A Jewish teacher who works in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has resigned from the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union after it moved to take up a pro-BDS motion at an upcoming meeting.
The motion endorsing “the international campaign for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against apartheid in Israel” was passed by UTLA’s North Area and Harbor area units on May 20 and will be taken up by the greater union at a September meeting.
Lindsey Kohn, a sixth-grade math and science teacher at a North Hollywood middle school, wrote in her resignation letter that the motion made her “feel unsafe as a Jew in this UTLA,” reported the Jewish Journal.
“As an educated person, I cannot understand how the union can stand by a terrorist organization… that bombs Israel, hurts their children and wants to kill every Jew. The Palestinians use children and civilians as human shields and then blame Israel for their death. This political battle has NOTHING to do with the education of my students,” she said.
Kohn told the Jewish Journal that the union told her they were taking a wait and see attitude toward the vote, and that her voice was not being heard.
“Every other Jewish teacher I speak to–except the Palestinian sympathizer ones, which unfortunately there are many–they’re angry too. So hopefully we will get a backlash and people will start walking out,” she said.
For the motion to be adopted, it will have to be passed by the UTLA House of Representatives at the September meeting.
The New York Post reported that the UTLA said in a statement, “This is part of our democratic process as a union.”
The union added, “Motions brought by UTLA members at regional area meetings are not the official expressed opinions of UTLA or its elected leaders… Debate and disagreement are essential to democracy and to our union, even when there are deep, conflicting emotions on both sides.”