ADVOCACY for “Back to School”

With the exception of locations where there are labor disputes, America’s K through 12 schools are back in session – which means that in classrooms, schools and entire school districts, young Americans are vulnerable to being taught propaganda and lies about the Muslim and Arab war against the Jewish People and the Jewish state – euphemistically known as “The Israel-Palestine Conflict.”

 

We know, for example that in July, the National Education Association: America’s largest union, approved an initiative to emphasize “Palestinian” history, geography and culture in America’s schools; that during the summer, the Democratic Socialists of America’s BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group held training workshops for teachers under the guise of “Educators for Palestine;” that a national initiative called “the National Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Our Schools” was promoting those training workshops for schoolteachers; and that the national organization “BLM at School” is in a partnership with the NEA’s “edJustice” program.

 

But the effort to demonize Israel, Zionism and the Jewish community before young Americans need not be part of a national campaign. It can happen merely through the initiative of a single anti-Israel educator.

 

It is therefore vitally important to pay attention to what is happing in your local school district, in individual schools and in the classroom. If you have school-age children, grandchildren, and/or nieces and nephews, ask to see their textbooks so that you can scan through them to see if there are errors or deliberate misinformation; find out if other supplementary books are being used, or if a newspaper or websites are used as supplementary materials or are suggested for students to turn to as resources.

 

Some classes or schools may use or suggest the anti-Israel New York Times or Philadelphia Inquirer; teachers might suggest students look at the websites of the anti-Israel Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International or other problematic websites or organizations; younger students might be asked to read “A Little Piece of Ground,” an anti-Israel book that the publisher describes as “explores the human cost of the occupation of Palestinian lands through the eyes of a young boy” that is recommended to be used in classrooms for children as young as third grade or other propaganda materials presented as children’s literature.

 

Please reference and use Greater Philadelphia ZOA’s Textbook Survey Form: https://philly.zoa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2020/06/textbook-survey-form-updated-012819.pdf

 

If you see any problematic materials being used or suspect that there might be, please contact Greater Philadelphia ZOA at office@zoaphilly.org or at 610-660-9466.