Welcome to ‘Hamassachusetts?’
That’s the headline of a report by the independent media outlet The Free Press on the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), the largest teachers union in New England, pushing educators to use antisemitic instructional materials in the classroom.
It’s a situation that has Jewish leaders in New Hampshire keeping an eye on events across the state line.
During a public hearing last week, the MTA head was grilled by several Bay State lawmakers over materials featuring blatant antisemitic imagery in the group’s “Resources on Israel and Occupied Palestine” resource document. Among them, a dollar bill folded into a Star of David.
Holding up the image, state Rep. Simon Cataldo (D-Concord) asked MTA President Max Page, “You’d agree that this is antisemitic imagery, correct?”
Page evaded. “I’m not gonna evaluate that.”
The exchange occurred during a hearing of the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. It was featured in a Free Press report.
Images from the document, in addition to video of the testy exchange between Cataldo and Page, went viral on social media following the Feb. 10 hearing.
“It’s a dollar bill, folded up, in a Star of David — is it antisemitic?” Cataldo pressed. “I think you nodded your head ‘yes.’”
“I know you’d like to — I understand the back-and-forth, which is you’re trying to, you’re trying to get away from the central point which is that we provide imagery, we provide resources for our members to consider in their own intelligent, professional way,” Page said as he continued to dodge.
The MTA’s document describes images like the Star of David dollar bill as “curricula” that “helps educators engage with their students on this crucial and difficult topic.”
Other images from the document provided to Massachusetts teachers “consider in their own intelligent, professional way” include:
- A poster of a pro-Hamas militant wearing a keffiyeh and holding an assault rifle, captioned, “What was taken by force can only be returned by force.”
- A poster advertising a “day of rage” to “decolonize this place.”
- A poster telling “Zionists” to “f–k off.”
- A poster featuring a snake – once used in pro-Nazi propaganda, under the caption, “Unity in Confronting Zionism.”
The materials also include a children’s book about a young Palestinian girl featuring the line, “A group of bullies called Zionists wanted our land, so they stole it by force and hurt many people.”
Educational institutions run by progressives have been plagued by incidents of antisemitism in recent years, a problem that picked up national attention after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel. Harvard, MIT, and other prominent universities have faced investigations and even lawsuits over the treatment of Jewish students on campus.
Tracy Richmond, chair of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire board, told NHJournal Monday she has been following events in the Massachusetts school system and issues of antisemism “for quite a while.”
Robert Leikind, regional director of the American Jewish Committee in New England, told The Free Press “it’s astonishing” that the MTA could “defend the idea that it’s legitimate to present one-sided content.”
According to the committee’s co-chairman, state Sen. John Velis (D-Westfield), the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism was formed in July 2024 in response to “the rampant and ubiquitous antisemitism that was exacerbated and injected with steroids as a direct result of 10/7.”
The full hearing can be viewed here.
