Apparently, at the Chicago Teachers Union, free speech depends on who is speaking. CTU canceled a screening of Screams Before Silence, Sheryl Sandberg’s documentary about Hamas’s sexual violence on October 7, followed by a panel I was scheduled to join. Their stated reason? The organizers supposedly failed to disclose my participation. The organizers say they informed CTU on September 28 and were told there was no problem. My presence was grounds for cancellation. Yet just months earlier, the same venue accommodated a conference where speakers praised October 7 and supported Iran’s “axis of resistance.” That is a disgrace. I am the son of a kindergarten teacher and the brother of a school principal. My mother chaired the local teachers’ union in my hometown. I grew up understanding why unions matter and why public education matters. Teachers deserve representation. Students deserve an education that encourages questions and open discussion. CTU’s political activism serves neither. I spend my days trying to build dialogue in Chicago, including with people who strongly disagree with Israel. Criticism of Israel is legitimate. I am willing to have difficult conversations. Canceling an event because an Israeli voice will be in the room shuts those conversations down before they can happen. And this screening was about giving a voice to victims of sexual violence. At a time when Hamas’s sexual crimes are denied and dismissed, CTU chose to cancel an opportunity to hear their testimony. What happened to believing survivors? Does that principle disappear when the victims are Israeli? Excluding Israeli voices and silencing testimony about atrocities against Jews deserves to be called out for what it is: discrimination and antisemitism. CTU owes an explanation to Chicago’s teachers and students, and to the victims whose voices it chose to silence.

It is now 6:29 a.m. in Israel. Exactly three years since the October 7 Hamas massacre began. Today, I ask our friends here in America and around the world to pause with us. To make room for the grief that so many Israeli families carry every day. To stand beside the survivors and the families of those murdered and taken hostage. Standing with them also means refusing to let what happened be denied, minimized or justified. No cause can justify October 7. No passage of time can make it acceptable. Our commitment to those whose lives were shattered must last beyond this anniversary. We must keep their stories alive, because future generations need to understand what happened on October 7 and why we are so determined that it never happen again. Yizkor, We Remember 🕯️🇮🇱💔

Neria Dov Leiter, the son of Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, was critically wounded today in a Palestinian terror attack in Israel. As doctors fight for his life, my heart is with Yechiel and his family. I join the people of Israel in praying for Neria’s full recovery. Palestinian terror seeks to break us, but it will never defeat our commitment to life. Yechiel, we are with you.