Mick Hartley

It's bad enough now for American Jews – and it's not going to get better anytime soon. Ben Clerkin at the JC – New York schools pushing anti-Zionism have Jewish teachers wondering if they have a future:

One depressing example encapsulates the struggle the Jewish community is facing in many New York public schools.

A Jewish high school teacher, dismayed to find her co-teacher had begun wearing a keffiyeh in the days after Oct. 7, was left disturbed when the co-teacher started spreading anti-Israel propaganda in the classroom and encouraging children to boycott Israeli goods. More disturbing still was the response from the principal to do nothing when the Jewish teacher complained. She still struggles every day with her radical colleague and is planning to leave the New York education system at the end of this school year.

The teacher is, understandably, scared to speak out on the record about her experience. She is not alone. Many of her colleagues at schools across New York, who have spoken on the condition of anonymity,…

A small sample of experiences shared with me includes:

An online seminar for teachers that defended the term “Jihad”. It taught that the word means “struggle” and gave examples of its use: “My Jihad is to stay fit” and “My Jihad is to build friendships”. It also defined Sharia Law as “personal religious and moral guidance”.

A student newspaper that published an anonymous op-ed saying Israel is responsible for “Genocide. Apartheid. Ethnic cleansing”. The author stated Israel bombed Al-Shifa hospital, rather than it being blown up by a misfiring Jihadi rocket, and called Israel’s war a “murder spree”. The author went to great pains to make clear they do not condemn Hamas.

A teacher who defended Hamas in the days after October 7 but is still employed by his Queens high school, is still posting offensive messages on social media – including one that states it’s impossible to be antisemitic — and even moderated an online Palestine curriculum meeting.

A Jewish teacher who is being shunned by colleagues who say “Oh my God, can you smell that?” when she walks past. Another who was called a “baby killer” by a colleague. Both instances were dismissed by school authorities when reported.

It's not just New York:

Anti-Israel bias is only becoming more hardwired into the U.S. teaching system. From next year California is introducing “ethnic studies” across its 1,600 public schools. By 2030 students won’t be able to graduate from High School without it.

Scholars of ethnic studies say the “Palestinian experience” is central to the theory. They compare the treatment of Palestinians to the treatment of Native Americans and slaves.

Soon, to obtain a good grade pupils will have to take a (presumably negative) position on Israel. It’s hard to see what that has to do with American history or how it can possibly be described as a fair approach. Israel is once again absurdly lumped in with every apparent founding sin of the American nation.

How much worse will the education system become when those who've imbibed this poison in the classroom are themselves the teachers of tomorrow? One Jewish teacher who spoke to me remarked darkly that Gen Z — which polls show sides 50 per cent with Hamas — should be renamed the Hitler Youth.