Hannah Gann, a high school teacher in Philadelphia, stood out among her colleagues for her especially passionate devotion to ending the war in Gaza — a stance she told people was shaped by her identity.
What that identity was, however, kept changing, some of those colleagues noticed. They said she claimed “at various times to be Palestinian, Tunisian and Black.” And last week, a political group Ms. Gann belonged to, Philly Educators for Palestine, announced that she had acknowledged it was all a lie when members confronted her.
“We are stunned, saddened and angered by this betrayal,” the group said in a statement, adding that it had cut ties to her and asked her to publicly acknowledge “she is a white woman of Jewish heritage and an Israeli settler family.”
On social media, Ms. Gann admitted to being “a white woman of significant privilege and wealth” but made no reference to her religion or her relatives. “I lied about my identity and have been lying for years.”
Separately, in a lengthy and self-flagellating Instagram video posted on Sunday, Ms. Gann said she felt “shame and sorrow and regret” and understood how her deceptions had rained down a torrent of anger and suspicion on fellow activists.
She added that critics were using her mistakes “to justify supremacist ideologies, imperial terror and genocidal violence.” Ms. Gann did not respond to a request for comment, and attempts to reach her parents were unsuccessful.
There were indeed critics who gloated at Ms. Gann’s comeuppance. But there was also some candid reflection about the preoccupation with identity in left-wing political movements.
Ms. Gann is a teacher with the Workshop School, a small high school in Philadelphia that emphasizes real-world skills, like automotive training, with less focus on traditional tests.
A spokeswoman for the Philadelphia school district declined to comment but said the district was “making support available to the Workshop School staff and students, as needed.”
Ms. Gann’s activism seemed to be a defining feature of her career as an educator. She organized teach-ins about Gaza, mentored Black students and advocated for a teacher’s right to speak up about political causes. Her activism once made her a target of a pro-Israel campaign from the group Accuracy in Media, which stationed a billboard truck outside her school with her picture alongside the words “Philadelphia’s leading antisemite.”
Before her lies were discovered, she gave several interviews to Philadelphia’s progressive media outlets. She said in one that her interest in political activism was sparked in 2013 when she started noticing the impact that school closures were having on her students. She described how educators feel silenced in the classroom by what she called “moneyed interests” who, the article said, support imperial conquest — an apparent reference to Israel.
Ms. Gann did not reveal anything specific about her background. But she did suggest that she is not white. According to the article, she described seeing how nonwhite teachers are often singled out for making political comments in the classroom while “white or white-passing or closer to white educators like myself” are not. “We don’t get the same discipline,” she said.
An undated biography of her on the website of a criminal defense organization says she taught in Rwanda before moving to Philadelphia, belonged to the Unitarian church and is “someone with loved ones directly impacted by the criminal (in)justice system.”
In a 2024 article, she is described as having “extended family in Palestine-Israel” and is pictured wearing an orange T-shirt that says “Teach Palestine. Teach Black History, Indigenous & Ethnic Studies. Teach Truth.” The article interviewed several educators who had organized initially to promote diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives but later coalesced around opposing Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza.
That article called her “one of several leading antiracist teachers in Philadelphia targeted for their opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
To many critics, Ms. Gann’s deceptions confirm the most cynical stereotypes about progressives who are wealthy, white and highly educated, but style themselves as champions of the oppressed. Her fabrications also recalled the story of another fabulist, Rachel Dolezal, a former president of the N.A.A.C.P. in Spokane, Wash., who presented herself as Black but was forced to admit she is white.
Some said they saw Ms. Gann’s admission as an indictment of activists who use race, religion, ethnicity, gender or other identities as a way of measuring someone’s credibility.
Progressive activists, however, were just as harsh in their own way.
Philly Educators for Palestine, Ms. Gann’s group, suggested that it took significant effort to unmask her. In a statement, it acknowledged “the significant and emotional labor used to bring this information forward, particularly the heavy lifting of Palestinian and Black women.”
“That labor and the harm experienced must not be erased,” it said. The group did not respond to a request for comment.
At one point in her mea culpa video, Ms. Gann said she does not “seek forgiveness I do not deserve.”
“This video,” she said, “is pathetic and not nearly enough.”
Sarah Mervosh contributed reporting. Georgia Gee contributed research.
The post A Teacher and Activist Admits to Lying About Her Palestinian Background appeared first on New York Times.
