How to address the “Jewish Question,” a phrase used by the Nazis during the Holocaust, is now being debated in a California school district. Evidence uncovered during the discovery phase of a lawsuit against California’s Santa Ana Unified School District reveals the extent of the district’s anti-Jewish prejudice and intent. The district is embroiled in the continuing controversy over its misappropriation of California’s ethnic-studies curriculum mandate. Anti-Jewish activists have waged a multi-year effort to include biased and factually inaccurate material, branding Israel as a settler colonialist oppressor and the Jews as privileged elites.
The lawsuit brought by leading Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law revealed a blatant disregard for Jewish identity and history that an ethnic-studies curriculum should include. The District Board and staff violated open meeting laws by considering scheduling meetings on Jewish holidays to prevent Jews from attending meetings—a common tactic used by anti-Israel groups on university campuses. The school board deliberately kept proposed ethnic-studies courses “under the radar.”
When members of the district’s Ethnic Studies Steering Committee learned about the Jewish community’s concerns, they noted the need to “address the Jewish Question” in an official agenda. The “Jewish Question” originated among some of Europe’s cultural leaders in the 1800s to manage what many of them saw as a “problem” of Jewish identity among Jews living in their countries. Hitler’s Final Solution to that “question” was the Holocaust.
Committee members also stated: “Jews are not a disadvantaged ethnic group in the U.S. because they were never slaves. We don’t need to give both sides. We only support the oppressed, and Jews are the oppressors.” American Jews have repeatedly faced open discrimination throughout the nation’s history—from Jewish students being restricted from attending American universities and barred from numerous hotels. Jews are now the most targeted minority group in America, according to FBI hate crime data.
But one district in a Los Angeles suburb of California is hardly alone among the nation’s school administrations perpetuating overt anti-Israel and antisemitic activities. The ADL filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education in July stating that antisemitism runs rampant in Philadelphia schools. The civil-rights complaint alleges that over the nine months since Oct. 7, the Philadelphia school district had knowingly allowed its K-12 schools to become “viciously hostile” environments for Jewish students while failing to address numerous incidents of antisemitic harassment, bullying and discrimination.
Student intifada: ‘Take out Professor Davidai’
“Welcome to the People’s University for Palestine,” was the headline of a recent column in the Columbia University student newspaper. Written by an anti-Israel coalition, it made blatantly false statements about Israel, called for an academic boycott of and financial divestment from Israel, and repeatedly referred to “Israel” in quotes and as the “Zionist entity,” a phrase used only by Iran, terror groups and declared enemies of Israel. This comes on the heels of a Brandeis University study finding that one-third of non-Jewish students are hostile to Jews or Israel.
Days earlier at Columbia, an American pro-Hamas imam who publicly supports the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks spoke at a campus event hosted by the Muslim Student Association and promoted by Students for Justice in Palestine. He targeted a professor who is a staunch supporter of Israel: “If you are able to take out Professor Shai Davidai and make an example, that might shut up 100 more professors,” suggesting students find a way to force the termination of the professor.
Anti-Israel groups, including Young Democratic Socialists of America, have declared that they will unite for the student intifada to disrupt university campus life. The University of Pennsylvania Faculty for Justice in Palestine recently hosted anti-Israel speakers who praised Leila Khaled, a Palestinian terrorist who took part in a 1969 airplane hijacking. The National Students for Justice in Palestine umbrella group announced that student leadership at The New School in Manhattan voted to halt funding to all student groups until the university divests its investments in Israel or even companies based or operating there.
Universities take action: ‘No Zionist litmus test’
Some universities are taking active steps to prevent violence and curb hatred against Jewish students. The University of California system of 10 schools banned face coverings and encampments, George Washington University suspended or placed on probation 10 student groups and New York University issued new hate speech guidelines referencing the “use of code words, like Zionist for Jews.”
NYU’s Student Conduct Code: “Examples of speech and conduct that would violate the nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy: excluding Zionists from an open event, calling for the death of Zionists, applying a ‘no Zionist’ litmus test for participation in any NYU activity, using or disseminating tropes, stereotypes, and conspiracies about Zionists (e.g., ‘Zionists control the media’), or invoking Holocaust imagery or symbols to harass or discriminate.”
Brooklyn bookstore cancels Jewish discussion: ‘No Zionists allowed’
An anti-Zionist author who was preparing to discuss his new book with a progressive rabbi at a bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y., was informed the same day by a sign on the window that an employee had canceled the event because “they would not permit a Zionist [the rabbi] on the premises.” The owner initially lied about the reason for the cancellation before issuing an apology and firing the worker.
Rabbi Andy Bachman: “I’m still thinking about what it means that a talk between two Jews can get canceled because one of them—yours truly!—is a Zionist. There is a hideous and fundamentally immoral othering of Jews who don’t subscribe to the cult-like demand that any Zionism be disavowed in order to exist in the company of the self-proclaimed exemplars of justice, commonality and peace. Some just want us gone.”
The threatened eruption of widespread antisemitic protests and even violence by Hamas supporters at the Democratic National Convention did not materialize; still, a small group of anti-Israel activists disrupted an event addressing antisemitism by Agudath Israel of America held in a secret location to prevent such an intrusion. The masked protestors chanted: “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Zionism has got to fall.”
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said: “These anti-Zionist protestors just confirmed that anti-Jewish hate in America is a growing, inescapable problem, which was exactly the point of the event.”
Attacks against Jews and Christians in Europe
A masked man wrapped in a Palestinian flag firebombed a synagogue in France on Shabbat. His attempt resulted only in damage to the doors of the building, but he also set cars parked outside ablaze, injuring a police officer when one vehicle exploded. French authorities charged the perpetrator with “attempted arson” for a “criminal act.”
The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France declared: “The blasts were an attempt to kill Jews. The use of a gas canister in a car at a time when worshippers are expected to arrive at the synagogue is not simply a criminal act. This shows an intention to kill.”
In Germany, a Syrian man killed three adults at a town festival. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack, which targeted Christians, with the intent “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.” The German Office of the Federal Prosecutor concluded: “His radical Islamic conviction was to kill the largest possible number of those he considers unbelievers.”
The New Communist Party of Italy was widely condemned after publishing a blacklist of 150 Italian Jews and organizations labeled as “Zionist agents” to be “condemned and fought” for supporting Israel. British imams blamed recent far-right riots against Muslims on “Zionists,” ludicrously labeling a prominent far-right leader a Zionist.
The Jewish National Fund of Canada lost its charitable status after a review of “biased accusations written by anti-Israel, antisemitic forces.”
Points to consider:
- We need to speak out against anti-Jewish hatred in our daily lives.
Hate has insidiously woven itself into the fabric of our daily lives, especially in schools where young minds are shaped. From biased curricula to normalized anti-Zionist rhetoric that often crosses into antisemitism, this hate is becoming part of the educational environment from kindergartens to universities. It is not enough to quietly disapprove. We must call it out whenever and wherever it appears: a teacher presenting a skewed version of history, a student making inappropriate Holocaust jokes or school policies that limit Jewish participation. Speaking out also serves as an opportunity to educate others because silence only allows this bigotry to grow.
- Zionism is an essential part of Jewish identity.
For the majority of American Jews, Zionism is a manifestation of their cultural or religious identity reflecting the deep historical connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. While anti-Zionist Jews claim that Zionism is separate from their Jewish identity, there are countless examples contrary to this opinion. Zion is synonymous with Jerusalem and the Land of Israel, and is mentioned 157 times in the Tanach (Hebrew Bible). Jews longed to return to their ancestral homeland for 2,000 years. This includes singing “Next year in Jerusalem” at the end of the annual Passover seder and praying facing Jerusalem. Israel, Jerusalem and Zionism are integral components of Jewish identity.
- Relating Zionism to blood libels and conspiracy theories.
Anti-Zionism often disguises itself as a political view, but it frequently crosses the line into outright antisemitism. The U.S. House passed a resolution last year equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. There are many similarities between the two related forms of hatred, including attacks against synagogues, blood libels (Israelis harvested Palestinian organs; Jews killed Christian children to use their blood to bake matzah), Oct. 7 and Holocaust denials, Zionist and Jewish conspiracy theories and the resulting violence against Jews. Anti-Zionists, often under the facade of pro-Palestinian activism, deny Jewish people the right to self-determination, falsely vilify Israel and spread disinformation about the Jewish state.
- “Globalize the intifada” campaign has deadly consequences.
This new campaign, supposedly in support of the Palestinians, targets Jews and non-Jews around the world. The call for a violent uprising is not a mere political slogan; it is a global movement seeking to justify violence by using inciting rhetoric and creating an environment that normalizes crimes. The failed attempt to burn Jews alive inside a French synagogue and the deadly knife rampage against Christians in Germany prove that when anti-Israel activists vow to “globalize the intifada,” violence is sure to follow. The Second Intifada against Israel included fiery bombings of buses, restaurants and malls.
