A statement approved by the Massachusetts Teachers Association's executive board on the Israel-Hamas War has prompted swift backlash for the leadership of the teachers union. The board voted to urge the National Educators Association to put pressure on President Joe Biden to stop funding Israel, which the board characterized as a "genocidal war on the Palestinian people in Gaza." That language prompted Newton Teachers Association on Tuesday to call for a retraction — its executive board called "callous" and likely to provoke further antisemitism. "The current situation in the Middle East is both tragic and incredibly complicated, with implications that...