A former Black classmate at the University of Pennsylvania has accused Hannah Gann, dubbed the “Palestinian Rachel Dolezal,” of prioritizing “personal gain” over the causes she claimed to support after the activist was exposed as a white Jewish woman.
The former associate, who said she knew the 35-year-old before Gann allegedly began presenting a false identity, told The Post on Wednesday that Gann appeared to be trying to “take advantage of vulnerable communities.”
“The moment you start lying and perpetrating as if you’re somebody else is when your whole point, your whole message, starts to fall flat,” said the former student, who requested anonymity.
“If you truly care about the cause more so than about personal gain, then that’s just what it is,” she said of Gann, a high school teacher whose outspoken activism led Accuracy in Media to label her “Philadelphia’s Leading Antisemite.”
The former classmate recalled knowing Gann through their shared participation in urban studies and public-service programs at UPenn.
“She definitely wasn’t Black,” the woman said. “There were a lot of Jewish students at Penn during my time, including in my program, who looked like her — light skin and curly dark hair.”
The UPenn graduate also said she worked at the university’s Black Cultural Center, where she “built strong relationships” with Black students.
“And I don’t remember her being there or being a part of that at all,” she said.
Gann issued a contrite apology on Instagram in recent days, acknowledging that she had lied to fellow activists about her identity for years after being confronted by other members of the movement.
Former allies have cut ties with Gann since she admitted not only to having no Black or Palestinian ancestry, but also to being a white Israeli with relatives still living in the West Bank.
The disclosure has cast her earlier statements in a new light, including her defense of Hamas members as “martyrs” and her calls for violence on American streets in support of the Palestinian cause.
“I can’t speak to her motivation. But it seems like she just tried to take advantage of vulnerable communities because she got involved and couldn’t fully engage in the ways that she wanted based on her identity,” Gann’s former classmate said.
“There’s this cultural blackwashing that happens when [people] meet certain cultures and want to be involved, and they end up wanting the benefits of being another race without the drawbacks of it. That’s part of what makes it even more corrupt,” she added.
Gann, a 10th-grade history teacher at a West Philadelphia high school, has been branded the “Palestinian Rachel Dolezal” on social media. The reference is to the former Idaho NAACP chapter leader who deceived activists for years by claiming to be Black.
The school district has not said whether the revelations will lead to any disciplinary action or other consequences.
