Members of National Education Association demand 'action' against Seattle-area teacher who urged colleagues to donate to Oct.7-denying Islamic cleric who says sex slaves are 'permissible'

Members of the largest teachers’ unions in the US are calling for action after it was revealed that a Seattle area math teacher suggested co-workers send money to a charity run by an Islamic cleric who has endorsed sex slaves and denied the Oct 7 atrocities committed by Hamas.

Jany Finkielsztein of the National Education Association's Jewish Affairs Caucus said that the Mukilteo School District needed to take action.

She told The Daily Mail, “School administrators must set clear expectations and deter teachers like Sobia Sheikh from pushing and supporting extreme political views without consequences. Urgent action is needed to address the rise of antisemitism in schools, ensuring transparency and oversight to prevent the indoctrination of anti-Israel falsehoods and hate among American students.”

Earlier this month, Parents Defending Education revealed that Sobia Sheikh, a math teacher at Mariner High School in Everett, Washington’s Mukilteo School District, suggested the cleric’s charity when asked by the school counselor where to donate for emergency relief for Palestinians shortly after Hamas raped, tortured, and murdered over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped another 250.

Sheikh, who was a board member of the National Education Association, recommended a "Shariya compliant" fundraiser by “WaqForever,” a charity registered in the UK, operated by Ali Hammuda.

Hammuda has previously stated that the Oct 7 atrocities in Israel “never happened… there was no massacre of 260 people, there was no mass rape that took place at all, there was not the beheading of a single child, let alone 40 of them. There is zero evidence.”

According to the Daily Express, Hammuda accused the media of "concocting stories… that a huge massacre took place" and an undercover reporter recorded the cleric telling teenage Muslim boys that it is “permissible” under Islam to have sex slaves.

Sheikh’s social media accounts are filled with antisemitism, including tropes comparing Jews to Nazis and vile lies such as “Israelis killed their own people” on Oct. 7.

The teacher also posted memes alleging that Israelis steal Palestinian organs and comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

Sheikh served on the NEA Task Force on Safe, Just, and Equitable Schools and was endorsed in her campaign for the board by the Washington Education Association’s BAT Caucus (Bad Ass Teachers) which describes itself as “giving voice to every educator who refuses to be blamed for the failure of society to erase poverty and inequality through education.”

According to Sheikh’s LinkedIn profile, she graduated from the University of Washington, is their M.Ed Alumni Representative on the Professional Educator Advisory Board and works for a local branch of the Sylvan Learning Center.

The district told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, "Any opinions shared by staff on their personal social media are their own and do not represent the district. We understand this conflict raises strong feelings and that Americans have the right to voice their opinions.”

The school refused to “discuss personnel issues through the media” when asked why the district had not addressed Sheikh using school resources to fundraise for terrorists.

Private school teacher and member of Conservative Ladies of Washington Jeannie Magdua told The Daily Mail, “The radical political activism among teachers, like Sobia Sheikh, is one of the reasons I withdrew my child from public school. Until there is a shift toward education and away from wokeness, the K-12 system will continue to lose students.”