NYC Educators for Palestine promotes fundraiser for charity with alleged ties to known terrorist organization, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

The Middle East Children’s Alliance has a long history of pushing hatred for Israel in and out of the classroom

NYC Educators for Palestine, a self-described “collective of educators dreaming of a Free Palestine” that we have covered previously on this substack for endorsing a work stoppage on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks and promoting Teaching While Muslim’s anti-Israel curriculum, is back in action. This time they are using their public Instagram to push “The People’s Fair for Gaza”, which raises money for the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA).

Middle East Children’s Alliance sounds pretty innocuous but, in reality, it is an extremist anti-Zionist group with a rich history of controversy. MECA is responsible for Teach Palestine, another previous topic of this substack, which offers curriculum suggestions and workshops for K-12 educators. The Teach Palestine curriculum is promoted by Rethinking Schools, a favorite of teachers’ unions like the National Education Association. The Post reports that “Teach Palestine is financially supported by the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), a California-based nonprofit with reported ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.”

A report from Network Contagion states that “MECA’s extensive connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)—a U.S.-designated terrorist organization since 1997—and other Gaza-based militant groups raise concerns about its ability to offer balanced curriculum materials for U.S. schools.” Additionally, “evidence indicates that it has also funded charities in Gaza that promote extremist ideologies to children. For example, the Khan Yunus-based charities Never Stop Dreaming and the Afaq Jadeeda Association have received MECA funding since at least 2016. Open-source investigations into these organizations and their personnel have uncovered connections to terrorism and militancy. In one instance, a 2016 video posted by Afaq Jadeeda Association depicts a children’s “Intifada Camp,” where young participants are seen dismantling a Star of David in what appears to be a reenactment of terrorist activities.”

The report also notes, “These findings underscore that MECA, the developer of the Teach Palestine curriculum, has been actively funding organizations with ties to the PFLP in Gaza, as well as other charities that use these funds to promote extremist ideologies to children.”

So, to boil it down, public school teachers in New York City in 2025 are helping raise money to support a group with alleged ties to a known terrorist organization whose goal is the destruction of Israel.

MECA is certainly not trying to hide their anti-Zionist hatred. On October 16th, 2023 MECA tweeted the following:

This was 9 DAYS after the Hamas attack-they wasted no time blaming Israel, leading NGO Monitor to accuse them of “atrocity inversion – whereby the real crimes of Hamas are projected onto Israel.” The same site also has an extensive dossier on MECA’s anti-Israel history. Highlights include:

“In April 2021, MECA endorsed US Congresswoman McCollum’s proposed legislation meant to advance BDS and demonization of Israeli companies and defense forces.The entirety of the proposed bill is premised on factually inaccurate claims from anti-Israel advocacy NGOs”

“In May 2020, MECA Executive Director Zeiad Abbas Shamrouch wrote an article claiming ‘the Nakba has never ended. The Zionists have never abandoned their plan to get rid of Palestinian completely and to confiscate all Palestinian land. This is the essence of settler colonialism. Wherever Palestinians live, Israel continues to threaten their future, and now this is exacerbated by the current situation. Palestinians in East Jerusalem face ethnic cleansing every day.’ ’’

“MECA founder and Executive Director Barbara Lubin wrote, ‘I think that the Jewish State is racist to the core.’ Lupin refers to the 1948 ‘ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population’ and wrote that ‘[t]he concept of ‘Jewish morality’ is truly dead. We can be fascists, terrorists, and Nazis just like everybody else.’ ”

Middle East Children’s Alliance fundraises on their desire to “bring Palestine into US Classrooms” and uses a quote from a 6th grader who has “learned that the Palestinians are fighting for the land that Israel occupies.”

So why does NYC Educators for Palestine love MECA so much? Well, MECA’s extreme anti-Zionism fits perfectly with NYC Educators for Palestine's stated agenda:

The above is just a small part of a manifesto which includes such tidbits as:

And:

The same document includes a list of demands, including “educator autonomy and agency in developing curriculum, “divestment” and “a public statement calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”

NYC Educators for Palestine’s endorsement of MECA should have everyone asking why America’s public school teachers, the people shaping our children’s future, are promoting a group with alleged ties to terrorism? This is yet another example of teachers putting their time and energy into activism instead of doing their actual jobs and focusing on ensuring kids have basic competency in essentials like reading and math.