Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, stated on Aug. 1 that the Jewish state is guilty of the “mass starvation of innocent civilians” and of inflicting “heartbreaking and inexcusable” trauma on children and families. The word “Hamas” appeared nowhere in her LinkedIn post, titled “Thoughts and updates: standing in solidarity with Palestine.”
“As you all know, Teach for Palestine, our network partner operating in the West Bank, is continuing its vital work despite escalating violence, severe restrictions on fundamental freedoms, and displacement and destruction of homes,” Kopp wrote. “As one fellow from Teach for Palestine shared, ‘Education in Palestine is power.’”
Anwar Mohamad Abu Ammash, the head of Teach for Palestine, lauded the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Facebook on Nov. 3, 2023.
“The men of Gaza have defeated Israel’s security and military arrogance and dragged its prestige through the mud of its fortified positions,” Ammash wrote, according to an artificial intelligence translation that Jay Greene and Jason Bedrick, senior research fellow and research fellow, respectively, at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, published in a Daily Signal article.
“It wasn’t hard for us to find Anwar Abu Ammash’s praise for the actions of Hamas on Oct. 7,” Bedrick told JNS. “It was right there on his public Facebook page. One wonders how much due diligence Teach for America did before partnering with him.”
In the article, Greene and Bedrick advise conservatives to stop funding “radical leftists.”
U.S. President Donald Trump “has made a significant dent in this foolish habit,” the two write, yet “conservatives, especially in state governments, continue to fund their political opponents. Case in point? Teach for America, a nonprofit that recruits graduates from selective universities to serve as teachers in challenging urban and rural settings.”
The nonprofit, which started as a “noble endeavor” in 1990, soon became “corrupted by the lure of leftist activism,” they write.
They note that 29% of Teach for America’s budget comes from state and local governments controlled by conservatives, and 30 of the nonprofit’s local branches are in states that Trump won in the last election.
“According to a 2024 budget, TFA received almost $55 million in government grants, including money from states Trump won—Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas,” they write. “Conservatives in state governments need to get better at distinguishing friend from foe.”
Bedrick told JNS that “state budgets are tight and legislators are constantly looking for places to cut.”
“They should start by cutting grants to organizations that push radical, far-left values on our children or who collaborate with supporters of terrorism,” he added. “Teach for America does both.”
