After years of portraying herself as being of Palestinian and black descent, one of the leaders of the School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) anti-Israel movement has admitted that she is a white woman with Jewish “settler” family members living in Israel. The teacher, Hannah Gann, had also claimed to be struggling financially, but now admits to coming from “significant wealth.”
It appears that, while leading efforts to “decolonize” Israel, Gann was colonizing an identity of her own.
Gann is a prominent figure in Philadelphia and SDP anti-Israel activism. She led teach-ins on Palestine and often wears a keffiyeh. She claimed at a school-board meeting that she had been barred from seeing her “family in Palestine.” She publicly advocated for fellow anti-Israel activist and SDP teacher Keziah Ridgeway to be allowed back into the classroom after Ridgeway was placed on leave over a social-media post seen as a violent threat against Jewish families. Gann also spoke at a pro-Hamas rally.
Her social media, where much of her black/Palestinian “resistance” played out, includes classroom photos showing that her activism was central to her teaching. One classroom photo shows her whiteboard displaying the day’s schedule: “Circle,” “Library,” “Strong Evidence for Letters,” “Black Power and Palestine,” “Lunch,” “Gym,” “Math or English” and “Malcolm X.”
In large part because of Gann’s efforts to transform her classroom and the broader district into an extension of the anti-Israel movement, SDP has faced a Title VI complaint alleging antisemitism. It is currently the subject of a House Education Committee investigation concerning allegations of antisemitism and a hearing on antisemitic incidents by the Pennsylvania legislature.
In CAMERA’s report about Philadelphia schools, “Shaping Minds, Spreading Hate: How Antisemitism Took Root in the School District of Philadelphia,” I show how Gann and other SDP staff have contributed to a school environment so hostile to Jewish students that many families have left the district.
Gann’s apology video, which was posted after her lies were exposed elsewhere, does not explain why she misrepresented her identity. She says she may one day make a video explaining what was going on in her mind and how she allowed “half-truths” to grow into outright lies. In this case, however, she doubles down on her support for the anti-Israel movement and uses the video to solicit donations for the cause.
The video’s comments may be even more instructive. Gann explains that she will keep the comments open and public but will delete anything posted by “Zionists” as well as anything that “justifies supremacist ideologies, imperial terror and genocidal violence.” A review of the comments does not appear to reveal Zionists expressing hatred toward either her or Palestinians.
The same cannot be said for the other side. The comments section contains numerous antisemitic remarks and, ironically, demonstrates that even the commenters cannot agree on how to characterize Jewish identity. One commenter stated, “Jews are colonizers of Europe.” Another wrote, “She’s not white, tho [sic], she’s a joo.” Another posted an image of a black, hooked-nose caricature draped in an Israeli flag sinisterly rubbing his hands together.
Apparently, contrary to claims made by some of her detractors and repeated in media coverage, Gann is not Jewish. According to one of her relatives, Gann’s father’s family is Jewish, but her mother is not. Gann was neither raised as Jewish nor identified as such.
Her critics have claimed that her Israeli family members are “settlers,” a characterization disputed by one of those family members. For the anti-Zionist movement, however, the distinction is often irrelevant: All Israelis are characterized as “settlers.”
For the anti-Zionist commenters, however, Gann’s own identification, including her years of anti-Zionist activism, is beside the point. They have decided that she is Jewish, and in doing so, claim the authority to define Jewish identity for her and others. After years of fomenting hate against Jews, the revolution came for her.
While there may be a certain sense of schadenfreude in Gann’s downfall, much of the media coverage misses the larger point: Her most dramatic deception has been exposed, but for years she has brought a dishonest narrative into her classroom.
Her actions did more than expose a serious credibility problem with her and the anti-Zionist movement. Her actions have affected Jewish children and all Philadelphia students she was entrusted to educate, and have gone unchecked by SDP. Students deserve an education unburdened by teachers who use the classroom to promote their own political beliefs at the expense of the truth.
