ACT NOW! Antisemitic, Radical Islamist Education at Chicago Public Schools Must End!

Outrageous: The instructor of a professional development program available to Chicago Public Schools teachers focusing on “Palestine” is promoting an antisemitic and anti-Israel agenda, and teachers who participate are rewarded both professionally and financially. 

Chicago Public Schools teachers can earn professional development credits and additional financial compensation by participating in a workshop led by Dr. Sawsan Jaber, titled “From the United States to Palestine: Reading the World, Reimagining a Future Rooted in Solidarity.”

The story was initially reported by the NAVI K-12 Extremism Tracker, which empowers parents to promote American civic values and counter ideological extremism in K-12 schools.

Hosted by the Chicago Teachers Union Quest Center, the program runs from June 2026 through June 2027 and follows a one-day session on the same subject that Jaber led in November 2025.

The previous session was co-led by members of American Muslims for Palestine, an organization that has faced an investigation over links to terrorism financing, as well as a physician affiliated with MedGlobal, a charity with ties to Hamas. It featured extreme anti-Zionist materials, including a presentation describing Zionism as a settler-colonial project based upon ethnic cleansing.

According to CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle Eastern Reporting and Analysis), “Jaber, who has served in a number of leadership positions within the field of education, abuses her position of prominence by disseminating virulent antisemitic and anti-Israel messages in her professional work and on social media.”

This must be stopped! Please write to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and copy the education officials, demanding that this biased program run by terrorist sympathizers that promotes antisemitism and hatred for the State of Israel, an ally of the U.S., be terminated immediately.

Send an email to Mayor Johnson at letterforthemayor@cityofchicago.org and copy senior education officials at the following addresses:

equity@cps.edu; ethnicsinquiries@cps.edu; boe@cps.edu; coo@cps.edu; cedo@cps.edu; and CEO-King@cps.edu.

Sample text:

Dear Mayor Johnson and Chicago Public Schools Officials,

I am writing to express serious concern about the professional development program “From the United States to Palestine: Reading the World, Reimagining a Future Rooted in Solidarity,” led by Dr. Sawsan Jaber and offered to Chicago Public Schools teachers through the Chicago Teachers Union Quest Center.

Reports about this program raise troubling questions about whether professional development offered to CPS educators is being used to promote a one-sided political agenda concerning Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Particularly troubling are Dr. Jaber’s promotion of deeply antisemitic and anti-Israel views, as well as concerns about the materials presented and the affiliations of individuals involved in the November 2025 workshop.

Teachers should be able to participate in professional development without being subjected to ideological advocacy or material that promotes hostility toward Jews or Israel. Programs for which educators receive professional development credit or additional compensation warrant careful scrutiny to ensure that they meet appropriate educational and professional standards.

I urge your offices to investigate the content, instructors, outside participants and approval process for this program, which promotes antisemitism and harms Jewish students and society as a whole. CPS must terminate this program, which incites hatred toward Israel and the Jewish people, and take appropriate steps to prevent similar problems in future professional development offerings.

Sincerely,