100 signatures reached
To: Prue Car, NSW Education Minister
Reinstate pro-Palestine teacher John Morris
We the undersigned call on the NSW Department of Education to
1. Immediately reinstate teacher John Morris
2. Pay him compensation for lost wages
1. Immediately reinstate teacher John Morris
2. Pay him compensation for lost wages
Why is this important?
The NSW Department of Education has suspended teacher John Morris without pay, after a smear campaign by the right wing Daily Telegraph newspaper.
This is witch-hunt and trial by media. John's suspension must be lifted immediately.
John is a Teachers and School Staff for Palestine member, union activist and long-standing NSW Teachers Federation Councillor.
The Daily Telegraph has bragged about notifying the NSW Department of Education about 2024 posts of his on X, on Thursday Sept 18, and that the Department suspended John the following day.
Whilst an investigation by the Department is taking place The Daily Telegraph then published details of allegations against John, falsely claiming that he is a supporter of a "terrorist organisation", Hamas.
John's posts in 2024 defended the right of the Palestinian people to resist genocide and occupation. It is notable that no allegation relates to his ability to teach during the last two years.
One of John's posts quotes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2019, to highlight Netanyahu’s hypocrisy regarding Hamas: "Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas … This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
In another, he reposted expelled ANU student Bea Tucker's quote, “Hamas deserve our unconditional support. Not because I agree with their strategy – complete disagreement with that – but the situation at hand is if you have no hope … nothing can justify what has been happening to the Palestinian people for 75 years.”
He did this as a way of supporting Tucker, while they faced expulsion. Tucker was later reinstated after appeal. John added his own words "unconditional, but critical".
The UN General Assembly endorsed the right for national liberation movements to employ “all available means, including armed struggle” in resisting colonial domination, in Resolution 45/130, in 1990.
The NSW Department of Education has caved into The Daily Tele shameful concern to rehabilitate Israel.
The political atmosphere that enables this witch-hunt, has been created by the Minns government which continues to support Israel. It has publicly indicated its support for banning the pro-Palestinian slogans "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free", and "Globalise the Intifada". It introduced draconian anti-protest laws in support of the Israeli president, Herzog, touring NSW.
Herzog was found to "have incited the commission of genocide", as determined by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The Minns government allowed Herzog to tour NSW private schools and shaking hands with school children.
But it is the teachers speaking out against genocide, and students and teachers wearing the Palestinian symbol of the keffiyeh that are persecuted. The NSW Department of Education must end its political discrimination against teachers supporting Palestinian human rights. John Morris must be reinstated immediately.
This is witch-hunt and trial by media. John's suspension must be lifted immediately.
John is a Teachers and School Staff for Palestine member, union activist and long-standing NSW Teachers Federation Councillor.
The Daily Telegraph has bragged about notifying the NSW Department of Education about 2024 posts of his on X, on Thursday Sept 18, and that the Department suspended John the following day.
Whilst an investigation by the Department is taking place The Daily Telegraph then published details of allegations against John, falsely claiming that he is a supporter of a "terrorist organisation", Hamas.
John's posts in 2024 defended the right of the Palestinian people to resist genocide and occupation. It is notable that no allegation relates to his ability to teach during the last two years.
One of John's posts quotes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2019, to highlight Netanyahu’s hypocrisy regarding Hamas: "Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas … This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
In another, he reposted expelled ANU student Bea Tucker's quote, “Hamas deserve our unconditional support. Not because I agree with their strategy – complete disagreement with that – but the situation at hand is if you have no hope … nothing can justify what has been happening to the Palestinian people for 75 years.”
He did this as a way of supporting Tucker, while they faced expulsion. Tucker was later reinstated after appeal. John added his own words "unconditional, but critical".
The UN General Assembly endorsed the right for national liberation movements to employ “all available means, including armed struggle” in resisting colonial domination, in Resolution 45/130, in 1990.
The NSW Department of Education has caved into The Daily Tele shameful concern to rehabilitate Israel.
The political atmosphere that enables this witch-hunt, has been created by the Minns government which continues to support Israel. It has publicly indicated its support for banning the pro-Palestinian slogans "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free", and "Globalise the Intifada". It introduced draconian anti-protest laws in support of the Israeli president, Herzog, touring NSW.
Herzog was found to "have incited the commission of genocide", as determined by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The Minns government allowed Herzog to tour NSW private schools and shaking hands with school children.
But it is the teachers speaking out against genocide, and students and teachers wearing the Palestinian symbol of the keffiyeh that are persecuted. The NSW Department of Education must end its political discrimination against teachers supporting Palestinian human rights. John Morris must be reinstated immediately.