Philadelphia teacher admits she lied for years about Palestinian and Black identity
Hannah Gann, a Philadelphia teacher and prominent pro-Palestinian activist, has admitted she spent years lying about being a mixed-race woman of Black and Palestinian heritage, saying she has "no Palestinian or Tunisian heritage".
A Philadelphia teacher and pro-Palestinian activist has admitted she spent years lying about her identity, telling her Instagram followers this week she is a white woman with no Palestinian heritage.
“I lied about my identity and have been lying for years. I have no Palestinian or Tunisian heritage,” Hannah Gann wrote on Instagram, the New York Post reported. “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.”
Gann had claimed Black and Palestinian heritage. The Post reports she was once branded “Philadelphia’s Leading Antisemite” on a billboard outside her school.
The admission followed Thursday’s confrontation with the Racial Justice Organizing Committee and Philly Educators for Palestine. “Members met with Hannah and questioned her about her background on Thursday and after an hour of discussion, Hannah finally admitted she lied,” the groups told the Philadelphia Inquirer. They said they were “stunned, saddened and angered by this betrayal”.
A University of Pennsylvania classmate told the Inquirer she was known as “a self-proclaimed white Jewish woman with family in the occupied West Bank”, and described her use of makeup and fake tan and speaking in African American Vernacular English after her Peace Corps return from Rwanda.
She also wrote: “I hid the truth or outright lied about my background to everyone in my life,” according to the NY Post’s account of her apology post.
The Guardian reported that local advocacy groups cut ties with her, saying she had “fully lied about her identity and background”.
Sources
- The New York Post — “‘Palestinian Rachel Dolezal’ outed as white woman of ‘significant privilege and wealth’” (23 September 2026): https://nypost.com/2026/09/23/us-news/palestinian-rachel-dolezal-outed-as-white-woman-of-significant-privilege-and-wealth/
- The Guardian — “Philadelphia teacher admits to lying about being Palestinian and Black: ‘I hid the truth’” (23 September 2026)
- The Philadelphia Inquirer — via reporting on the confrontation, the former classmate account, and the Philly Palestine Coalition document
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