A screening of a documentary about sexual violence committed by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel was abruptly called off at a Chicago Teachers Union Foundation facility, with the union blaming the event's organizer for failing to disclose who planned to attend. The organizer tells a different story, saying he gave the union advance notice and was assured there was no issue.
A Deal Struck, Then Reversed Three Days Out
The Chicago Teachers Union Foundation had agreed to host the October 19 screening of Screams Before Silence at its Chicago event space, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The foundation reversed that decision on the Friday before the event, three calendar days ahead of the planned screening, per organizer Jonathan Greenberg's account relayed to the outlet. Defending Education, a nonprofit that the Free Beacon describes as supporting parental rights and fighting antisemitism in education, had organized the screening.
CTU said Greenberg violated his rental agreement because he failed to disclose that Israel's consul general in Chicago planned to attend, the Free Beacon reported. Greenberg disputes that account directly, saying he informed the union of the consul general's planned attendance on September 28 and was told by facility employees at the time that there was no problem with it.
Organizer Points to Activist Pressure
Greenberg believes complaints from radical Islamist and communist organizations in Chicago are what actually drove the cancellation, according to the Free Beacon's reporting, which notes that anti-Israel activists had objected to the film being shown at the union's conference center. Greenberg said CTU does not care about education and that dissenting opinions are unwelcome in its buildings and classes. The screening is still set to happen, just relocated — organizers say it will now take place at a different site in Deerfield, Illinois, on November 19.
Screams Before Silence is a 60-minute, presenter-led film hosted by Sheryl Sandberg featuring interviews with eyewitnesses, released hostages, first responders, and medical and forensic experts, according to the Screams Before Silence official website. It documents sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. The film has drawn screenings — and controversy — elsewhere, including at California State University, Northridge, where the Women's Research and Resource Center hosted a 2025 showing during Sexual Assault Awareness Month that, per The Sundial, included a Q&A with Anila Ali and trauma expert Miri Bar-Halpern, as opponents argued the center should also screen the film No Other Land.
A Conference Months Earlier Raised Questions
The cancellation came three months after CTU hosted a Marxist, anti-Israel conference at the same event space, the Free Beacon reported. That gathering, hosted by the Anti-War Action Network, featured discussions about ways to shut down a major U.S. port to force out an Israeli company, and conference speakers called on attendees to support Iran's “axis of resistance” while advocating violence against the United States and Israel, per the same reporting. CTU signage and merchandise were displayed at the facility during that conference, the outlet noted, though the union has said it had no involvement in the conference beyond renting out the space.
The Free Beacon also reported that conference breakout rooms were named after anti-American dictators and Rasmea Odeh, a Palestinian who killed two people in a 1969 attack on an Israeli supermarket. Separately, the Anti-War Action Network's own published conference program for July 2026 lists sessions titled “Approaching Ports and Port Workers” and a workshop describing attempts to engage International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422 to shut down an Elbit factory, according to the Anti-War Action Network. Fox News reported that resolutions from the conference called for ending U.S. aid to Israel and supporting boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns.
Union's Public Mission Versus Its Facility Record
The Chicago Teachers Union Foundation describes its mission as the advancement, enhancement, and support of public education, and says on its own site that its event spaces are available for rental by the general public, according to the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation. The foundation did not respond to the Free Beacon's request for comment on the screening's cancellation.
Accounts of the union's reach vary depending on the source. The Free Beacon reported that CTU represents more than 300,000 students in Chicago Public Schools, while the union's own website states it represents more than 30,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, school-related personnel, and school clinicians working in Chicago Public Schools, according to the Chicago Teachers Union. Whether the November screening in Deerfield ultimately moves forward as planned remains to be seen.
