The leader of a teachers’ union shutting schools across Britain next week posed by Yasser Arafat’s grave during a trip to the West Bank, the JC can reveal.

National Education Union (NEU) president Louise Atkinson and other members of a UK delegation were photographed standing alongside a monument to the late PLO chairman.
Posing with the British representatives are two Palestinian men in military fatigues.

Arafat established the Fatah paramilitary group in 1959, and became a figurehead of the fight against Israel until his death in 2004.

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Union leader: Louise Atkinson (Alamy)

Black September, a militant faction created by Fatah in 1971, killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

Posting about her West Bank trip on Facebook in 2020, Atkinson shared a string of images with the caption “solidarity”.

One picture showed a wall emblazoned with a map of Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank — all covered by the Palestinian flag and, under the title “We Will Return”, a list of cities including Beershebah and Jerusalem. Another photo shows Atkinson posing in front of another Palestinian flag, her fist raised in the air.

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One of the pictures posted by Louise Atkinson

The revelation comes as her union gears up to suspend teaching on March 15 and 16 across England and Wales.

Sixth-form colleges and schools will be affected by the latest round of disruption, which follows a more limited series of strikes at the beginning of the month.

The NEU previously gave funding and support to a Palestinian teachers group whose leaders have met terror chiefs and who have praised murderers as “martyrs”.

In February, the JC revealed the union’s ties to the General Union of Palestinian Teachers (GUPT), whom they have travelled to meet a number of times. GUPT General Secretary Saed Erziqat, who has spoken at the NEU’s annual conference, has praised militant network the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which was designated as a terror group by the European Union and the US.

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A Facebook post with the caption 'solidarity'

The GUPT leader also recently compared Israel to Nazi Germany, saying: “There are massacres that have happened to the Palestinian people that were worse than the Holocaust itself.”

Posting the photo of Atkinson alongside Arafat’s grave, NEU Membership & Equalities Officer Louise Regan added: “It was great to catch up with GUPT members at our online event this evening.”

In April of last year, the NEU sparked outrage when it voted to boycott Israel at its annual conference.

Robert Halfon MP, then chair of the education select committee, told the JC: “I think this is pretty horrific and unnecessary. Why on earth the NEU should focus on Israel, when they should be keeping our children learning, is beyond most people… Most decent teachers and support staff will want nothing to do with this.”

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Yasser Arafat (Photo: Getty Images)

An NEU spokesperson said: “The NEU support for a just peace between Palestine and Israel is a commitment endorsed at our annual conference by NEU members.

As part of the international trade union community, the NEU works in solidarity for this cause and the NEU delegations to Palestine are in furtherance of this commitment.”

Louise Atkinson has been contacted for comment.