Glen Allen, VA – A Virginia high school teacher went on a 12-minute rant saying the United States is funding a “genocide” in Gaza while attempting to convince children to become activists for the cause, according to an audio recording obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Catherine Massalha, a history teacher at Deep Run High School in Henrico County, just outside Richmond, claimed the warfighting in the region is a “holocaust” against Palestinians, calling Israel an “occupying” regime and members of the terrorist group Hamas “resistance fighters.”
“It is a resistance to the occupation,” Massalha said, according to the recording.
In the audio, recorded by a student in a freshman history class, the teacher can be heard accusing Israel of committing war crimes. The student’s father sent the audio to the education advocacy organization Defense of Freedom Institute.
“There’s only one [unintelligible] hospital still standing right now. The rest have been destroyed. Did you know that destroying hospitals in war is called a war crime? Killing innocent civilians is a war crime,” Massalha said in the December talk. “This is not even a war because Gaza has no army. Gaza does not have aircraft, they do not have navies, they do not have any of that. They don’t have tanks — any weapons they have, they literally got from Israel. It’s really important to understand that. This isn’t a war. It didn’t start on Oct. 7; it started before.”
“But what’s happening right now, we started funding. After Oct. 7, our government gave even more money to Israel, and weapons, to attack Gaza,” she continued. “So, your taxpayer money is going to attack Gaza right now. It’s going to destroy those hospitals.”
The recording comes as school districts across the country grapple with a yearslong reckoning over the left-leaning themes they teach in the classroom. Since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack on civilians in Israel, a growing disdain for the Jewish state, and in some cases a rise in antisemitism, has stirred controversy on college campuses.
Massalha, who said her family is Palestinian, said it was her duty to tell the students about the conflict because of her view of Henrico County Public Schools’s status as a “system of equity,” one that should use “culturally responsive education” and “anti-racist” practices. Those terms are often used by activists to refer to the ideology behind critical race theory.
The school district downplayed concerns about Massalha’s speech in a comment to the Washington Examiner, characterizing the teacher’s overt call to action as simply normal classroom discussion.
“Current events are often used as real-world learning opportunities for students, especially in history and civics classes. Age-appropriate discussions generally include ties to previous learning and opportunities for students to consider personal – and differing – perspectives on local, national, and global issues,” the school district said. “At all times, students and teachers are encouraged to be respectful and tolerant of varying viewpoints.”
In a conversation with the father of the student, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution from the school and surrounding community, the Washington Examiner was told that the student knew to start recording because Massalha frequently attempts to push her ideology on the students in her classes and that this has been going on for several years.
The father went on to say that the school and school district, which are consistently ranked highly for academics both in Virginia and nationally, are both left-wing and that he knew he could not bring the issue to the principal of Deep Run or any member of the school board because they would “bury it.”
“They’re not going to do a doggone thing about this. They don’t care how antisemitic she is,” he said. “This woman is calling this terrorist organization a humanitarian effort, and she’s a sympathizer.”
“She’s doing this job because it’s a way of indoctrinating these children,” the father claimed, explaining that this kind of discussion is what fuels antisemitic sentiment on college campuses once students reach that stage in their education. “This is just one example of an extreme case of teacher who’s just gone completely rogue. I don’t want you to teach my kids your opinion; I want you to teach them history.”
In the recording, Massalha can be heard making emotional pleas, seemingly on the verge of tears, and telling the children they will not have to feel guilty in the future if they act now.
“This is a holocaust. It’s happening to Gazan people. And you need to think about what are you going to do because your government is doing the wrong stuff. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to stand by and say, ‘It’s not my problem’? ‘I can’t’? ‘I can’t do anything’? I’m going to tell you: You can do something,” she said. “Kids do things. You can send letters to your congressman. All you’ve got to do is look it up: ‘How do I contact my congressman?’ ‘Ceasefire now’: Look it up. It’ll tell you to sign this petition, go on a march, tell people, make people aware, just educate yourself and others.”
While the school did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner, Massalha defended her speech, saying, “I have never had a pro-Hamas discussion in or out of my classroom, and there is nothing pro-Hamas in the transcript of the recording you sent in the email.”
“The discussion was on my concerns about what was happening to the Palestinian people,” she continued. “My concerns about the ethnic [cleansings] and forced displacement of thousands of innocent people is valid. If this discussion was about the people of Ukraine and advocating for their safety and right to exist, would you have been concerned or have written this email or article? I think not.”
Read the entire transcript below:
| Henrico County is supposed to be a public school system of equity, it is supposed to be one of culturally responsive education, and it is supposed to be anti-racist. So by doing all of that, I have a responsibility to talk to you about what’s happening in Gaza. I’m going to start off and I’m going to say that this is not about religion. It has nothing to do with religion. This is not me criticizing a religion; this is me talking about a country and what it is doing, and what my country is doing right now that is wrong. It’s about what is happening to a group of people. Now, you guys studied the Holocaust in middle school, right? And you studied that as it was a horrible thing, correct? And it was. It was an awful thing. Genocides are horrible. There are approximately 8 or more genocides happening right now in the world. Ethnic cleansings and genocides are happening to different groups of people in different parts of the world. There is one happening in China, but we’re not funding that one. We have said things, but we’re not really taking a very big stand to stop it as a country. We haven’t put strong sanctions on China. Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. There is one going on in Myanmar that is still happening. I mean, we’ve said things about it as a country and we’ve made statements, the UN has made statements about it, but this one in Gaza — this one in Gaza, our country is funding. Your taxpayer money for decades has been going to support the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government. Please make sure you are understanding: I am talking about a government, I am talking about an occupying country, a country that occupies another country or a group of people that occupy it. We have been funding that occupation with our tax money. After Oct. 7, this is not fair, we started getting money for it. So, let me explain to you what Palestine is. Gaza is a strip of land that’s about the size of Richmond that was walled in in 2006 by the Israeli government. [unintelligible] is walled; there is a wall around it. Those people are stuck there. The only way in and out of Gaza is through Israeli checkpoints — soldiers let them in and out. The only things that can get in is what comes in through those checkpoints. Nothing comes in through the sea; Israel does not allow ships to come in through the sea [unintelligible] to Gaza. There is a very small part of the sea [unintelligible] that Gaza people can fish. If they go out beyond that point, they can be shot either by the Israeli government or the Egyptian government. There is a checkpoint at the Egyptian border, nothing except humanitarian goods come in through the Egyptian border. So those would be things people need like medicine, supplies like soap, food, clothing, no military any type of equipment comes in. Gaza does not have an army; it has a makeshift government that was elected in 2007 a year after the wall was built. That’s what Hamas is. Hamas is resistance fighters. It is a resistance to the occupation. It is pretty much [unintelligible]. There has been no election by the people [unintelligible] since 2007. I really need you to understand that. The vast majority of people in Gaza are not Hamas, they are people. And there’s only one [unintelligible] hospital still standing right now. The rest have been destroyed. Did you know that destroying hospitals in war is called a war crime? Killing innocent civilians is a war crime. This is not even a war because Gaza has no army. Gaza does not have aircraft, they do not have navies, they do not have any of that. They don’t have tanks, any weapons they have, they literally got from Israel. It’s really important to understand that. This isn’t a war. It didn’t start on Oct. 7; it started before. But what’s happening right now, we started funding. After Oct. 7, our government gave even more money to Israel, and weapons, to attack Gaza. So, your taxpayer money is going to attack Gaza right now. It’s going to destroy those hospitals. It will take generations for the people of Gaza, even if it stops today, to recover from this. [unintelligible] thousands of people are dying every day in Gaza. Yes, it’s very sad. I was crying on my way to work; I’m going to cry now. Every time I talk about it, I cry. Every time I open my social media, I cry. My family is Palestinian, and I want to talk to you about this because we’re funding it. It’s not just because it’s close to home; it’s because my country is funding it and I’m angry, and I’m not OK with it. There are things you can do. So, I wanted to talk to you about this because if you ever wondered when you were learning about the Holocaust, and you ever thought about what [unintelligible] would do this: You’re there. This is a holocaust. It’s happening to Gazan people. And you need to think about what are you going to do because your government is doing the wrong stuff. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to stand by and say, ‘It’s not my problem’? ‘I can’t’? ‘I can’t do anything’? I’m going to tell you, you can do something. Kids do things. You can send letters to your congressman. All you’ve got to do is look it up: ‘How do I contact my congressman?’ ‘Ceasefire now.’ Look it up. It’ll tell you to sign this petition, go on a march, tell people, make people aware, just educate yourself and others. Like, if you do that and you are not for this, you’re against it and you say something, in 50 years, when they finally realize how horrible it is and say, ‘We are so sorry,’ you don’t have to feel guilty because you already knew it was bad. And you already tried to stop it. The United States didn’t do anything about the Holocaust. That wasn’t their role when they went in World War II. They didn’t care, and that’s the guilt that they have held for a very long time. I am really sorry that it happens to be that it is the Israeli government doing it this time, but it is what it is. This is not about religion; it is important that you never [unintelligible] they are not responsible. This is the Israeli government. Judaism is the origins of my religion, and I will protect Jewish people with my life, just like I would Muslim people and Christian people and atheist people and every single one of you because that’s the right thing to do. Do you guys understand? I’m asking you, as a human to human, to think about this time period and make some decisions for yourself that you can live with. And I am telling you right now, I am done with having to talk to my classes, because I am having a hard time coming in every day and doing business as usual. And I feel like, very much like I need to do much about this, and I do not want to be that teacher that didn’t tell you the truth. That didn’t warn you and allowed you to think things that were not true. You should, as a person in a democratic country, we’re in a democracy, right? [unintelligible] believe that your country is supposed to be a democracy. Right? Am I correct? It’s supposed to be one. [unintelligible]. Your representatives and your president should be doing what you want. They should not be sending your money to do something unethical or horrible. You have a right to say something, that’s what a patriot does. Nationalism is not good; we should not be nationalists. We should be patriots. That means you want what’s best for your people, best for your country, and you want what’s right, so that your country’s in the right. Does that make sense? You guys have to decide where you want to be in this. I just need to inform you because I have a problem with coming in every day like it’s business as usual, [like] it’s all good, it’s not good. I don’t want to make you guys all upset, either [unintelligible] today, but I really think this is something that we’re at a point where Gaza might not be here, if I don’t say something, in another month. Maybe all of the Gazan people will be dead or displaced. My image on my board, so, part of what I’ve been doing, because I physically can’t go on marches right now, I just won’t make it, I sign petitions. I’ve posted in my social media only things about Gaza. I am really careful to make sure I’m posting things that are just giving, like, facts of what’s happening. Educate yourself. If you think that everything I’m saying is a lie, and I’m giving you propaganda, come prove me wrong. Please. Go for it. I have no problem with that. This image is part of me supporting Palestine. Me wearing the keffiyeh. She’s wearing the keffiyeh. This is a very old Palestinian scarf. It has come to represent resistance, but it’s not what it was. It represents Palestinian culture. It is the fishnets of the fishing industry, it is the olive they use of the olive tree. Respecting industry that has been in Palestine for thousands of years. The borders are the train routes that go through the Levant through Palestine. They are the oldest train routes in the world. The oldest Christian community that still exists today is in Gaza, and it is being exterminated. There were 8,000 members left of that society, or that community, in Gaza, on Oct. 7. I don’t know how many are still alive. They’re not just dying from bombs, there are no hospitals. There’s one hospital. There’s no fresh water. They’re dying from a lot of things right now. But bombing is the big one. The oranges are another industry. She’s wearing a Palestinian dress; it’s traditional with traditional type of Palestinian embroidery on it. The watermelon is the Palestinian colors. That was one of the things that they grew, but it became the symbol for Palestine because in 1967, you got arrested if you wore a Palestinian flag or Palestinian colors, so they started using watermelons. They started putting watermelons on their clothes to represent their people. The key that is her earring is the key of the houses that people had to leave when they left in 1948 in diaspora and have not been allowed to return back to Palestine. The Gazans have their keys, but they have no houses because they are flat. They are gone. They don’t exist anymore. So, this is why I just felt like I needed to take a moment to tell you, we had a little time today where I could use it for this. If you have questions, or you want more information, or you want resources, I can guide you. I’m not going to educate you in all of this, but I do implore you to educate yourself. Being a patriot, being a good citizen, means expecting your government to do the right thing, and forcing them to do so. That’s what our Declaration of Independence and liberty is about. |
