California teachers and left-wing activists are trying to implement critical race theory (CRT) indoctrination in Los Angeles schools by hijacking ethnic-studies courses. JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin discussed a lawsuit brought by the Deborah Project public-interest law firm on behalf of Jewish parents and teachers against a group promoting “Liberated Ethnic Studies.”
According to Tobin, the lawsuit shows how this group and their allies in the teacher’s union are bypassing the law requiring public discussion of curricula and violating the rights of Jewish students, teachers and parents by promoting anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist course material. But above all, the controversy illustrates how these activists are seeking to do exactly what liberal apologists claim isn’t happening: their anti-Semic version of ethnic studies is a form of CRT indoctrination.
As Tobin notes, that’s not merely a disgrace. If it is allowed to stand by the courts, “it will legitimize Jew-hatred in a way that has never happened before on American soil.”
He’s then joined by Asaf Romirowsky, executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa. Romirowsky discussed the way the Middle East Studies Association’s embrace of the BDS movement illustrates how the far left has hijacked the discipline throughout the academic world.
As he points out, most of those who teach about the Middle East have embraced the intersectional narrative in which “Zionism is racism. Jews are white and Palestinians are black. And above all, Jews are racist.”
Romirowsky also says even when BDS loses a vote at a college, the movement still gains ground: “Whether they win or lose in a student senate is irrelevant.”
Either way, they gain attention and establish an atmosphere that makes it difficult for Jewish and pro-Israel students as well as faculty to speak up. The result, says Romirowsky, is “an environment of intimidation and hostility for Jewish students and faculty.”
He also notes that “there is no correlation between the amount of Jews on campus and the amount of anti-Semitism. Even in campuses where there are many Jews, you still see a huge rise in anti-Semitism.”
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