US’ largest teachers’ union under fire for removing ‘Israel’ from map

The United States’ largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association (NEA), is facing backlash after reportedly sending an email to its three million members which included a map that omitted ‘Israel’ and showed it only as Palestine.

The email, sent Friday, offered teaching resources about “indigenous peoples” and linked to material defending the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on ‘Israel’, according to the North American Values Institute (NAVI).

Steven Rosenberg, NAVI’s regional director, called the incident “deeply troubling,” accusing the union of promoting antisemitic narratives and failing to uphold educational responsibility.

The NEA later removed the materials from its website, blaming a third-party resource for the content. “We condemn in the strongest terms the deeply offensive content,” an NEA spokesperson said, adding that the union has always “opposed antisemitism.”

However, Rosenberg claimed that quietly deleting the material was not enough and urged the NEA to issue a full explanation and a “sincere apology.”