What in the wild world of Rachel Dolezal is going on here?
Anti-Israel educator and activist Hannah Gann, who claimed to be part black and Palestinian, was such an ardent critic of the Jewish state, she was labeled “Philadelphia’s Leading Antisemite.”
So, imagine her community’s surprise when it was revealed that Gann is whiter than Casper the Friendly Ghost in a snowstorm.
From Politico:
A woke anti-Israel teacher and activist who claimed to be part black and Arab has been dubbed the “Palestinian Rachel Dolezal” after she was outed as being a white, Jewish woman who hid her privileged identity as she led antisemitic protests.
Hannah Gann, a Philadelphia teacher, was forced to confess she was a “white woman of significant privilege and wealth” after fellow lefty activists grew suspicious of her background and confronted her.
“I lied about my identity and have been lying for years. I have no Palestinian or Tunisian heritage,” she wrote in a self-aggrandizing apology on Instagram.
“I am a white woman of significant privilege and wealth. Anyone who supported me was manipulated and should not be judged as a result of their support for me,” she continued.
In the video, Gann admits she “hid the truth or outright lied about my background to everyone in my life.”
“There is not a single person on this planet, no friend, no fellow organizer, no one in my family, no professional connection, no secret op or handler who knew what I was doing. I hid my family’s background from everyone in Philly and also hid from the people in my own family what I was doing,” she continued.
The activist further stated that she “allowed half-truths and obfuscations to grow into outright lies.”
Gann’s behavior earned her the nickname “Palestinian Rachel Dolezal,” a reference to a former white NAACP activist who pretended to be black. But what is even more interesting is the fact that she is not just white, she’s also Jewish and has family living in the West Bank, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer:
A Philadelphia teacher is being called the “Palestinian Rachel Dolezal” after being caught lying about her background — a deception that has stirred strong emotions in education and racial justice organizing circles.
Hannah Gann, a veteran Philadelphia School District educator, has claimed at times to be Palestinian and Black, and was so outspoken a mobile billboard once parked outside her school calling her “Philadelphia’s Leading Antisemite.”
But Gann, it turns out, is white and Jewish, and lied about her identity for years.
“Members met with Hannah and questioned her about her background on Thursday and after an hour of discussion, Hannah finally admitted she lied,” the Racial Justice Organizing Committee and Philly Educators for Palestine said in a statement. Gann had been a visible member of both groups. “We asked her to publicly acknowledge that she is a white woman of Jewish heritage and an Israeli settler family.”
The groups are “stunned, saddened and angered by this betrayal,” their statement said. They said they have permanently cut ties with Gann.
It won’t be surprising to see more situations like this come up and it’s not hard to see why. In U.S. politics, victimhood holds currency. This means those who claim to be victims — or who actually are victims — tend to be taken more seriously or given more attention due to the injustice they may or may not have faced.
Still, if she wanted, Gann could have simply weaponized her Jewish identity to give more credence to the anti-Israel side. Of course, she’d still be full of it, but at least she would have to hide a silly secret that would have eventually discredited her.
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