AFT and the US Arms Embargo - An Open Letter to the Executive Council
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS (AFT)
We, the undersigned members of the AFT, call on the AFT Executive Council to demand the U.S. government end all military aid to Israel.
The Executive Council should take immediate action to make AFT policy consistent with the July 2024 convention resolution, which states that our union opposes U.S. aid to Israel if it includes arms that are intended to kill civilians. U.S. arms sales to Israel since August, which total over $20 billion, are indeed intended to – and are – killing civilians.
These sales violate U.S. law, specifically the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).[1] Contrary to these laws’ stipulations, the weapons have been used indiscriminately in Gaza and account for many of the 40,534 deaths and nearly 94,000 injuries in Gaza so far – 60 percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. The actual death and injury is likely to be much higher.[2] The AFT also has an urgent responsibility to respond to the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system, a pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students which the UN has described as a scholasticide, a term coined by Prof. Karma Nabulsi.[3]
The resolution passed by delegates at AFT’s July 2024 convention stipulates “American military aid cannot be used in ways that facilitate the seizure of Palestinian land, the violent dispossession of Palestinian communities, and the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory. Nor can U.S. military aid be used to harm civilian populations.”[4]
AFT Executive Council is charged by the AFT Constitution “to obey the instructions of national conventions.”[5] As our convention resolution explicitly opposes U.S. military aid to Israel in the ways it is being used, it is the responsibility of our Executive Council to have our policy align with the will of the convention.
In so doing, our national union will be joining not only dozens of AFT locals that have called for our national union to support the arms embargo, but also other national unions in the National Labor Network for a Ceasefire.[6]
[1] https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/FINAL_Fact-Sheet-Joint-Resolutions-of-Disapproval-for-Israel-arms-sales-003.pdf
[2] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext
[3] https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/un-experts-deeply-concerned-over-scholasticide-gaza
[4] https://www.aft.org/resolution/end-war-gaza-and-lasting-peace-security-and-self-determination-israel-and-palestine
[5] https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2024/AFTconstitution2024.pdf
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
January 10, 2025
January 6, 2025
The momentum is undeniable. Our union leadership cannot ignore this call any longer.
31 Comments
That's great! Hope the local signs onto this open letter, which places responsibility for making this policy change in the hands of the Executive Council, where our constitution says it belongs. Several people on the Exec Council now lead locals that are pledged to social justice. I think they need to represent their locals in what they say and do on the Executive Council. Yes to an arms embargo now!
The Boston Teachers Union (AFT Local 66) passed a resolution in November 2024 that adds the BTU to Labor Network for Ceasefire's letter to President Biden calling on him to halt the shipment of arms to Israel. The resolution also calls on AFT National to do the same. Our membership passed this resolution overwhelmingly. Our membership is sickened by the ongoing genocide, scholasticide, medicide, and ecocide that Israel is committing on Gaza with US tax dollars. We need an arms embargo now!
How can an organization dedicated to providing learning opportunities stand by while a genocide is taking place? What kind of lesson is being taught?
As a new affiliated member of AFT, this is my first action. Labor must support human rights issues. Labor right are human right and all human rights are interconnected.
Stop using our money to fund demonize. And stop calling this a war! There is no Palestinian military fighting back! It’sa one sided massacre and slaughter of citizens!
You can't deny what you see... Israel is acting just like Hitler did.
I am a former AFT member. My membership ended in 2019 when my position with a local ISD was outsourced to an education contract company. I support the demand that the United States end all military aid to Israel.
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AFT and the US Arms Embargo - An Open Letter to the Executive Council
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS (AFT)
We, the undersigned members of the AFT, call on the AFT Executive Council to demand the U.S. government end all military aid to Israel.
The Executive Council should take immediate action to make AFT policy consistent with the July 2024 convention resolution, which states that our union opposes U.S. aid to Israel if it includes arms that are intended to kill civilians. U.S. arms sales to Israel since August, which total over $20 billion, are indeed intended to – and are – killing civilians.
These sales violate U.S. law, specifically the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).[1] Contrary to these laws’ stipulations, the weapons have been used indiscriminately in Gaza and account for many of the 40,534 deaths and nearly 94,000 injuries in Gaza so far – 60 percent of whom are women, children, or elderly people. The actual death and injury is likely to be much higher.[2] The AFT also has an urgent responsibility to respond to the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system, a pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students which the UN has described as a scholasticide, a term coined by Prof. Karma Nabulsi.[3]
The resolution passed by delegates at AFT’s July 2024 convention stipulates “American military aid cannot be used in ways that facilitate the seizure of Palestinian land, the violent dispossession of Palestinian communities, and the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory. Nor can U.S. military aid be used to harm civilian populations.”[4]
AFT Executive Council is charged by the AFT Constitution “to obey the instructions of national conventions.”[5] As our convention resolution explicitly opposes U.S. military aid to Israel in the ways it is being used, it is the responsibility of our Executive Council to have our policy align with the will of the convention.
In so doing, our national union will be joining not only dozens of AFT locals that have called for our national union to support the arms embargo, but also other national unions in the National Labor Network for a Ceasefire.[6]
[1] https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/FINAL_Fact-Sheet-Joint-Resolutions-of-Disapproval-for-Israel-arms-sales-003.pdf
[2] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext
[3] https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/un-experts-deeply-concerned-over-scholasticide-gaza
[4] https://www.aft.org/resolution/end-war-gaza-and-lasting-peace-security-and-self-determination-israel-and-palestine
[5] https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2024/AFTconstitution2024.pdf
Updates
Reached 100 supporters
January 10, 2025
January 6, 2025
The momentum is undeniable. Our union leadership cannot ignore this call any longer.
31 Comments
Our union stood for the embargo against South African apartheid; it should do the same for apartheid and genocide in the Middle East.
That's great! Hope the local signs onto this open letter, which places responsibility for making this policy change in the hands of the Executive Council, where our constitution says it belongs. Several people on the Exec Council now lead locals that are pledged to social justice. I think they need to represent their locals in what they say and do on the Executive Council. Yes to an arms embargo now!
The Boston Teachers Union (AFT Local 66) passed a resolution in November 2024 that adds the BTU to Labor Network for Ceasefire's letter to President Biden calling on him to halt the shipment of arms to Israel. The resolution also calls on AFT National to do the same. Our membership passed this resolution overwhelmingly. Our membership is sickened by the ongoing genocide, scholasticide, medicide, and ecocide that Israel is committing on Gaza with US tax dollars. We need an arms embargo now!
How can an organization dedicated to providing learning opportunities stand by while a genocide is taking place? What kind of lesson is being taught?
As a new affiliated member of AFT, this is my first action. Labor must support human rights issues. Labor right are human right and all human rights are interconnected.
Stop using our money to fund demonize. And stop calling this a war! There is no Palestinian military fighting back! It’sa one sided massacre and slaughter of citizens!
You can't deny what you see... Israel is acting just like Hitler did.
I am a former AFT member. My membership ended in 2019 when my position with a local ISD was outsourced to an education contract company. I support the demand that the United States end all military aid to Israel.
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Our union stood for the embargo against South African apartheid; it should do the same for apartheid and genocide in the Middle East.