Why Members Are Saying No to a 'Palestinians' Resistance' Class at George Mason's Lifelong Learning Program

Retirees who sign up for continuing education at George Mason University's lifelong learning program usually expect a course on Civil War history, birdwatching or great books. Next term, the catalog includes a class that describes Jews who came to the land of Israel as colonists and promises to explore what led to "the Palestinians' resistance." Members are objecting, and they are right to.

The Washington Free Beacon reported Friday that the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason, known as OLLI Mason, is offering a course called "The History of Palestine" next semester. According to the course description published by the program and quoted by the Free Beacon, the class will survey Palestine from the late 1890s to the present, look at the beginnings of Zionism and what happened to residents when new colonists arrived, and examine what conditions led to the Palestinians' resistance and what forms it took.

The instructor, Haitham Arafat, is described in the course materials as an American Palestinian born in Gaza who closed his cybersecurity business after what the materials call the genocide began, lost more than 100 family members in northern Gaza and recently sailed with the Global Sumud Flotilla, the Free Beacon reported. The outlet reported that the State Department has described the flotilla as a pro-Hamas initiative.

The strongest evidence that the course crossed a line is the program's own response. In an email the Free Beacon viewed, OLLI Mason Executive Director Lisa Mariam wrote that the board would meet after complaints from several members, that the course would carry a special sensitive-topic label and a catalog disclaimer, and that its Zoom section would be canceled. "This instructor was recruited by one of our members to lecture at OLLI," she wrote. The program also said it would offer a six-session class from the Israeli and Jewish perspective in the spring.

A balanced curriculum does not need a warning label. A course that does is a course that was never balanced to begin with.

A George Mason spokesman told the Free Beacon that the course is offered solely by OLLI, which he described as a separate organization from the university. But OLLI Mason's own website identifies it as the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University and says its courses are presented by GMU faculty, subject-matter experts and experienced members. The Free Beacon noted the same contradiction. A program that carries a public university's name, uses its faculty and serves its community cannot wash its hands of what it teaches.

This is not George Mason's first brush with these questions. In July 2025, the U.S. Education Department opened a Title VI civil rights investigation into the university after a year in which, as Jewish Insider reported, the Virginia school contended with several high-profile incidents of antisemitism.

Weeks later, the department's Office for Civil Rights found that George Mason had violated Title VI by using race in hiring and promotion under President Gregory Washington, and proposed a resolution that included a personal apology from the president to the university community, according to the department and Higher Ed Dive. Washington had pushed back when the probe opened, saying the school's policies do not give preferential treatment by race. A school under that kind of federal scrutiny should be especially careful about lending its name to a course built on a one-sided account of the Middle East.

Words matter in a classroom. The current war in Gaza began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Calling Israel's response genocide is a contested political charge, not settled history, and Israel denies it, as Newsweek has reported. Calling Jewish immigrants "colonists" ignores the Jewish people's ancient ties to the land, ties the Bible itself records. And "resistance" is the word Hamas uses to dress up terrorism.

Adults are free to hear any argument. But a course offered under a public university's banner should present the history fairly, not adopt the vocabulary of one side as fact.

The members who complained are leading the way. One letter obtained by the Free Beacon said the class appears to be an effort to weaponize adult education, and Middle East analyst Eric Rozenman wrote that genocide charges against Israel repackage ancient anti-Jewish blood libels. The Zionist Organization of America sent its own letter this week warning of serious flaws in the course and its instructor.

OLLI Mason's board was set to take up the complaints in a closed session, and registration for the winter 2027 term opens December 1, according to the program's website. George Mason's leaders, and Virginia's, should make sure that whatever is taught under the university's name meets the standard every student deserves: the truth, fairly told.