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By Josh Hasten, JNS.org
Anti-Israel and Anti-Jewish sentiments have been on public display in university classrooms and campuses around the world, especially since Israel responded militarily to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre. According to the CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis) watchdog group, that hatred has also seeped into the classrooms of children from kindergarten to 12th grade.
In June, CAMERA, in partnership with the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, held a panel discussion in Jerusalem titled “Educating Hate: Antisemitism in School Curricula.” Participants discussed how anti-Israel narratives are being embedded in elementary and high schools, in the U.S., Europe and under the Palestinian Authority, and how they should be combated.
“Those who are aligned with the terrorists and have latched on to Marxist and socialist ideology as a vehicle to bring anti-Zionism to the schools under the guise of social justice,” Ricki Hollander, senior media analyst, CAMERA, explained to JNS, focusing on this phenomenon in K-12 U.S. classrooms.
She cited the Brown University-funded Choices Program, a history, geography and current affairs curriculum used in 8,000 high schools across the U.S. with a biased anti-Israel agenda, saying it “paved the way for extreme antisemitism, especially since October 7.”
A study by the CAMERA Education Institute, a branch of the organization focused on fighting antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in education, revealed possible Qatari influence and funding for the Choices Program.
Hollander said the “toxic and anti-Israel ideology” emanates from the university’s Center for Middle East Studies, whose curriculum was analyzed by CAMERA and found to contain anti-Zionist and pro-BDS narratives.
On a positive note, Hollander shared that Brown University recently announced it was ending its sponsorship of the Choices Program, citing “financial considerations.” However, she believes it was activism by CAMERA and others that led to the breakup.
“This shows how important it is to expose the toxic lies promoted in schools and push back against them,” Hollander said. “We must go to those responsible—superintendents of schools, heads of social science departments, librarians, government officials focused on antisemitism in schools, etc., and work with them to make sure this propaganda stays out of schools.”
Europe
Emmanuel Navon, lecturer at Tel Aviv University and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), focused his remarks on the situation in K-12 classrooms in Europe, particularly in France and the U.K.
In those countries, he said, the problem isn’t antisemitic content in the state school curriculum, “but you have more antisemitism coming from Muslim students who harass Jewish teachers and Jewish students and refuse to hear about the Holocaust.”
He detailed several frightening cases where teachers in France were in fact murdered or threatened with violence for promoting Holocaust education.
Navon described the radicalization of youth in Belgium and Sweden as well, where the children and grandchildren of Muslim migrants from the Middle East are spreading anti-Jewish indoctrination and hatred.
“There is a lot of Muslim antisemitism which is very often overlooked,” he said.
“European society is at a cross-point: They can submit to Islam or they can fight back and impose full cultural integration on migrants,” Navon said.
Navon said while he doesn’t think the Muslim mentality in Europe can be changed, he believes there is a quiet majority in Europe, one aware that Muslim migrants, through their demographics and culture, are trying to replace European identity, and who want to fight against the phenomenon.
“These individuals want to preserve their Judeo-Christian civilization. They support Israel and understand that Israel is not only at the forefront of the struggle but one of the pillars of Western civilization. We have to talk to them directly and realize we do have a lot of allies in Europe,” Navon said.
Palestinian Authority Textbooks
Dan Kosky, director of global strategy for IMPACT-se (Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education), which has studied Palestinian Authority textbooks for the past 25 years, focused his presentation on the anti-Israel/antisemitic curriculum within the P.A.’s K-12 classrooms.
Young children within the P.A. are taught that “dying is preferable to living,” as suicide bombers and terrorists are glorified as heroes, he said.
Kosky said, “The P.A. curriculum shows absolutely no sign of changing. Sadly, it’s one that encourages antisemitism, encourages violence against Israel, and encourages children to become martyrs. Until that changes, we’re going to struggle to see any real shift in Palestinian society.”
Hamas has not developed its own curriculum since it seized control of Gaza in 2007, just continued to use P.A. textbooks, he pointed out. “This shows you how dangerous the curriculum is,” he added.
“UNWRA adds its own material to the P.A. curriculum, which is just as problematic,” Kosky said.
The onus for change is on the international community, especially the governments that bankroll the P.A, he said. “The clear message is, if you’re going to give money to the P.A. then it has to be conditional upon genuine and deep reform in the P.A. curriculum.”
Kosky said, however, that he is seeing positive trends in the curricula used in schools within other Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Egypt.
“They have shifted from curricula that were once intolerant, encouraged violence and had a negative portrayal of Jews, to curricula accepting of Jews and encouraging peace with Israel. That’s a huge and important shift,” Kosky said.
10-year-olds in the US
Aviva Rosenschein, director of external affairs for CAMERA, who moderated the event, said “what begins in the classroom can ripple in society for generations.”
“Ten-year-olds in the U.S. could be coming home asking their parents why their country is supporting Israel—a colonialist, genocidal regime. This is coming from their teachers,” she said.
The anti-Israel narrative must be exposed to parents and the community, and a different curriculum must be provided in public schools, she said.
“Together, we can shine a light on how antisemitism is being taught and what we can do to stop it,” Rosenschein said.
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