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Group that organized pro-Palestine protests should lose contract with school, say fed-up California parents

December 9, 2023 | | Print Article

A radical group’s contract with a California school district was challenged by parents after they were accused of “organizing children” to push their anti-Israel agenda.

Indoctrinated college students weren’t alone in expressing pro-Hamas sympathies as public schools in the Bay Area had participated in an October walkout opposing Israel’s counteroffensive following the Oct. 7 terror attacks. Now, as the San Francisco-based Arab Resources and Organizing Center (AROC) has been linked to escalating protests, including efforts to shut down a military operation, concerned parents are demanding action over potential policy violations over the methods used promoting “Palestine liberation.”

In a letter issued to San Francisco Unified School District officials, parents Siva Raj and Autumen Looijen, founders of the group SF Guardians, expressed their concerns. “Regardless of your position on this international conflict, we hope we can all agree on some basic principles.”

“In particular, political organizations — especially those contracted by the school district and given privileged access to our children — should not be in our schools organizing children to do political work and disrupting our children’s safe learning environment,” the letter expressed.

As Looijen had said to the San Francisco Chronicle, “No one wants political organizations using their access to students to organize them in schools.”

Currently, AROC has a three-year contract with nine schools in the district through July 2026 to include “leadership development and cultural empowerment.” On Oct. 18, they were said to have helped organize a walkout by high school students as part of a demand for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Their radical activism hardly ended there as the group was also connected to efforts to shut down the Port of Oakland and the Port of Tacoma, where military supply ships were departing to provide resources to Israel, and the Nov. 16 disruption on the Bay Bridge where cars had been parked to blockade traffic and the keys and been thrown over the side into the water.

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As it happened, AROC even lamented that President Joe Biden was using taxpayer money to support Israel after Hamas had slaughtered over 1,400 men, women and children.

In response to the letter from SF Guardian, the same group that had helped successfully organize the recall of three members of the school board, district spokesperson Laura Dudnick said Thursday, “It is our priority to ensure students feel safe and supported in schools. We will provide a response once we have had a chance to carefully review the letter.”

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The district was said to have warned AROC in October, “Staff is not authorized to lead students in a walkout.”

AROC executive director Lara Kiswani took the position of victim in turn and said in an emailed statement to the Chronicle, “AROC absolutely supported the students who decided to walk out on October 18th demanding a cease-fire and an end to the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli government.”

“We are appalled by the racist attacks they have faced since speaking out against genocide,” the statement noted. “And we were grateful to be in dialogue with the district, parents, and teachers about this brave act of civil disobedience — the same type of action that is taught in the history books of our schools, rightful celebrating the bold initiative of those who struggle for racial justice, for social justice, and for peace. We couldn’t be prouder of the youth and students of our community, and look forward to supporting their future leadership and civic engagement.”

Worth noting, AROC is a “fiscal sponsor” of the infamous Tide Center which described them as a “grassroots organization working to empower and organize our community towards justice and self-determinations for all,” when they are in fact a leading proponent of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

Their role in the “block the boat” protest could mean legal ramifications for both, including the end of their non-profit status, as attorney Jason Torchinsky explained to the Washington Free Beacon, “There are lawful ways and locations to exercise free speech at a public port–like getting a protest permit and holding your event.”

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“But [nonprofit] dollars cannot be used to support criminal activities, which here may include a restricted area in violation of U.S. Coast Guard rules and interference with military operations,” he added.

Kevin Haggerty
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