remain places of inclusion and respect for all.”Karen Feldman, co-founder of the New York City Public School Alliance, blasted the use of “school channels to distribute pol...