The report warns that the trend also contributes to declining academic outcomes and increasing anti-American views
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Add JewishInsider on GooglePolitical activists seeking to push extremist perspectives into the classroom are behind a nationwide acceleration of antisemitic content in K-12 classrooms, with increasingly active movements targeting school boards, district leadership and teacher organizations, according to a report published Monday by the North American Values Institute.
The group’s 58-page report, “When the Classroom Turns Hostile: A Strategic Response to Extremism and Antisemitism in K-12 Education,” shared exclusively with JI, found that in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, what it described as radical ideological frameworks have dominated key education institutions across the country. Ideologies such as “oppressor-oppressed” are common in schools of education, accreditation bodies, teacher unions and district bureaucracies, all of which shape classroom materials.
The paper highlights teachers’ unions and activist nonprofits as major sources of embedding radical views and ready-made anti-American content into professional development, much of which is able to bypass traditional oversight. It also raises concerns about “substantial” foreign funding flowing into Western education institutions to influence ciriculums by the Qatar Foundation International and Confucius Institutes in China.
The North American Values Institute, formerly the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, is a nonprofit that monitors antisemitism in K-12 schools. It was founded by David Bernstein, a longtime Jewish nonprofit official who led the Jewish Council for Public Affairs from 2016-2021.
“We’re very concerned about the ideological activists taking over union leadership,” NAVI’s chief program officer, Dana Stangel-Plowe, told JI. “While that may not seem new, we’re seeing the DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] in particular taking a much more active role.” According to the report, DSA “urges members to enter the field in order to ‘transform our schools, our unions, and our society.’”
The report warns that these dynamics contribute not only to rising antisemitism, but also to declining academic outcomes and increasing anti-American views.
Attempts to combat this framework by promoting Holocaust or Jewish education have failed, the report’s authors argue.
Rather, the writers offer several suggestions for reforming K-12 education, including changing teacher preparation programs and accreditation standards, confronting politicized teacher unions and advocacy networks, strengthening standards around curricula, addressing foreign funding and influence in education, empowering parents and school boards and building multi-ethnic coalitions.
NAVI rebranded in February 2025 in an effort to detach from its Jewish roots to expand partnerships in fighting antisemitism with other ethnic communities.
At the time of the rebrand, Bernstein told JI that the Jewish community “has been reluctant to fight at the ideological level.”
A year later, Stangel-Plowe said that while there is still room for improvement, NAVI has increasingly been partnering with leading Jewish organizations.
The report comes two months after the House Committee on Education and the Workforce opened investigations into public school systems in Fairfax County, Va.; Berkeley, Calif.; and Philadelphia over alleged failures to address antisemitic incidents.
Federal investigations are “a good start but certainly not enough,” said Stangel-Plowe. “School districts are used to functioning without much accountability. We need more federal and state oversight.”
Still, she emphasized a need to address the root cause, rather than responding after incidents occur.
“K-12 education is being treated as a vehicle for social change and an oppressor-oppressed framework is dangerous to Jewish students, Jewish teachers, and teaches hostility towards Israel and more broadly Western values,” Stangel-Plowe continued.
We’re seeing active networks, [including] in New York City and Philadelphia,” she added. “We’re seeing radical political actors taking over union leadership and that has an influence on teachers unions which influences school board elections. The problem is embedded not just in the unions but the entire education system from teacher training, licensing and programs.”
“We can’t fix an institutional problem with more lessons or programs,” she said. “As important as education about the Holocaust and Jewish life is, institutional problems persist unless we have a real allocation of investments in a comprehensive solution across the ecosystem.
Plus, Buttigieg balks on Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) walks in to the weekly cabinet meeting escorted by government military secretary Eyal Zamir (L) in his Jerusalem office, on April 19, 2015. AFP PHOTO / POOL / MENAHEM KAHANA (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we spotlight the extreme comments of two political activists closely affiliated with Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh, and talk to Jewish Democrats working to promote a balanced Israel-related resolution at an upcoming Democratic National Committee meeting as party delegates consider a measure that calls for an arms embargo and a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel. We also cover the reactions of Jewish groups and Canadian politicians to the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to cancel the screening of an Oct. 7 documentary due to the absence of Hamas’ approval to use footage of its attacks on Israel, and talk to Rep. Brad Schneider about this week’s Democratic congressional delegation visit to Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Pete Buttigieg, Boris Epshteyn and Alex Sagel.
What We’re Watching
- We’re keeping an eye on comments on Israel and Gaza from 2028 Democratic hopefuls, following the publication this morning of an interview with Pete Buttigieg, who, under pressure from anti-Israel activists, clarified his comments about the Israel-Hamas war made on a podcast last week. The former transportation secretary said that he would have backed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) proposals to ban arms sales to Israel, supports the recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution and would not back a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Israel.
- The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute’s National Jewish Retreat continues today in Washington. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin, former senior Treasury official Mitchell Silk and Rabbi Levi Shemtov are all slated to speak today.
- On the heels of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s warning this week against foreign support for armed groups in Lebanon, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Khalil Helou, Assaf Orion, Sarit Zehavi are speaking at a virtual event this afternoon focused on Hezbollah’s disarmament and the future of UNIFIL in Lebanon.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
Tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Eyal Zamir, the chief of staff of the IDF, are as high as the record-setting temperatures that have swept the region this week.
The IDF’s top officials and the Israeli government have clashed on a series of issues in recent days, including the appointments of more than two dozen military officials and Zamir’s initial opposition to Netanyahu’s plan to take over Gaza City and expand IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, which was approved by Israel’s Security Cabinet last week.
The IDF chief of staff has warned that the new approach to Gaza risks the lives of the 20 remaining living hostages in the enclave, and would further deplete the military’s resources in Gaza. The army, under strain after nearly two years of war, has — even prior to Zamir’s appointment in March — been at odds with the government over the continued exemption of the majority of the country’s Haredi population from the mandatory conscription required of most Israelis.
Israel Democracy Institute President Yohanan Plesner told Jewish Insider this morning that “historically, the relationship between the political level — prime minister, defense minister — and the top brass of the defense establishment, and mainly the IDF chief of staff, has been based on the premise that when Israel engages or embarks on significant security endeavors, operations and so on, it’s based on mutual consent,” with both parties having “de facto … veto power.”
But now, Plesner said, Netanyahu “is violating this decision-making norm that characterized the way decisions on core security [and] national security issues were made in the past.”
online archive
Omar Fateh’s allies defended Oct. 7, denied Israel’s right to exist
Two political activists closely affiliated with Omar Fateh, a far-left Minnesota state senator who is now running for mayor of Minneapolis, have expressed a range of extreme views on the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, endorsing the violence as a justified act of resistance and accusing Israel of initiating the war in Gaza, among other inflammatory comments, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. Their rhetoric could fuel concerns among local Jewish leaders who sounded alarms about Fateh’s close alliances with anti-Israel activists after he won the state Democratic Party endorsement last month over Jacob Frey, the incumbent seeking a third and final term. Fateh, a 35-year-old democratic socialist has been a staunch critic of Israel, calling its conduct in Gaza a genocide and pushing for a ceasefire 10 days after Hamas’ attack.
Friends like these: But some of Fateh’s campaign staffers have gone significantly further than the state legislator, raising questions over his tolerance for incendiary language on a sensitive issue that has stoked growing internal tensions in the state party and could possibly inflect an increasingly bitter mayoral race in the lead-up to November. In a series of now-deleted social media posts, for instance, Fateh’s communications manager, Anya Smith-Kooiman, stated that Israel “does not have a ‘right’ to exist” and “must be dismantled,” while amplifying comments dismissing widespread reports of sexual violence on Oct. 7 as “propaganda” and hailing the attacks as a form of “resistance” that succeeded where the peace process had failed.
FAMILY FEUD
DNC confronts anti-Israel push from party delegates
When Democratic National Committee members gather in Minneapolis later this month for the party’s summer meeting, they’ll consider two Israel-related resolutions — a more balanced one, which has the backing of party chair Ken Martin, and an anti-Israel measure that calls for an arms embargo and a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel. Sources within the DNC say they don’t expect the anti-Israel resolution, which was authored by a committee member from Florida, to pass. But the fact that it will be considered by the body has unnerved Jewish Democrats, who are working behind the scenes to promote the more balanced resolution, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Alternative approach: That one calls for an “immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages, living and deceased, held by Hamas.” It also reiterates Democratic Party support for a two-state solution. (The text of the two resolutions was first reported by Semafor.) The Martin-backed resolution is co-sponsored by the DNC’s entire leadership, including DNC associate chair Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Jewish Labor Committee, according to a copy of the resolution obtained by JI. Both measures will first be voted on by the DNC’s Resolutions Committee.
festival fiasco
Jewish groups, Canadian politicians outraged over film festival’s cancellation of Oct. 7 documentary
Pro-Israel groups and Canadian politicians expressed outrage on Wednesday after organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival canceled an invitation to show the documentary “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, at its upcoming festival, citing the use of Hamas footage of the attacks that had not been approved for use by the terror group, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
‘Shamelessly disturbing’: “The Toronto International Film Festival’s reasoning for canceling the October 7 documentary screening is completely absurd and transparently dishonest,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement. “Pulling a movie because footage wasn’t cleared for copyright by a terror group is so ridiculous that it would almost be laughable — if it weren’t so deeply, shamelessly disturbing.” In an open letter, Creative Community for Peace, a nonprofit that mobilizes prominent members of the entertainment community to oppose boycotts of Israel, wrote that “instead of advancing peace, TIFF has chosen to amplify hate.”
Walking it back?: In a statement released last night, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey recognized the concerns, expressed “sincere apologies for any pain” caused and said he is “committed to working with the filmmaker to meet TIFF’s screening requirements to allow the film to be screened at this year’s festival. I have asked our legal team to work with the filmmaker on considering all options available.” He also noted “the urgent need for compassion amid rising antisemitism and Islamophobia,” underscored by Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza.
TRIP TALK
Democrats discussed Gaza aid, day-after plans with Israeli leadership, Schneider says
A group of congressional Democrats visiting Israel this week, including 11 first-term lawmakers, pressed Israeli leaders on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, emphasizing the need for them to increase aid flows into Gaza, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod on Wednesday.
Readout: Schneider said the “focus of the trip, without question, was understanding Israel’s existential war against Hamas — Hamas attacked on Oct. 7 … understanding the implications of that. But also understanding the humanitarian crisis that’s taking place in Gaza.” He said that the humanitarian crisis, the obstacles to providing aid and what can be done to increase aid flows were a key focus of each of the group’s meetings, including with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Kibbutz Nir Oz, the hardest-hit community in the 10/7 attacks, welcomes 50 new, idealistic residents as it looks to rebuild
Walking along a path on Kibbutz Nir Oz, Yahel Meirovich and Raz Baruch felt the surreal contrast between the quiet birdsong, the deceptively pastoral stillness of the near-deserted kibbutz and the steady thud of bombs heard from the Gaza Strip, less than a mile away. Part of a group of 50 young adults — all of them educators from the Hashomer HaTzair Labor Zionist youth movement (literally, “the young guard”) — who have recently relocated to the kibbutz, the two were keenly aware of the emotional tension hanging in the air, Meirovich told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky a week after their Aug. 3 arrival.
Raised right: The move of the young Hashomer HaTzair educators to Nir Oz is part of the youth movement’s Mefalsei Nativ (“Path Levelers”) program, in partnership with Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was founded by Hashomer HaTzair pioneers, with core support from the Kibbutz Movement Rehabilitation Fund — the body leading the recovery efforts of kibbutz communities in the Gaza border region since Oct.7, 2023. The Homeward Initiative, an educational foundation strengthening southern and northern communities since the war’s outbreak, has also played a key role in supporting the project from its inception as part of a broader joint effort to build young, vibrant communities in the heart of the hardest-hit kibbutzim. “For us, the decision to move to Nir Oz is the embodiment of everything we were raised on in Hashomer HaTzair – acting together with courage and stepping in where we’re needed,” Meirovich said
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil here.
Worthy Reads
Tanker Trouble: In The Wall Street Journal, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Max Meizlish and Bridget Toomey look at how the U.N.’s attempt to remove oil from a moored tanker off the coast of Yemen has served to benefit the country’s Iran-backed Houthis. “Following the transfer of oil, the [tanker] was supposed to be operated by Yemen’s state oil company under the advisory oversight of the U.N. Development Program. In practice, the vessel serves as a floating fuel station for the Houthis. On paper, the U.N. transferred ownership to Yemen’s internationally recognized government — but control is what matters, and the Houthis have it. … All this is being underwritten by the international community. While the Houthis attack commercial vessels and threaten global shipping, the U.N. is bankrolling their offshore oil logistics by paying $450,000 a month for the [tanker]’s operations. A vessel designed to prevent one catastrophe is facilitating another — moving Russian oil in defiance of sanctions, sustaining the Houthis’ illicit fuel economy, and prolonging a regional war.” [WSJ]
Silent Suffering: In the Jewish News Syndicate, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee joins Yehuda Kaploun and Mark Walker, respectively the Trump administration’s nominees to be antisemitism envoy and ambassador-at-large for international freedom, to suggest that recent images from Gaza underscore the need for Hamas to be removed from power. “In today’s world, photos and videos spread faster than any news story. They can capture raw human suffering in a way words never could. We see the faces of Gaza’s civilians bearing witness to Hamas’s brutality, too. We see children hollow-eyed with fear, women clinging to life, men bruised and beaten, each one telling a story of pain and desperation under Hamas’s rule. But for every image we see, there are countless others suffering in silence, locked away in tunnels or makeshift prisons, hidden from view and stripped of their dignity.” [JNS]
Across the Pond: The New York Times’ David Wallace-Wells considers the lessons — and warnings — U.S. politicos can take from U.K. politics as London’s two major parties fail to win over broad swathes of the electorate. “Lately, the spirit of Democratic defeatism that was so obvious right after the election has given way to something a little more confident and combative — though national approval of Democrats is at 30-year lows, the Democratic voters dragging down the figure are still loyal to the party, and Democrats have regained an advantage in party affiliation and opened up a sturdy lead in generic-ballot congressional surveys. The British experience, though, suggests a different interpretive framework entirely: that after an anomalous period of left-liberal unanimity, the two factions are again veering apart, giving off sparks of hostility along the way. That may be manageable, or even healthy, heading into 2026. But 2028? Look out.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
The New York Times’ Mara Gay looks at how former President Barack Obama and some of his closest advisors, including David Axelrod, Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer, have warmed to New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, reporting on a call between the former president and the candidate and saying, “[t]he interest from the closely guarded world of Obama and those around him is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Mamdani is likely to be embraced by the Democratic mainstream, whether the party’s leaders and donors like it or not”; Patrick Gaspard, who served as political director for Obama’s 2008 campaign, is also serving as an advisor to Mamdani and introduced Axelrod to the candidate…
Boris Epshteyn, the personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, connected two of the law firms that reached settlements with the administration — which Epshteyn personally brokered — with the Department of Commerce to assist on trade deals…
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tapped Jack Schlossberg to the America 250 Commission ahead of the U.S. Semiquincentennial next year…
A woman who sprayed a foul-smelling liquid on Jewish marchers at Montreal’s Pride parade was arrested following the incident; a member of the local activist group Faction Against Genocide, in Solidarity said the substance, which smelled like urine, was nettle extract…
Alex Sagel, the CEO of Germany-based defense contractor Renk, said the company could move parts of its business out of the country should Berlin move forward with plans to ban arms sales to Israel…
South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry denied reports that Juba had engaged in talks regarding the potential relocation of Palestinians from Gaza; the Foreign Ministry’s announcement came the same day as Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Heskel visited the East African nation, where she held meetings with the country’s president, foreign minister and deputy foreign minister…
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that Beirut will not permit the presence of armed groups in the country and warned against foreign interference in Lebanese affairs; Aoun made the comments in a meeting with senior Iranian official Ali Larijani, who was on a three-day visit to Lebanon…
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that he will approve tenders to build more than 3,000 housing units in the controversial E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank; in a statement, Smotrich said the construction “buries the idea of a Palestinian state”…
Businessman and philanthropist Bruce Slovin, who oversaw the creation and later served as chairman of the Center for Jewish History, died at 89…
Cable industry pioneer and philanthropist Leonard Tow, who with his wife, Claire, funded journalism initiatives at a number of New York City universities, died at 97…
Pic of the Day
The National Library of Israel received the original manuscript of Naomi Shemer’s song ‘Al Kol Eleh’ this week, gifted by the family of Ruth Nussbaum, Shemer’s sister, for whom the song was written. Nussbaum’s children —Tair, Noa, Yaakov and Avshalom — spoke at the donation event, together with Shemer’s daughter, Lali.
Birthdays
Historian and VP of alumni relations for MLB’s New York Mets, the press box at Citi Field is named in his honor, Jay Edward Horwitz turns 80…
Social media influencer, Dorothy Katz Wiggins turns 100… American-born British novelist, biographer, journalist and Oscar-winning screenwriter, Frederic Michael Raphael turns 94… Former attorney general of New Jersey and chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson turns 86… President of the Hampton Synagogue until 2024 and former board member of the UJA Federation-New York, Carol Levin… Member of the New York State Assembly since 2005, Charles D. Lavine turns 78… Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Ester R. Fuchs turns 74… Professor of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, Henry Brem, MD turns 73… U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina, he is the co-author of a book on the early Jews of Columbia, S.C., Judge Richard Mark Gergel turns 71… Turkish-born economist and professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Dani Rodrik turns 68… U.S. senator (R-TN) since 2021, Bill Hagerty turns 66… Home fragrance and décor guru, Harry Slatkin turns 65… Lecturer at Purdue University, Martin J. Sweet turns 55… Winner of three Pulitzer Prizes as a journalist, Adam Goldman turns 52… Filmmaker and producer, she is the executive director of DOC NYC, a major documentary film festival in NYC, Raphaela Neihausen turns 49… VP at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Jeremy Scott Wynes… Professional tennis player for 15 years, primarily a doubles specialist, now an assistant athletic director, Scott Lipsky turns 44… Senior advisor to President Donald Trump, Boris Epshteyn turns 43… Ukrainian-born actress, she moved to Los Angeles at the age of seven and has appeared in dozens of films, Mila Kunis turns 42… Opinion editor at eJewishPhilanthropy, Rachel Kohn… Internet entrepreneur and former CTO at Facebook, he is the co-founder and CEO of Quora, Adam D’Angelo turns 41… Retired lacrosse player, he played for ten seasons in Major League Lacrosse and for Team Israel in 2018, Maxwell (Max) Oren Seibald turns 38… Principal at Marcus & Associates Executive Recruiters, Jacob Lefkowitz… Member of Knesset for Otzma Yehudit, he serves as the minister for the development of the periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, Yitzhak Shimon Wasserlauf turns 33… Ryan Smith… Dylan Cooper… Tim Carney…
The Minneapolis mayoral candidate’s communications manager wrote on social media that Israel ‘must be dismantled’
Trisha Ahmed/AP Photo
Minnesota Sen. Omar Fateh, of Minneapolis, speaks in front of the state capitol building in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024.
Two political activists closely affiliated with Omar Fateh, a far-left Minnesota state senator who is now running for mayor of Minneapolis, have expressed a range of extreme views on the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, endorsing the violence as a justified act of resistance and accusing Israel of initiating the war in Gaza, among other inflammatory comments.
Their rhetoric could fuel concerns among local Jewish leaders who sounded alarms about Fateh’s close alliances with anti-Israel activists after he won the state Democratic Party endorsement last month over Jacob Frey, the incumbent seeking a third and final term. Fateh, a 35-year-old democratic socialist whose campaign has recently drawn comparisons to New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, has likewise been a staunch critic of Israel, calling its conduct in Gaza a genocide and pushing for a ceasefire 10 days after Hamas’ attack.
In a mayoral candidate questionnaire solicited by the Twin Cities chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America — which endorsed his bid after facing widespread criticism over its response to the Oct. 7 attack — Fateh also backed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, according to portions of the form reviewed by Jewish Insider.
He additionally pledged, without explanation, to “refrain from any and all affiliation” with what the DSA questionnaire dismissed as “Zionist lobby groups,” citing AIPAC, J Street, Christians United for Israel and, most notably, the Jewish Community Relations Council, a nonpartisan organization that typically engages with a diverse group of elected officials in both parties. The local JCRC — which represents the Jewish community to Minneapolis government officials — has voiced reservations about its ability to interact with Fateh if he is elected, in light of his statements on Israel.
But some of Fateh’s campaign staffers have gone significantly further than the state legislator, raising questions over his tolerance for incendiary language on a sensitive issue that has stoked growing internal tensions in the state party and could possibly inflect an increasingly bitter mayoral race in the lead-up to November.
In a series of now-deleted social media posts, for instance, Fateh’s communications manager, Anya Smith-Kooiman stated that Israel “does not have a ‘right’ to exist” and “must be dismantled,” while amplifying comments dismissing widespread reports of sexual violence on Oct. 7 as “propaganda” and hailing the attacks as a form of “resistance” that succeeded where the peace process had failed.
Elsewhere, Smith-Kooiman, who joined Fateh’s campaign in December, according to her LinkedIn page, declared a month after the Oct. 7 attacks that she did “not give a flying f**k about Hamas,” claiming “the root of the problem is a colonial government segregating, ethnically cleaning, murdering Palestinians, stealing their land with impunity and not expecting a resistance group to violently fight back.”
“Colonial and oppressive regimes love to call everyone but themselves a terrorist,” she continued in her November 2023 post to X, now removed from her profile. “Israeli terrorism created Hamas and the cycle will go on and on until Israel, Britain and the U.S. are held accountable for their violence and thievery. Let’s address root causes: imperialism.”
More recently, Smith-Kooiman, in a June social media post, advocated for the release of what she called “all Palestinian hostages,” equating prisoners held in Israel with the captives who were kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7.
In addition to Smith-Kooiman, another activist with ties to Fateh’s mayoral bid, David Gilbert-Pederson, has unreservedly praised the Oct. 7 attack, which he has characterized as a heroic feat of defiance against “imperial domination.”
Speaking on a panel discussion about “connecting movements for collective liberation” in December 2023, Gilbert-Pederson — who has been listed as a Fateh campaign staffer in filings — celebrated “what happened collectively for the people of Palestine on Oct. 7,” saying it was not his place to cast judgment on the violence.
“We as Americans, people who live in the imperial core, our job is to stand in unconditional solidarity with those resisting oppression,” Gilbert-Pederson, a close ally of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), explained in his panel remarks. “Unconditional solidarity does not mean that we get to say, ‘Oh, this tactic you did, we don’t really like that,’ or, ‘We agree with you, but I think that some of your methods are too extreme.’ That’s not what unconditional solidarity means.”
“We live in the core of the empire,” he said, “so it is our job to demand that our government divest from Israel, divest from the colonial project, and start to free the U.S. as well.”
Broadly summarizing his approach, he argued that “all resistance to that kind of imperial domination is justified.”
Fateh’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about Gilbert-Pederson and Smith-Kooiman, both of whom have previously faced some scrutiny for their rhetoric on Israel and Oct. 7, or his answers to the DSA’s questionnaire.
For his part, Frey, a Jewish Democrat, has been outspoken against rising antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ attacks. The mayor, 44, has clashed with the City Council over anti-Israel resolutions he has dismissed as one-sided, even as he has condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government’s handling of the ongoing war in Gaza.
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