In a Tuesday letter to New Jersey’s largest teachers union, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) demanded that New Jersey Education Association officials fire Ayat Oraby, an editor of its magazine, for rhetoric he called violent, anti-Semitic, and anti-Christian.
The letter attaches online comments, mostly tweets, including a since-deleted post that says the president of Egypt is “filthier than the Jews” and posts sympathetic to Hamas.
“Ms. Oraby has an extremely troubling public record of promoting divisive, violent, and hate-filled rhetoric that has no place in our great state, and that must be addressed immediately,” Gottheimer wrote. “As I heard from leaders from across New Jersey, Ms. Oraby’s recent appointment raises serious questions and concerns that, I know, do not align with the NJEA’s core values.”
Gottheimer also criticized posts that stated Israel’s occupation of Gaza, which she called a genocide, is worse than Nazism, and that Israel’s military killed some of its own citizens during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Gotthheimer said both claims cross the line.
“Equating the world’s only Jewish state with the perpetrators of the Holocaust is not only historically false, but also overtly antisemitic,” Gottheimer wrote.
The letter also included statements of Oraby calling Hamas members martyrs and calling for the killing of Israeli leaders.
Oraby started at the NJEA in August, according to her LinkedIn, making her a probationary employee.
In a statement, an NJEA official said the union is aware of Gottheimer’s letter and that officials are conducting a review in line with their internal personnel policies.
“We are aware of the letter addressed to NJEA and released publicly by Congressman Gottheimer today,” said Steven Baker, the NJEA’s director of communications. “We are addressing it through our established internal processes. This is an internal personnel matter that we will not comment on further at this time.”
A request for comment from Oraby issued through the NJEA was not returned.
The magazine, distributed to NJEA members, reaches more than 200,000 teachers, retirees, and their families.
Gottheimer said Oraby’s rhetoric does not belong in New Jersey’s teachers union.
“It is clear that Ms. Oraby should not be involved in any publication sent to New Jersey’s educators or, for that matter, have any role in educating our teachers or children,” he wrote. “Ms.Oraby’s past statements contradict and undermine NJEA’s core tenets.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), the Democratic nominee for governor, joined Gottheimer in calling for her termination. The NJEA endorsed Sherrill’s campaign for governor last month.
“I’m outraged by Ms. Oraby’s antisemitic, pro-Hamas social media posts,” Sherrill said in a statement. “This is unacceptable and the NJEA needs to immediately act and fire her from this position. An individual with bigoted views has no place as an editor of a magazine distributed to our state’s teachers. We all have a responsibility to call out antisemitism and religious bigotry when we see it and that’s exactly what I will do as governor.”
