by Rebecca Pitre
An anti-Israel, activist presence is growing here in Vermont. This activism makes many of our friends and neighbors feel unsafe and unwanted. Anti-apartheid Free Community (AFC) pledges have been added to town meeting ballots, and our public schools are subsidizing groups aligned with this ideology as well.
“For Vermonters Palestine is a local Issue.” This was the title of a March 7, 2025 article from the American Service Friends Committee (AFSC), a Philadelphia-based organization. Zoie Jannuzi states, “Over the past year, I’ve gotten to travel to Vermont to support local activists in my role as organizer to the American Friends Service Committee.” Jannuzi’s work, along with that of recruited activists in Vermont, proved successful as a pro Palestinian pledge “to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler colonialism and military occupation” was placed on six town meeting ballots. Jannuzi ends the article declaring to Vermont citizens, “Five Vermont towns have become the first apartheid-free municipalities in the United States.”
The Shalom Alliance Vermont, who “is committed to safeguarding the Jewish Community in Vermont against growing antisemitism” and the “nurturing of opportunities for nonpartisan, peaceful and constructive dialogue,” tried, to no avail, to stop this measure from being added to the above-mentioned town meeting ballots.
Outright Vermont, who is currently working in over one hundred of Vermont’s public schools, seems to be joining this growing faction. Outright’s name can be found on the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation website as an AFC pledge supporter. Furthermore, Dana Kaplan, a New York resident and Outright Vermont’s executive director, is on record proudly stating, “At this moment, we see youth, from elementary to graduate school age, across the country, leading protests calling for a cease-fire in Palestine.” This from an October 2024 article entitled ‘LGBTQ+Youth Activism’, found on Outright Vermont’s website.
Outright Vermont, it seems, has veered from their original vision of “Building a Vermont where all LGBTQ+ Youth have hope, equity and power,” to what seems like encouragement for political activism. Will their Jewish students feel that sense of “hope, equity and power” if anti-Israel rhetoric is part of their agenda? Outright Vermont has been subsidized by the Vermont Agency of Education. They have been appropriated $60,000 in 2023 and have been recommended an additional $60,000 for 2024. Are they involved in education or political indoctrination?
Vermonters are wondering if the Anti-apartheid Free Community (AFC) pledge with its plainly anti-Israel language will perpetuate the growing divide among our citizens? And will Outright Vermont’s support of these pledges provide an avenue for anti-Israel propaganda in our public schools?
Quotes like these appearing on websites give many Vermonters a cause for worry. “In addition to the national threat to democracy posed by Trump, we should also worry about local threats to democracy from Zionists” (VCPL FAQ page). And, in an article on the Mondoweiss website, Wacif Faour, member of the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation (VCPL) said, “We are on a tidal wave of change.”
Why should Vermonters be focusing anything more than their prayers toward Middle East conflicts? Vermont’s public schools are failing our children. Families are struggling to put healthy food on the table and keep a roof overhead. Taxes and fuel costs are ever rising. Drug addiction and homelessness are a daily hurdle facing many. Let’s work together as Vermonters on the issues which will help our neighbors and stop generating discord over foreign policy issues.