How children's books are used to spread anti-Israel and illiberal ideology and turn your kids into activists: Ida in the Middle - be aware of the content if this is in your child's school
Toolkit to Defend K-12 Educators and Librarians Against False Accusations of Antisemitism/IDA IN THE MIDDLE/ALTAIR CONSULTING/Teach For Liberation Lesson Plans for Middle Schoolers.
The lesson plans for this children’s book include incorrect history, demonisation and delegitimisation of Israel and Zionism, teaching children about violent resistance and why violent protest is used. In short - it is dangerous anti-Israel propaganda. The resources and lesson guides were prepared by extremist activists, many of whom justified October 7th. Read on.
from the author of the book:
My hope is that those who delve into these topics come to realize that framing Palestinian rights as dangerous for Jews is based on a false premise that supremacy offers more security than equality.
Unfortunately, there are interest groups advancing the idea that uplifting Palestinian humanity is anti-Jewish, most recently through the institutionalization of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) redefinition of antisemitism. It’s my opinion that the IHRA is a cynical attempt at censorship, like others we are seeing across the U.S., that creates an environment of fear in which learning can’t happen
A Summary of the children’s book:
After violence erupts in Jerusalem, some of Ida’s Christian and Jewish classmates start a pro-Israel club that misrepresents Palestinians and their desire for safety and freedom.
Even after she transfers to a new school, thinking that she has found a place where she can stay under the radar, it happens again. And what will Ida write about for her Passion Project, a major assignment that requires her to talk about herself in front of the whole school? Stressed about her social life and the presentation, Ida snacks on olives sent from Palestine by her relatives and is magically transported to the life she would have lived if her parents had not emigrated to the United States. Now in her daily life Ida experiences the humility and inconvenience of Israeli military check-points and the fear of encroaching home demolitions. Family and neighbors discuss how to cope and defend themselves and Ida learns that freedom is worth struggling for. Ida returns to her life in the US more informed and inspired to take action for her own dignity and to support the struggles of others. Ida in the Middle is a coming-of-age story all readers 12 and up can relate to, especially those who are trying to figure out what impact they want to have on the world. This book is also a great way to learn more about Palestinian history and culture.
Ida In the Middle Discussion Questions
Key quotes from the discussion guide:
13. How did Busala change after the state of Israel was established in 1948? What parallels are there with the history of Indigenous nations in North America and elsewhere?
14. Why is Siddo so proud of being a farmer? Do you know any farmers? Do you think farmers in the United States are proud? Why or why not?
15. Ida’s home in Busala is at risk of being demolished (p. 82). Do you think there are reasons why a family’s home should be demolished? What is a government’s responsibility to provide and protect housing?
17. How does Aunt Malayka die? Could her death have been prevented? Why does Ida’s mom say that Aunt Malayka shouldn’t have died? (p. 101). Do you agree?
26. How do Ida’s family and friends define resistance? What famous resistance movements have you studied (e.g., civil rights; Irish resistance; South African anti-apartheid movement) and what were their outcomes?
27. Do you think the United States news media help or hinder the Palestinian cause right now? Explain.
28. Describe what happens to Ida and Malayka’s at the checkpoint (pp. 160-162). How would you feel if you experienced something like that?
29. Ida realizes what Aunt Malayka means when she says, “It is better if we learn to understand them (p. 183).” What is Aunt Malayka referring to and why is it important?
These discussion questions have been prepared by Abeer Ramadan - Shinnawi of Altair Consulting.
From Altair Consulting Instagram:
Less than a month after October 7th…
A week after October 7th, Altair Consulting posted this (condemnation of October 7th and Hamas noticeably absent from their posts…)
UNIT GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS - PREPARED BY TEACH FOR LIBERATION
Unit Guide
Key quotes from the unit guide:
Lessons and activities in this guide are rooted in antiracist and anti-bias practices, which require centering the lived experiences and perspectives of Palestinians. Students will explore the experiences of Palestinians through the lens of Palestinian organizers, artists, flmmakers, etc. While making these connections with Palestinians in the curriculum, students will also refect on their own identities and the interconnectedness of various groups’ experiences with oppression and struggles for justice. Ultimately, students will end this unit understanding the importance of community over individualism in the pursuit of liberation.
If Palestine is included in curriculum at all, it ofen is taught through the lens of an equal “both sides” debate that discounts the power imbalance of Israeli occupation and the fnancial, military and political support of the United States government. Further, existing curricula often addresses Palestine exclusively in relation to the Holocaust, without any mention of the Nakba or its aftermath. This lens ultimately justifies the ongoing colonization of Palestine and maintains a barrier to the humanization of the Palestinians. This unit guide, however, aims to not only lift that barrier, but also to support students in being able to discern the consequences of incomplete history.
Social Studies-Specifc Standards
Social Studies Standards vary from state to state, therefore we have provided some examples of standards and how both Palestine and Ida in the Middle can be used to address these standards. Example 1: 6.1.12.HistorySE.15.a (New Jersey)
Explain how and why religious tensions, historic differences, and a western dependence on oil in the Middle East have led to international conflicts and analyze the effectiveness of United States policy and actions in bringing peaceful resolutions to the region.
Standards like this can create an incomplete picture of the occupation of Palestine by centering religious and historic diferences rather than colonialism and racism. Utilizing Ida in the Middle to help students visualize the experiences of Palestinians under occupation will allow them to develop more comprehensive conclusions to whether or not U.S. policy or Israeli policy have the ability to lead peaceful/equitable solutions for Palestinians.
Misconceptions about Palestine:
1. These people have been fghting forever. This is one of the most ofen repeated and inaccurate comments on the confict. The truth is that Arabs and Jews have not been fghting forever. Rather, it can be dated to the end of the 19th century or, more acutely, the beginning of the post-World War I British Mandatory period. In addition to being historically inaccurate, such a claim frames the issue as something unsolvable and intractable, in addition to reinforcing longstanding ideas of Arabs as barbaric and inherently violent. “Palestinians want peace. But justice is always a precondition of peace.”
2. This is a religious conflict. This, too, is inaccurate. Palestinians are not a religious monolith. While majority Muslim, the Palestinian community has always included Muslims, Christians and Jews. Also, prior to Zionist settlement at the end of the Ottoman Empire, religious diversity was a feature of historic Palestine. Even afer Jewish immigration began, Zionist settlers were mainly secular, as were the indigenous Palestinians. But this isn’t just a question of historical accuracy. By framing the confict as religious, we are encouraged to see it as an internecine squabble between two equally earnest parties who are in possession of competing religious texts or scriptural interpretations. Simply put, this is not about religion. It’s about land thef, expulsion and ethnic cleansing by foreign settlers to indigenous land.
3. It’s very complicated. In a certain way, the issue is indeed complicated. Afer more than a century of confict, there is defnitely a lot of nuance surrounding various truth claims, policies and solutions. Too ofen, however, the claim that “it’s complicated” functions as an excuse to sidestep a very simple reality: this is about the 70-year struggle of a people who have been expelled, murdered, robbed, imprisoned and occupied. While there’s certainly a need to engage the fner points of the confict, we can never lose sight of this basic and very uncomplicated point.
4. Palestinians keep turning down fair deals. This argument wrongly presumes that any deal that includes the sharing of stolen land with the victims of said theft could be fair. But even in relative and pragmatic terms, this is not true. Think back to the wildly disproportionate U.N. partition agreement of 1947 that allotted 55 percent of the land to the Jewish population even though there only comprised 33 percent of the population and owned 7 percent of the land. Or look to the 2008 negotiations between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that did not allow for a contiguous Palestinian territory nor a real resolution to the struggle over Jerusalem. Palestinians have never been offered a deal that allows for a truly independent, fertile, sufficient and secure state.
5. Palestinians don’t want peace. This argument plays on Orientalist narratives of Arabs as innately violent, irrational, pre-modern and undeserving of Western democracy or diplomacy. The argument also castigates Palestinians for resisting their brutal occupation and repression. Occupied people have a legal and moral right to defend themselves. To ask them not to resist is to ask them to die quietly. Palestinians want peace. But justice is always a precondition of peace.
6. Israel has a right to exist! This claim is a product of U.S. and Israeli hasbara, a term for propaganda. First, this argument is only rhetorically deployed in relation to Israel, as opposed to Palestine or virtually any other nation-states. Afer all, no one routinely demands that Israel and its advocates declare Palestine’s “right to exist” as an abstract idea, physical space or independent nation. More importantly, however, the claim obscures a more fundamental truth: no country has a right to exist, only people do. By naturalizing the idea that nation-states have a “right to exist,” we undermine our ability to offer a moral critique of Israel’s (or any settler-colony’s) origin story . If a country has a natural right to exist, there is less room to challenge the means by which that country obtains land, interacts with indigenous populations or engages in international and domestic law. Afer all, it had a right to exist, right? The “right to exist” argument also reifes the nation-state, erasing its relatively new emergence as a political imaginary construct. In other words, the idea of nations and nationalism is relatively new. (This is why the whole “there was never a country called Palestine” argument is both ahistorical and dishonest). The argument also limits our ability to imagine the world on different terms and different political formations, including the reconstitution of historic Palestine (or contemporary Israel) as a single democracy for ALL citizens, regardless of race, class, gender or religion.
7. You’re anti-Semitic! Anti-Semitism is a very real phenomenon around the globe. And we must be vigilant about addressing and destroying anti-Semitism wherever it emerges. Too ofen, however, this claim is leveled against anyone who critiques or protests the practices of the Israeli nation-state. Under these conditions, allegations of anti-Semitism become nothing more than a refexive retort, intended to shut down the conversation. More importantly, this is a key part of Zionist strategy: equating Judaism with Zionism and the Israeli state itself. Under this logic, to critique Israel is to critique Judaism. Such arguments also ignore the fact that the Jewish tradition is one that covets justice and fairness, and its principles are in fundamental opposition with the Israeli government’s actions.
Vocabulary:
Settler Colonialism: a type of colonialism in which the indigenous peoples of a colonized region are displaced by settlers who permanently form a society there; the erasure of a people for a new people to occupy their land.
Occupation: The act of social and political control of land, movement, and resistance by a military force. In this curriculum, readers will ofen encounter the phrase “Israeli occupation” referring to the Israeli military control of Palestine.
Apartheid: the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial, ethnic, and/or religious segregation in which one group is deprived of political and civil rights.
Nakba: Nakba is an Arabic word meaning “catastrophe” and refers to Israel’s ongoing colonization of historic Palestine, its exiling of Palestinians and making them into refugees, its dispossession of Palestinian property, its destruction of Palestinian cities, towns, and villages, and its attempt to erase the existence of the Palestinian people from their homeland in and since 1948
Zionism: an ideology that originated in the 1890s, this settler colonial movement calls for a national Jewish homeland while also supporting the ethnic cleansing and movement of Arab Palestinians; this ideology is based in a belief that Jewish people are destined for that land (Note to teacher: if applicable for student understanding, Zionist ideology can be compared to U.S. beliefs in Manifest Destiny as justifcation for colonizing Indigenous land from the East coast to the West coast)
Lesson Objectives:
Explain the importance of centering joy when learning about oppression and how it is connected to resistance.
Visualize the concept of indigeneity and use their own exploration of identity in order to understand what it means to build and participate in a community.
Essential Questions What role does joy play in the struggle for liberation?
How do we efectively participate in our community? What does it look like to create a community that meets the needs of all individuals within it?
What changes when we look at the world through a lens of connection and shared humanity?
Indigenous: distinct social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live or from which they have been displaced
3. Using the definition of Indigenous provided, discuss how the painting helps us understand and visualize Palestinian indigeneity specifically
Lesson Objectives
Analyze the connection of people to community, land, and family as a reason for ongoing resistance to colonialism.
Refect on mobility restrictions such as military checkpoints as manifestations of both colonialism and apartheid.
Vocabulary Displacement: forcing people out of their homes, communities, or countries en masse; the Nakba is an example of a large event that displaced Palestinians, but Palestinians are still being displaced today Siddo: (pronounced see-doe) affectionate term for grandfather in Palestinian Arabic
Materials 3.1 Pre-Reading: Surviving the Nakba Worksheet Video: Three generations of Palestinian women share impact of the Nakba by IMEU (3:33) See-Think-Wonder Protocol 3.2 During Reading: Questions 3.3 Visualizing Palestine Slideshow Poster 1: Across the Wall Poster 2: Anatomy of Inequality Poster 3: Segregated Road System Optional Video Extension: Inside Israeli Apartheid (22:03)
3.3 Post-Reading: Visualizing Restriction of Movement
Procedure 1. Review the definition of apartheid with students. Prompt students to connect their understanding of apartheid to learning from previous schooling (such as Jim Crow segregation, Indigenous boarding schools, etc.).
2. Print, project, or assign the three Visualizing Palestine posters specifed in the slides (and linked below). Students should be viewing high-quality images in color in order to complete their work for today’s class.
3. Students will be exposed to graphics that demonstrate the restriction of movement and housing. Because of the complexity of the posters, students will use the 3.3 Visualizing Palestine Slideshow with scaffolded questions.
4. Closing: Discuss posters as a full group to ensure universal understanding. Students should walk away with the following information: a. Poster 1: Across the Wall • Illegal Israeli settlements are a means for continued colonialism and violence against Palestinian people. • Palestinian people are subject to potential home demolitions, evictions, and violence so that Israeli settlers may further occupy Palestinian land. • Government sanctioned bus lines connect illegal Israeli settlements to the rest of Israel thus normalizing occupation. • This system of separation has some parallels with United States history and other examples of segregation.
b. Poster 2: Anatomy of Inequality • Jerusalem is Israel-controlled and restricts Palestinian access to services, locations, and homes. • Israel’s policy and treatment of Palestinians is defined as apartheid by experts in human rights and international law.
c. Poster 3: Segregated Road System • Road segregation, checkpoints, and access to movement is a form of occupation that normalizes control over Palestinian people. • Palestinians do not have access to much of their own territory, and their access is heavily monitored and restricted. d. Why do many people refer to what is happening in Palestine as the “ongoing Nakba?”
4.3 Post-Reading: Connecting to Resistance in Al-Quds (Jerusalem)
5.3 Post-Reading: Making Connections Procedure
1. Opening: Allow students time to explore https://native-land.ca/ to acknowledge the land, language, territory, and people who belong to the land that the students now live on
2. For part 2, students will be introduced to a short secondary reading about Andrew Jackson. Refer back to the conversation between Ida and Carolina about the school being named afer Andew Jackson, a man guilty of egregious human rights violations, displacement, and genocide.
3. Discuss with students: Should schools be named afer Andrew Jackson or other fgures guilty of human rights violations? What is the power of a name? If applicable, students can discuss how they feel about the name of their own school.
4. Part 3, Students will read articles (5.3 Making Connections) on the movement to change the names of buildings that were named for people who were guilty of human rights violations.
5. Closing Discussion: It is important that two middle school students had a conversation about Andrew Jackson. Why do you think it is important to have these conversations and share these stories about U.S. History with your peers? How might sharing information be the starting point for community organizing?
LESSON SEQUENCE 7: VOICES OF RESISTANCE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION
Essential Questions What does resistance look and feel like?
How do people influence a situation that is controlled by someone with more power than they have?
Key Concepts
In these chapters, students will be grappling not only with the forms of resistance that are present in Palestine, but their own understanding of what resistance entails. It is important that students are able to conceptualize and critique their own understanding while developing an idea of the nuances of resistance in response to oppression.
Objective
Analyze forms of resistance and disruption to unjust causes and determine their power in resisting oppression.
Vocabulary
Disrupt: refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument
Resist/Resistance: a form of collective action to disrupt a given behavior or pattern through some form of protest
7.1 Pre-Reading: Forms of Resistance Procedure
1. Opening: Discuss the following questions as a class.
a. In what ways can we change our classroom/school through action?
b. In what ways can we change our society through action?
c. Think back to some of our previous lessons. What does community organizing mean? What do you think it entails? Provide an example.
2. Students will be introduced to community organizing and violence as modes of resistance. Using examples and quotes by activists students will draw conclusions about their preconceived notions about each form of resistance, develop their own definition of it, and reflect on the purpose of each (7.1 Pre-Reading).
3. Closing: Review the analysis questions as a class. Students should walk away with insight about violent protest, how violence is used in unequal power dynamics, and the power of community organizing.
LESSON SEQUENCE 8: THE IMPACT OF DAILY COLONIAL VIOLENCE
Essential Question
What is violence? In what ways is violence perpetuated without physical harm?
Key Concepts
These chapters highlight violence from active Israeli attacks and home demolitions through Ida’s eyes. It is essential that students walk away from these chapters with the understanding that eyewitness accounts of violence are valid and don’t need approval from Western media or sources to be deemed credible.
UNIT ASSESSMENT: SOCIAL ACTION RESEARCH
Description: In small groups, students will develop Social Action Research based on an issue they feel needs to be addressed within their school community.
Students will center their own experiences, as well as those of their peers (or other allies), in order to research and formulate a student-centered view of a particular issue. If possible, aside from presenting to their classmates, students should be able to present their findings to decision makers or power-holders (administration, staff, community members, etc.).
Objectives
1.Validate the importance of centering those most affected (in this case, students) when working towards solutions to issues;
2.Develop students’ community organizing skills and commitment to working as a collective rather than as individuals;
3.Reinforce the reality that social justice and community issues require ongoing resistance and often will not be resolved after the first struggle, but they will always be stronger when approached from a place of strategy, hope, and collaborative support.
This guide was prepared by Teach for Liberation
Teach for Liberation is an educational consulting organization founded to address and
support the curricular and professional development needs in schools.
We are educators committed to anti-racist, anti-imperialist, anti-bias teaching
through the active decolonization of our education system.
The resources included in the Ida In the Middle website include : Toolkit to Defend K-12 Educators and Librarians from False Accusations of Antisemitism
The purpose of this toolkit is to explain how false accusations of antisemitism are used to silence Palestinians and their allies in struggles against racism and colonialism. It lays out how K-12 teachers and librarians might realistically come under attack for fulfilling their professional and ethical obligations to include Palestinians in the world we teach to our children. It suggests how you can build support to try to reduce the impacts of attacks before they arise, and constructive ways to respond if they do.
Toolkit to Defend K-12 Educators and Librarians from False Accusations of Antisemitism:
This toolkit was prepared by Ida In the Middle author - Nora Lester Murad and Alice Rothchild, of Jewish Voice for Peace. Here is Rothchild’s instagram on October 7th and 8th -
October 7th “Palestinians have broken free…This is a response of a people pushed beyond endurance…Palestinians are asserting their right to self-determination and unequivocally demanding their freedom. Never underestimate the will of an oppressed and occupied people to be free”
October 8th:
Key Quotes from Toolkit:
There is an extreme uptick in false accusations of antisemitism made in bad faith with the intention of silencing Palestinians and support for Palestinian rights, and there is a rise in racism and discrimination, including real Jew-hatred, from white Christian nationalists. Powerful, politically-motivated actors are increasingly using schools to confuse support for Palestinian humanity with antisemitism.
Antiracist educators must understand that accusations of antisemitism are rarely made to protect Jews as Jews, but rather to shield the state of Israel from criticism about its oppressive policies towards Palestinians. In order for educators to be antiracist, they must have tools to distinguish between politically-motivated, “weaponization” of antisemitism, which seeks to deflect political criticism of a state–and actual bigotry against Jews because they are Jews. Only when this distinction is made can we see both anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitism clearly–as forms of racism and bigotry grounded in white supremacy that must be fought in solidarity with others, not at their expense.
The purpose of this toolkit is to explain how false accusations of antisemitism are used to silence Palestinians and their allies in struggles against racism and colonialism. It lays out how K-12 teachers and librarians might realistically come under attack for fulfilling their professional and ethical obligations to include Palestinians in the world we teach to our children. It suggests how you can build support to try to reduce the impacts of attacks before they arise, and constructive ways to respond if they do.
Understand the Right-Wing Source of these Attacks
Since October 7th, with the rising Palestinian death toll, more and more people are reconsidering their default support for Israel. U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik’s interrogation, resulting in the resignation of two university presidents, including Claudine Gay, the first Black female president of Harvard, has further exposed the right wing-Israel alliance. Right-wing political actors are using false accusations of antisemitism as a shield for their racist actions, and meanwhile recruiting broader support than they might using narrow conservative messaging. It is clearer than ever that right-wing Jews are acting in their own racist political interests–not in the interests of Jews or liberation for all.
Feeling uncomfortable is different than being unsafe. Knowing that antiracism benefits everyone, antiracist educators take risks to bravely stand up for the rights of all children to learn the truth about all kinds of systemic injustice.
Pro-Israel/Zionist organizations have insistently told educators that teaching about Palestinian lives and experiences is bad for Jews, or accused them of antisemitism. Others do not want to be antisemitic or fear the potentially hate-filled experience of being falsely accused of antisemitism. It is critical that educators and librarians understand that false accusations of antisemitism are part and parcel of the right-wing movement against marginalized communities, DEI, free speech, and children’s right to learn.
The ongoing, relentless attacks against liberated ethnic studies education is an important case to highlight because it demonstrates how narratives can be twisted and weaponized. Pro-Israel groups attacked California’s Ethnic Studies mandate as being antisemitic, leading to a watered-down curriculum and an opposition movement that deceptively calls itself “inclusive ethnic studies.” Just as one line of attack against BIPOC and LGBTQ people is framed as a struggle for “parental rights,” the movement for “inclusive ethnic studies” is, in fact, an effort to prevent students from learning about colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, racism and liberation, including the experience of Palestinians. The case is being fought in court and in the court of public opinion.
False accusations of antisemitism are also being deployed by right-wing Zionist forces who don't actually care about Jews at all or even Israel. Zionism is a political ideology that supports a nation-state controlled by Jews in the land of historic Palestine. The Zionist movement, which started in the late 1800s as a colonial project, includes Christians and Jews and is separate from Jewish identity and religion.
Claiming that support for Israel is a core component of Jewish identity suggests that Jews who do not support a state for Jews–Jews who prefer to live in equality with Palestinians–are not “really” or “fully” Jewish.
Exclusivizing European Jews’ victimization as the defining Jewish experience contributes to a sense that antisemitism is omnipresent and eternal so Jews have the right and responsibility to prioritize their own safety at any cost.
By conflating the nearly 4000-year-old Jewish identity with the 75-year old state of Israel, pro-Israel political actors disingenuously suggest that portraying Palestinians as human, as people with rights, or even just treating Palestine as a legitimate topic of inquiry, comes at the cost of Jewish safety. They argue that supporting Palestinian rights and opposing Israeli colonialism are hateful attacks against Jews. Unfortunately, these pro-Israel groups are represented in mainstream media as authorities about antisemitism, and they gain power by falsely claiming to represent all Jews.
Antisemitism is “weaponized” when it is used to censor (and sometimes fire or otherwise cancel) critics of Israel, which is a state and like any other state, a legitimate target of discussion and critique. Antisemitism is weaponized when pro-Israel interests accuse antiracists (like supporters of Palestinian liberation) of racism, that is, when they hijack antiracist rhetoric to make educators think they can’t support everyone’s humanity and must choose either Jews or Palestinians. At the core of the wave of false accusations of antisemitism is anti-Palestinian racism. Thus, anti-Palestinian racism ends up hurting both Palestinians and non-Palestinians who hold space for Palestinian perspectives
What makes it hard to talk about Palestine? At least six ongoing, related trends converge to create this constrained environment:
Conflation of Judaism (a religion) with Zionism (a political ideology) and Israel (a state)
Propagation of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism (commonly called the IHRA working definition)
Framing of antisemitism as a unique problem that must be fought separately from other forms of bigotry, as in President Biden’s new antisemitism strategy
Normalization of anti-Palestinian racism and post-9/11 Islamophobia
Increasing white supremacist and right-wing attacks against queer people, BIPOC communities, and Jews, and the social justice movements that fight for everyone’s rights
Proliferation of donor-funded Israel advocacy organizations that identify themselves as antisemitism watchdog groups and are surveilling, submitting complaints, filing lawsuits, etc.
The ADL: Not an Impartial Actor
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has become the go-to source of information about antisemitism and the first organization to respond to perceived antisemitic events, especially, when criticism of Israel is involved. The ADL was founded in 1913 as an antisemitism watchdog group, before the founding of Israel. It has become a key player in US life, including in education, media, law enforcement, and pro-Israel politics. However, although the ADL markets itself as a civil rights organization, it has explicitly targeted Palestinians, Muslims and other people of color, as well as Jews who oppose its political aims (see debate).
The ADL’s work around antisemitism conflates Judaism, Zionism and Israel (a position that is controversial even among staff inside the ADL). The ADL foments fear of escalating antisemitism to mobilize Jews and non-Jews in support of Israel. This does not mean that antisemitism is not increasing. Since white Christian supremacy is gaining more power, antisemitism is certainly also increasing. However, it’s important to emphasize that ADL statistics about antisemitism, though often cited uncritically, should not be trusted. The ADL includes criticism of Israel and pro-Palestinian liberation actions in their statistics about antisemitism, thus diverting attention away from traditional, right-wing Jew-hatred. It deceptively treats legitimate criticism of Israeli state policy as if it were Jew-hatred.
Awareness about the ADL’s destructive role is increasing. The #DropTheADL campaign brings together a wide range of social justice organizations that understand that,
despite their work on diversity and immigration, the ADL is not a progressive organization. Recently, criticism of the ADL is becoming more visible, for example in this recent article in The Nation, “The Anti-Defamation League: Israel’s Attack Dog in the US.” It asks, “Posing as a civil rights group, the ADL has long operated as an intelligence organization targeting Israel’s critics. So why does the media still treat it as a credible source?”
A. Know your principles and be ready to defend them
This starts with sharing your principles and core practices transparently so that you can demonstrate how what you’re doing is aligned with those principles. Attacks on teachers who discuss Palestine often co-opt the language of antiracism, liberation, and justice. Pointing to your principles can help clarify the discussion. One educator and activist suggests these principles and core practices should apply to all school discussions, not only those that pertain to Palestine:
assert that people have to be able to talk about their own experience without being censored;
ask students to look for complexity and avoid the “single story” phenomenon;
place conversations about state violence in a global context;
criticize harmful systems, rather than individuals;
talk about conflict from its beginnings, rather than starting from the middle;
note what narratives are spoken from positions of power and amplify those that aren’t.
It also helps to understand that the struggle for liberation is interconnected across cultures and communities. Support for the Palestinian cause is global and rooted, with particular support among Black and brown people (a fact that sometimes triggers harsh reactions from Israel supporters).
People all over the world–including many Jews–are rising against Israel’s attempt to erase Palestinians, and it is appropriate for teachers and librarians to be a part of this and other movements for liberation.
Defending your principles can also help you resist efforts to dilute or scale back your message. “They’ll say ‘You can teach if you promise not to talk about settler colonialism, racism or struggles against injustice,’” said one Ethnic Studies teacher. “My advice is to not dilute or minimize what you teach to satisfy white majoritarian or Eurocentric definitions. Stick closely to the principle of self-determination…. Deciding what we teach is part of the power struggle.”
Linking support for Palestinians to your broader principles can take time, energy, and courage. But the more teachers and librarians speak up, the easier it will become to create a space where it is safer for everyone to do so.
B. Become familiar with the terrain, especially locally
The challenges of teaching about Palestine do not exist in a vacuum. Rather, they are organically connected to other issues of justice and equality. Understanding the context of Palestine in the world and within the curriculum and policies of your institution will help you make a stronger argument in support of your position.
Use a social justice framework.
Palestinian history should be taught with an anticolonial analysis using the same practices of centering affected people that is central to all antiracist pedagogy. It can be useful to talk about teaching about Palestine in the context of other units (e.g., South Africa) that are parallel or similar in their concern for human rights. It is also important to recognize, and to teach, that Palestinian humanity stands without reference to anyone else. You will inevitably have to teach about the weaponization of antisemitism against Palestinians, and distinguish that from real antisemitism, which is bigotry or discrimination against Jews as Jews. That said, uplifting Palestinian students, incorporating Palestinian joy, culture, religion - should not be “paired” or “balanced” by reference to Jews.
Include diverse views and encourage critical thinking.
When teaching any complex or controversial topic, you have an obligation to teach about major issues and to include disparate views. You can do that by including the actual words and perspectives of a diversity of actors using a critical theory approach to allow students to come to their own opinions through broad, deep and thorough investigation. For instance, rather than saying, “this is what I believe,” you might say, “this is what some Israelis believe, and this is what other Israelis believe” or “here are different opinions held by Palestinians.” Encourage students to ask questions and think about issues on their own: research shows that students are more motivated to act on their learning when they pursue their own questions.
You should also take care in framing concerns.
For example, if you want to protest against an Israeli flag in the classroom, a successful framing might be about whether it might hurt and/or discriminate against students, rather than what political view it represents. Be aware that for some students who have grown up with a particular understanding of what’s happening in Israel, “learning” may require “unlearning.” Be mindful of this phenomenon, and be supportive of all your students.
Teach within the curriculum and policies of your school or library. Teachers and librarians are on the strongest ground when they can demonstrate that something they’ve taught is within the curriculum and policies of the school, within the mission of the institution, and, when possible, tied to mandated standards or requests from students. School districts generally have explicit policies about teaching controversial topics; teachers should be aware of these policies and how they have been applied in other situations. Educators can also leverage what they have learned themselves from teaching other controversial issues. For librarians, a strong defense is that creating programs using books the library owns is within their job duties.
Understand the weaponization of antisemitism. Educators should learn about how antisemitism is being weaponized nationally (start with Annex B, “Sources for Further Learning”) and become familiar with the political dynamics within their institution, city and state. Identify the known opposition (see Annex C, “Anti-Palestinian Organizational Watchlist”) and identify sources of support (start with Annex A, “Where to Go for Support”). In response to pressure from the ADL, the American Jewish Committee, and other pro-Israel groups, many states, cities, school districts and institutions are passing resolutions that adopt or affirm the IHRA re-definition of antisemitism, which includes criticism of Israel. You should research whether the IHRA definition has been discussed in your local community, know who advocated for and against it, and be aware of how the IHRA, which is legally non-binding, is being used to constrain Palestinians and learning about Palestine. To help resist efforts to pressure your institution to adopt or affirm the IHRA working definition, use these slides.
Don’t self-censor. Some educators feel they cannot teach about Israel or Palestine because they don’t know enough, especially since the media often portrays the issue as extremely complex. Of course, it’s impossible to know everything about any subject before we teach it, but we rarely refrain from teaching other topics because we are not absolute authorities. This is another form of self-censorship that ultimately harms students’ learning.
C. Develop strong antiracist institutional policies and practices
Professionals cannot let pushback, or the fear of it, prevent them from developing and following strong antiracist institutional policies and practices that respect their mandate to teach truth and promote the freedom to learn, including when it comes to Palestine. An excellent reference for institutional policies and practices is Faculty First Responders: Understanding Right-Wing Attacks on Faculty, which offers teachers, librarians, and educational administrators valuable ideas about preparing for and responding to right-wing attacks that can be customized to fit a variety of situations.
Include Palestine in existing work. Teachers and librarians are already leading antiracist education in support of other communities. It is easiest, and safest, to include Palestinians in situations where there is already institutional commitment to antiracism and practices that uplift and center queer, BIPOC and other marginalized communities. Palestine and Palestinians should be included in any antiracist policies and practices.
Have a challenge policy. For librarians, it’s important to understand the library’s challenge policy and to develop one if it does not currently exist. In the current political environment, all the library’s policies—acquisition, display, challenge, and others—should be coordinated and should be in place before they’re needed. Having a clear set of policies in place protects the institution from having to scramble in the event of an attack: the steps to respond are already in place. This challenges toolkit can help.
Learn from other institutions. Unions and professional organizations offer standards that can be incorporated into institutional policies and practices, even where those protections don’t exist in law. Investigate the policies and practices of peer institutions, and if you find they offer better protection, try to initiate policy improvements at your own institution.
D. Cultivate your support network in advance
Just as institutions can take steps in advance to protect themselves from right-wing attacks, so can individuals proactively build support networks they can leverage if needed. Solidarity is important. Having a support network in place can help you respond quickly and protect yourself in the event of an attack. It’s especially helpful to develop a support network even before you start talking about Palestine. Here are some ideas to help you explore and build a strong network of support:
Build relationships with colleagues. Identify who you can trust, and plan ahead together.
Treat administrators skeptically, except for those you fully trust and can recruit to your support group. It is not necessarily a good idea to ask for permission to do Palestine programming (or any programming that some might deem controversial). Asking administrators for permission, or even advice, can result in informal bans on your work. For instance, if an administrator tells you not to teach these topics or to "both sides" the issue–even though they may not have the authority to tell you what to teach–your decision to go forward may be more fraught. But do explore ways you can prepare administrators for what may come and why. Help the concerned parties, including the school administration, understand that false accusations are part of a deliberate strategy on the part of well-resourced, pro-Israel organizations to undermine the movement for Palestinian rights.
Explore your internal resources. Are you in a union? Get your representatives on board early so they can help see you through any grievances you may need to file. Many unions have already created statements and practices to protect members who advocate or teach about Palestine, so your union doesn’t have to start from scratch. (If you’re not in a union, start one!) Are there relevant policies in your workplace around speech? Make sure you know them inside and out.
Explore your external resources. Ensure you are well versed on relevant policies in your profession. Are there outside organizations, local or national, you can connect with? Whether you are unionized or not, speak to organizations like Palestine Legal who may be able to help you identify lawyers should you need them. (In one example, a librarian shares that a group of Jewish staff helped her by clarifying the diversity within the Jewish community, the lack of universal support for Israeli ethno-nationalism and militarism, and the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.)
Build connections with outside supporters. Connect with organizers, activists, cultural organizations, and more. Try to have people prepared to speak in support of your work. Networks of teachers, students and other community members of color are an obvious place to seek support. Stand up for their rights when they are attacked too, so that all of us can live in a society that respects everyone.
Build relationships with parents. Jewish, Palestinian, and other activist parents can step up to provide moral and political support and solidarity. Moral support from Jewish parents and colleagues is especially important when teaching about Palestine is challenged, or when one is falsely accused of antisemitism.
G. Use teachable moments to reshape the narrative
Both real and false accusations of antisemitism offer teachable moments, if educators can allow for mistakes that are inevitable while learning, distinguish between ignorance and hate, seek to understand hate rather than criminalizing it, and resist pressure to shut down conversation when it becomes uncomfortable or controversial. Teaching moments are opportunities to reshape the narrative from one that focuses on the comfort of Zionists to one that focuses on equality and liberation for all.
Highlight the motivations behind false accusations of antisemitism as part of your teaching about Palestine.
Although antisemitism is largely a European and Christian phenomenon that historically has little to do with Palestinians, the weaponization of antisemitism has brought the two issues together in a way that cannot be ignored. False accusations of antisemitism are wielded to protect Israel from criticism as a settler colonial enterprise. Therefore, it has become necessary, when teaching about Palestine, to expose the political motivations behind false accusations of antisemitism, while simultaneously validating the reality of real bigotry and discrimination against Jews as Jews and its relevance to antiracist studies.
Discuss antisemitism within the broader context of racism and oppression.
When addressing antisemitism and anti-Palestinian racism, situate the discussion within, not separate from, the broader struggle against all forms of racism and oppression. Address antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Blackness, and homophobia together rather than pulling out antisemitism specifically.
Teach about Christian Zionists and Jewish anti-Zionists. Newcomers to these issues may be unaware that Christian Zionists vastly outnumber Jewish Zionists, and that the younger generation of U.S. Jewry leans anti-Zionist or is simply not attached to the state of Israel. Teaching about these two groups can help students understand the important truth that not all who support Israel are Jewish, just as not all Jews support Israel. The right-wing Christian Zionist movement supports Israel and the Jewish settlement project in the West Bank and East Jerusalem because they believe that Jews must “return” to Israel to bring about an end to the world that will result in believers’ reunion with God. Christian Zionists can be both genuinely antisemitic and staunchly pro-Israel at the same time. At the same time, significant numbers of Jews around the world do not support the Zionist project and sharply challenge Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace see Zionist colonialism as antithetical to the core values of Judaism. Recognition of the diversity (politically, racially, culturally, etc.) of any community, including the Jewish community, is a valuable objective for any teaching moment.
Work with students where they are. Students need to be respected and taught, even when they are wrong. Students who have been taught that criticism of Israel is antisemitic are more likely to view criticism of Israel as a personal attack and respond with fear or anxiety, complaining that they don’t feel safe. They may respond with anger, confusing their discomfort from challenging ideas with actual personal danger. In these cases, it is important to listen carefully to the students, let them express themselves, and to show empathy with their emotional concerns. The next step is to work with the students about the meaning of antisemitism and explore the specific context in which the student felt that a certain comment was antisemitic. Keep in mind that some white Jewish students have been taught to feel unsafe, even though they are protected by two of the strongest countries and their armies.