SWC Applauds LA Teacher's Union for Rescinding Endorsement of Board of Education Candidate for Anti-Semitic Posts

February 23, 2024

Today, the Simon Wiesenthal Center strongly condemned Kahllid Al-Alim, a candidate for the LA School Board, for a series of social media posts including support for Louis Farrakhan & The Nation of Islam as well as content that celebrated Hamas’ October 7^th massacre of Israeli civilians.

SWC further applauded the Los Angeles Teacher's Union for rescinding its prior endorsement of Mr. Al-Alim.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC Associate Dean and Global Social Action Director said, “Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam published a book rife with anti-Semitic tropes alleging that Jews played a central role in Slavery. It was so pernicious that the late Dr. Harold Brackman, a longtime researcher for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and expert on Black history wrote a book debunking the very book this candidate for the Los Angeles School Board commended.”

Rabbi Cooper continued by saying: “The Jewish community is already reeling from a tsunami of anti-Semitism.  While we acknowledge that Mr. Al-Alim has apologized for his posts, we commend the UTLA’s leadership in sending the right signal to halt support for a candidate who is seeking election to be one of the key gatekeepers for Los Angeles public school students. At a time of surging anti-Semitism, it is crucial that people need to be accountable for their actions. We hope the LA County Federation of Labor will follow UTLA's lead."

 For further information, please email Michele Alkin, Director of Global Communications at malkin@wiesenthal.com or Erik Simon at esimon@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

 The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rights organization. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS, and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).