Los Angeles teachers union votes to postpone Israel boycott motion indefinitely

• Published date: 25 September 2021
• Author: BEN SALES/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

For months, the United Teachers of Los Angeles, which has approximately 30,000 members, has been debating a motion to support BDS, or the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel. The motion was first raised in the wake of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in May. It has since been adopted by several local chapters of the union.

The resolution calls for the union to "endorse the international campaign for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against apartheid in Israel," according to a copy of the resolution's text in the publication Left Voice. It also declares the union's "solidarity with the Palestinian people because of the 3.8 billion dollars annually that the US government gives to Israel, thus directly using our tax dollars to fund apartheid and war crimes."

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Los Angeles' union was far from alone in taking up the BDS issue this year. Teachers unions in San Francisco and Seattle approved BDS resolutions, while the National Education Association, the largest national teachers group, voted down one motion in support of Palestinians and critical of Israel. (The other major national union, the American Federation of Teachers, has never taken up BDS, which its president opposes, on a national scale.)

Supporters of such motions tend to say that they're consistent with unions' historical support of oppressed peoples, while opponents tend to say that they overly simplify a complex and divisive conflict, unfairly single out Israel or are antisemitic.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles teachers' union effectively voted not to vote on BDS. (The city council in Burlington, Vermont, did the same thing earlier this month.) The union's House of Representatives approved a motion, put forward by the union's board, "that the motions on Israel/Palestine from the May 2021 Area meetings be postponed indefinitely." The motion to postpone said that BDS was "an extremely divisive issue that would seriously damage union unity at a time when we need solidarity in our...