Max Page and Merrie Najimy address, or rather don’t address, the MTA’s antisemitic and anti-Zionist resources to the Massachusetts Special Special Commission on Antisemitism.

Najimy thinks young Jewish girls are welcomed with open arms in Gaza…she must have missed several news cycles.

Yesterday, the Massachusetts State Legislature's “Special Commission on Antisemitism” held its fourth hearing. At the hearing, president of the MTA, Max Page, and former president of the MTA and founder of MTA Rank and File for Palestine, were questioned. The outcome was contentious, to say the least. 

Both Najimy and Page seem to think they have a good handle on what antisemitism is and what it isn’t. Indeed, Najimy feels comfortable telling the Jewish community what counts as antisemitism and what doesn’t. Antisemitism is apparently only a function of white supremacy, antisemitism is not the claim that Israel is a settler colony and that Jews are oppressors in their own country.  And to claim otherwise is, in Namijy’s words, “anti-Palestinian racism.”

Page began by mentioning his Jewish roots:

“I understand the historical vehemence of antisemitism, and I understand the newly-resurgent strains of antisemitism. I’m too old and too confident in my experience and views to be lectured about the dangers of antisemitism. Our union supported Senator Roderick’s legislation on teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides. In this past year, we’ve held workshops on antisemitism as well as on anti-Palestinian attacks. I understand the real fears of our Jewish members as we hear about the rise of antisemitism. I also understand the fears of other groups, including Palestinian educators and students, and those who speak out in solidarity with them–who have experienced attacks on their lives, their teaching and research. My study of Judaism which is replenished with participation in Shabbat and holiday services and study has inspired the values I bring to my work in the MTA.”

Page says that antisemitism is connected to other forms of hate–Islamophobia, anti-Asian hate, and other forms of White Supremacy. He says that Charlottesville shows how antisemitism inspires White Nationalism, leading to anti-Black racism. “We should not take from this statement that antisemitism is somehow more important than other hatreds…we cannot combat racism & discrimination of all types unless we understand antisemitism and its connections to other forms of hate.” Page says that antisemitism is intertwined with other forms of hate and hate towards other religions, and that the commission cannot properly do its job unless it is willing to understand this and fight all forms of hatred. 

The committee then displays on-screen MTA documents referring to “Occupied Palestine” and other “resources and curricula” - these are MTA resources for teachers on teaching “Israel and Occupied Palestine” 

--which is meant to “reflect diverse views and aid pedagogy”--is called “Visualizing Palestine” and uses “data & research to visually communicate Palestinian experiences.” Page grows uneasy at being “questioned in a court-like environment” and says he won’t go through each individual document, although the committee spokesperson points out that there is no corresponding “Visualizing Israel” page. Page says that the team putting the materials together did so in a professional manner and that he hadn’t received any complaints, and claims he was unaware of any bias. 

Another MTA resource from the “Visualizing Palestine” section shows an armed terrorist in a keffiyeh with the slogan “what was taken by force can only be returned by force.” Page says this is similar to teaching lessons showing images from World War Two to educate the class on the Nazis. Yet another photo from the same resource page shows a photo of former President Joe Biden with the words “Serial Killer” on the foreground, claiming that Biden was responsible for Palestinian deaths in the Gaza war and accusing him of genocide. Another photo displays an image of George Habash, leader of the terrorist group PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine). Another photo of a dollar bill folded in the shape of a Star of David is also pulled from the resource, with Page hesitant to outwardly call it antisemitic. Exhibit six brought forward by the committee shows a poster of a Palestinian terrorist advocating for a “Day of Rage” and calling for “decolonization.” The committee brings forward more antisemitic and pro-terror documents, questioning what possible research this propaganda could help with, to which Page says helping students navigate other opinions. After being shown more images of pro-Palestinian propaganda in the MTA’s “resources,” Page slams the ADL for “defending Elon Musk’s Nazi salute” and slams the word “indoctrination” as a word commonly used by the Trump Administration. He finds the efforts of organizations to respond to antisemitism and demonization within the MTA “disturbing.”

Merrie Najimy, former president of the MTA, founder of MTA Rank and File for Palestine, and an elementary school STEM lab teacher, also took the podium. Najimy is known for helping to organize and participating in anti-Zionist protests, and has even accused former US President Joe Biden of genocide. 

She lambasted the committee for its previous discussion - saying that she “experienced racism here” and as proof mentioned her elevated heart-rate which is apparently a “physical manifestation of racism.” In a particularly jaw-dropping moment, in responding to a “resource” which compares a Jewish-American girl and a Lebanese-Palestinian girl, and in which a member of the Committee asked how Hannah would be treated in Gaza, Najimy claims that the question is “anti-Palestinian racism.” The Jewish-American girl, Najimy argued, “would be welcomed with open arms” in Gaza, “her family would be brought to the kitchen table and served coffee and the children and Hannah would run out into the streets and play, even in the rubble now.” Coming as it did days after we saw the images of the starved hostages upon their release, one has to wonder why there wasn’t more coffee to go around…

 In a raised voice,Najimy claimed that the Commission won’t help fight antisemitism, and said she was called “Arab filth” by other educators. “The racism I have experienced has informed my pedagogy. I have become an anti-racist educator over 35 years of teaching. And antisemitism is real, it is rooted in White Supremacy and it is on the march. Here’s what it looks like–swastikas in school, setting fires to synagogues, racial taunting of sports teams by other sports teams, the Replacement Theory, Elon Musk’s inarguable Nazi salute, and his speech at the AFD in Germany…but here’s what it isn’t. It isn’t Palestinians expressing their aspirations of freedom, equal rights and dignity. It isn’t people standing in solidarity with Palestinians, criticism of the State of Israel, and Zionism…conflating the two as this committee has done is anti-Palestinian racism. It denies the Nakba, justifies their killing, and defames Palestinians–and anyone who stands in solidarity with them–as inherently antisemitic.” Najimy slams the ADL, AJC, JCRC, and CAMERA for “attacking” the MTA and claims it provokes rape and death threats, violence and doxxing, and says that the MTA provides a counterbalance towards an Israeli or Jewish narrative. She also claims that the MTA aims to foster critical thinking among students through history, context, and narrative through primary sources. 

Najimy refused to answer whether chants calling to exclude “Zionists” from the National Education Association conference was appropriate. Instead, she said the focus must be on fighting the conflation between antisemitism and anti-Zionism particularly as this leads to anti-Palestinian racism.

If anything, the hearing was a perfect illustration of the deep-rooted issues within the MTA. Ultimately, it is the students who suffer.

https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/5080/Video1