Hannah Gann, a 10th-grade history teacher at the Workshop School, a public high school in Philadelphia, admitted to lying about her background, including claiming Palestinian and Tunisian heritage, the New York Post reported.
“I lied about my identity and have been lying for years. I have no Palestinian or Tunisian heritage,” Gann wrote on Instagram.
“I am a white woman of significant privilege and wealth,” she wrote. “Anyone who supported me was manipulated and should not be judged as a result of their support for me.”
Members of the Racial Justice Ongoing Committee and Philly Educators for Palestine questioned Gann about her background during a meeting, the Post reported. The groups said that she eventually admitted to lying after an hour of discussion.
According to the Post, Gann had been listed as “Palestinian-American” in materials for a 2024 West Philadelphia teach-in focused on “scholasticide” in Gaza.
The activist groups said that they asked Gann to publicly acknowledge that she was a white woman of Jewish heritage whose family came from Israel. They said that they were “stunned, saddened and angered by this betrayal.”
