Delegates at the American Federation of Teachers’ 89th national convention approved resolutions on July 17 opposing U.S. and Israeli military operations in Iran and Lebanon, while also adopting a measure that blames Israel for a salary crisis affecting teachers in Palestinian-controlled areas.
The union, led by Randi Weingarten, who was re-elected to a 10th two-year term during the convention, adopted the measures as part of its 2026 policy resolutions.
One resolution calls for “an immediate end to the war with Iran,” urging the United States and Israel to cease military operations against the Islamic Republic and its blockade of Iranian ports, while calling on Tehran to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It further states that any negotiated settlement must include verifiable guarantees that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons.
The same measure also demands “an end to Israel’s bombing and invasion of Lebanon, and to the forced evacuation of Shia Muslims from southern Lebanon.”
Delegates also approved a separate resolution asserting that Israel’s withholding of tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority has disrupted public-sector salaries, including those of teachers in Palestinian-controlled territories. It also accuses Israel of violating the International Labour Organization’s mandate on wage protection.
“In the Palestinian territories, because of Israel’s withholding of tax revenues, public sector workers, including teachers, receive only a portion of their salaries, leading to major disruptions affecting more than 50,000 teachers and hundreds of thousands of students,” the resolution states.
The measure calls on Education International, a global federation representing education unions, to submit a 2025 report titled “Teacher Compensation in Crisis Contexts: Challenges in the Occupied Palestinian Territories” to the International Labour Organization. According to the report, the salary crisis stems from “Israeli occupation policies,” as well as the Palestinian economy’s dependence on foreign aid, an increase in the number of teachers, and the Palestinian Authority’s broader economic and political challenges.
The AFT, which represents about 1.9 million members, frequently takes positions on domestic and international political issues in addition to education and labor policy.
“The teachers union is a political organization that has nothing to do with education,” Corey DeAngelis, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and author of The Parent Revolution, stated that 99.89% of the AFT’s campaign contributions in the 2024 election cycle went to Democratic candidates.
“The teachers union is a political organization that has nothing to do with education,” he wrote.
