The American Federation of Teachers, the Jews and Israel
With some 1.69 million dues-paying members the American Federation of Teachers is one of the largest teaching unions in the United States (1) and one of the most militant. (2) It isn't a small union and despite its militancy it has a bit of a dark secret that doesn't appear to widely-known to its members: it has been run by jews since its rise to political relevancy in terms of the labour movement in the 1970s.
This jewish leadership is embodied in the fact that three out of four of the presidents of the AFT since its rise to labour movement relevancy in 1974 have been jews.
These are:
Albert Shanker (AFT President 1974-1997) (3)
Sandra Feldman (nee Sandra Abramowitz) (AFT President 1998-2004) (4)
Randi Weingarten (AFT President 2008 to present) (5)
The president in the 2004-2008 interregnum was the non-jewish Edward McElroy who was a transitional leader after the unexpected retirement (and subsequent death of Sandra Feldman) who paved the way for the rise of Weingarten who was being groomed to take over as AFT President after Feldman. (6)
When you add that to the fact that Shanker was the 'education adviser' to numerous Democratic and Republican Whitehouse administrations (from that of Gerald Ford right through to Bill Clinton) (7) as well as an unapologetic champion of a hawkish United States foreign policy (8) (which was perfectly aligned to Israel's own behaviour on this score I might add) (9) as well as being a militantly pro-immigrant and 'civil rights' campaigner. (10)
Then it becomes more sinister.
Throw in the fact that the AFT networks and associates with purely jewish activist associations (particularly in its New York and New Jersey heartlands), (11) supported the notoriously and almost exclusively jewish neo-conservatives (12) (which Shanker had been personal friends with - and close political allies of - before his death) (13) in their successful gulling of the United States into invading Saddam Hussein's Iraq, (14) the bizarre unequivocal support of the AFT for Israel (15) (in spite of the anti-Israel views of the majority of American teachers) (16) and the investment of at least $600,000 we know about (which is just the central funds not those of the various locals) in Israel Bonds (i.e., directly funding the Israeli government). (17)
Then it becomes scary.
Add in that the AFT went in as part of the United States' pacification of Nicaragua (18) in which the Israeli government was deeply involved (19) as Nicaragua was a major export market for Israeli arms and also a significant staging post for Israeli intelligence in the Americas. (20)
As well as the fact that performed a similar role in Lebanon in 2005-2006 with its members subsequently (and quite probably in some cases rightly) suspected of spying for Israel: although the AFT predictably claimed otherwise. (21)
This is in spite of the fact that the AFT's activities in Lebanon can be conclusively linked to American-Israeli neo-Conservative groups in the United States (including to one directly linked to then Vice President Dick Cheney) (22) and the 'tuition' that the AFT members were giving was quite blatantly targeting Hezbollah's influence in the country. (23)
It is therefore no surprise that AFT's activities in Lebanon during this period before the Israeli invasion to 'attack Hezbollah' (in reality to destroy Lebanon's flourishing economy which was causing the Israeli's economic worries) in July 2006 can be reasonably termed espionage (24) and even more frightening is the high likelihood that an American trade union was acting as an agent of a foreign power (i.e., Israel) and putting American lives on the line to assist in its foreign policy goals. (25)
When we further note that the current jewish leader of the AFT (and a major figure in the union at the time of this pro-Israel espionage activity) Randi Weingarten speaks about how she understands the world purely from the perspective of her jewishness. (26)
Then it can be absolutely no surprise that the American Federation of Teachers uses the contributions of American workers to fund Israel then uses the demographic clout these of these members to attack/prevent/subvert anti-Israel campaigns/initiatives then puts the lives of these same American workers in jeopardy by having them act as cover for an Israeli espionage program and then pushes pro-immigrant and anti-American (including gun control (27) and homosexuality (28)) at home.
In effect: the AFT is little more than an adjunct of the Israel Lobby in the United States and this linkage originates not among the members, but more likely from the almost complete jewish domination of the leadership of the AFT in the last 40 years.
References
(1) https://www.unionfacts.com/union/American_Federation_of_Teachers#membership-tab
(2) https://www.unionfacts.com/union/American_Federation_of_Teachers#strikes-tab; https://socialistworker.org/2014/07/22/tough-talk-while-backing-down; https://forward.com/news/127978/the-leading-jew-in-labor-wears-pearls/
(3) L. Sandy Maisel, Ira Forman (Eds.), 2001, 'Jews in American Politics', 1st Edition, Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham, p. 418
(4) http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/feldman-sandra
(5) https://www.aft.org/about/leadership/president.cfm
(6) https://www.nysun.com/new-york/washington-may-be-in-future-of-teachers-chief/45312/; https://forward.com/news/127978/the-leading-jew-in-labor-wears-pearls/
(7) Maisel, Forman, Op. Cit., p. 418
(8) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/hawkish-union-leaders-hur_b_207341.html
(9) James Petras, 2010, 'War Crimes in Gaza and the Zionist Fifth Column in the United States', 1st Edition, Clarity: Atlanta, pp. 85-87
(10) Maisel, Forman, Op. Cit., p. 418
(11) http://www.uft.org/committees/jewish-heritage-committee
(12) On this see: Grant Smith, 2006, 'Deadly Dogma: How Neoconservatives Broke the Law to Deceive America', 1st Edition, Institute for Research: Middle East Policy: Washington D.C.
(13) Mayssoun Sukarieh, Stuart Tannock, 2010, 'The American Federation of Teachers: Teaching Training as Labor Imperialism', Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 35, No. 2, p. 185
(14) Ibid., p. 187; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zunes/hawkish-union-leaders-hur_b_207341.html
(15) https://forward.com/articles/14285/hillary-speaks-at-israel-event-/; http://mondoweiss.net/2009/03/american-federation-of-teachers-takes-stand-for-illiteracy-stating-that-hamas-unilaterally-breached; http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/2013/121313a.cfm; https://mbasic.facebook.com/notes/aft-american-federation-of-teachers/aft-president-randi-weingartens-letter-to-brooklyn-college-president-dr-karen-l-/481819758549153/?_rdr; http://www.labornet.org/news/0806/aftleb2.htm
(16) Ibid.
(17) Joel Beinin, 2012, 'North American Colleges and Universities and BDS', p. 71 in Audrea Lim (Ed.), 2012, 'The Case for Sanctions against Israel', 1st Edition, Verso: New York; an earlier estimate was $300,000 (http://www.usacbi.org/2010/04/how-many-israel-bonds-does-your-union-own/) which suggests just how significant AFT holdings of Israel Bonds (which remember we don't know the full extent of) probably are.
(18) Sukarieh, Tannock, Op. Cit., p. 186
(19) Grant Smith, 2009, 'Spy Trade: How Israel's Lobby Undermines America's Economy', 1st Edition, Institute for Research: Middle East Policy: Washington D.C., pp. 38-41
(20) Ibid., pp. 38-39
(21) Sukarieh, Tannock, Op. Cit., pp. 187-188
(22) Ibid., p. 188
(23) Ibid., pp. 189-191
(24) Ibid., p. 191
(25) Ibid., pp. 193-194
(26) https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/voting-jewish-values
(27) http://www.aim.org/guest-column/follow-israels-gun-control-example/
(28) http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/teachers-union-chief-discusses-gay-identity/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0