The Mainstreaming Of Antisemitism in Our Public Schools Eric Levine
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One need look no further than my hometown of Chappaqua, New York and its public school district (CCSD) to better understand why there has been a spike of antisemitism on our college campuses and in communities across the country following Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack against Israel. As CCSD’s Superintendent of Schools, Christine Ackerman has made clear, when it comes to teaching Middle East history and confronting the unprecedented spike of antisemitism, CCSD is a “safe space” for antisemitism, moral equivalence, and fact free history.
Recently, 450 residents of Chappaqua whose children either attend or have attended the town’s public schools, sent a letter to the CCSD asking it to address the alarming rise of antisemitic incidents in the Chappaqua schools and the scourge of anti-Jewish hatred in the community in the wake of “the horrific massacre in Israel on October 7” (attached, although the names of the signatories are redacted for confidentiality). In response, CCSD put together a Webinar it claimed was designed to address the parents’ concerns.
Following the Webinar, Ackerman sent a letter to the CCSD community “to share the feedback…that we’ve received from the recent Middle East webinar and BOE meeting public comment period, along with our proposed plan to address the concerns and questions raised by parents.” (The full text of Ackerman’s letter follows this essay below). The letter reads like a dystopian litany of Orwellian Newspeak.
It is difficult to know if Ackerman is obtuse, ignorant, or malevolent. Whichever it is, she must resign or be fired immediately. She is not qualified to have any role in educating our children and her salary is waste of my tax dollars.
Not once does she mention the word “antisemitism” or the date October 7 in text of her letter. It is not until she itemizes the “Middle East Webinar & Community Feedback” that the word “antisemitism” is mentioned. By relegating “antisemitism” to the feedback and not raising it as a concern in the body of her letter, she makes clear that the rise in antisemitism is a concern she does not share. For her, this is merely an exercise in quieting some unhappy taxpayers.
Nowhere, either in her letter or the feedback section, does she mention the date October 7. It is like saying one will talk about modern Jewish history but we will skip the Holocaust. It is impossible to believe that “oversight” was not intentional.
Among some of the more remarkable feedback was in response to CCSD’s admission that it has no working definition of “antisemitism.” One need look no further than the US Department of State’s working definition which has been in place since 2010 https://www.state.gov/defining-antisemitism/ . It is consistent with the one adopted on May 26, 2016, by the 31 member states of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) of which the United States is a member. Included in that definition is the following example: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” Necessarily encompassed in that definition, is that Israel and the Jewish people have the right to self-defense like any other nation.
Jews represent 2.4% of America’s population yet they are the targets of over 60% of the religious based hate crimes in our country. Not surprisingly, Ackerman fails to reference that fact.
CCSD must follow the US State Department and adopt its full definition of “antisemitism” immediately. Anything short of that is to be complicit in antisemitism.
Ackerman also makes clear she has no use for history or facts when they are distractions from her “narrative.” Among the issues Ackerman wants to be addressed falls under the category of “Inclusivity and Diversity in Education.” As she put it: “ A significant number of comments call for more inclusive and diverse educational content. This includes a desire for more comprehensive coverage of Middel Eastern history, acknowledgement of Jewish struggles, acknowledgement of the Arab narrative, and the inclusion of a broader range of perspectives int eh curriculum.”
How about just teaching history and facts. There are undoubtedly a variety of perspectives, but there is only one set of facts. Ackerman makes clear that “facts” are fluid unknowable things subject only to the whim of the speaker. What exactly is a “narrative.” Mein Kompf is a narrative. Similarly, the Hamas Charter calling for the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel and the extermination of all Jews is a narrative. Just because they are someone’s “narrative” does not make their views worthy of teaching as if they are the moral equivalence of historical facts. They are evil and our children need to be taught that those ideologies are evil. Period!
As President Biden said, the October 7 attacks were “pure evil.” Condemning Hamas – a US Government designated terrorist organization — and supporting Israel’s right to self-defense as recognized under international law does not make someone, “Islamophobic.” It means someone is able to distinguish between good verses evil and right verses wrong. Ackerman’s inability to make this distinction in her letter evidences a moral failing that is so profound as to disqualify her from working in our schools.
Finally, the Middle East curriculum to which Ackerman refers –Brown University Choices Program – is funded by, and crafted in coordination with, the government of Qatar. Qatar is an ally of Iran and Hamas. Not surprisingly, it has an abysmal human rights record. It used slave labor to build the arenas used at the last soccer World Cup. The world, to its eternal shame, remained silent. That is who is drafting the curriculum to teach our children.
Maybe a Putin funded think tank should have a role in drafting CCSD’s curriculum on European History. Think of all the wonderful narratives our students could be exposed to about Ukraine.
The recent spike in antisemitism is a direct result of what our children are taught. It is within our power to change that. The battle has moved from the college campuses to our community schools. Parents, not school superintendents, know what is best for their children.
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