Jew hate is surging in public schools and teachers' unions lead the way

New York Post

2 days ago

'From the river to the sea' — shorthand for the obliteration of Israel. It's a phrase meant to terrorize.
Here in the United States, from the Hudson River to the Pacific, antisemitism is surging in public schools.
As President Donald Trump cracks down on the abuse of Jewish students on college campuses, he needs to turn attention also to our elementary and high schools — and people of all faiths must stand up to object.
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Jews shouldn't have to fight this battle alone.
In New York City, antisemitic graffiti and bullying, anti-Jewish slurs, and pro-Hamas propaganda are tolerated in the public schools, according to a lawsuit filed by the Brandeis Center on behalf of teachers who were terrorized by their students.
In Baltimore, Jewish students 'have had to isolate themselves, drop classes, eat lunch alone, and hide their Jewish identifies to avoid harassment' — including from one teacher who repeatedly threatened to go 'all Nazi' on them, according to a civil-rights complaint submitted to the US Department of Education last month.
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In June, California state Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan tearfully testified that 'students are being taught to hate my children . . . because they're Jewish.'
And rank-and-file public-school teachers across the nation are on board with that hate.
Members of the nation's largest teachers' union, the National Education Association, voted in July to redefine the Holocaust — with language that erased any mention of the extermination of 6 million Jews.
The woke definition instead recognizes 'more than 12 million victims' from 'different faiths, political beliefs, genders, and gender identification, abilities/disabilities, and other targeted characteristics.'
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That's a hateful falsehood and a twisting of history.
NEA members also voted to educate students about the Nabka — in the union's words, the 'forced, violent displacement and dispossession of at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948 during the establishment of the state of Israel.'
Both those measures were included in the NEA Handbook, a document recently removed from the union's website after it sparked critics' blowback.
But it's what a majority of NEA members — teachers in public schools — voted for.
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A generation of college students, steeped in antisemitism by leftist professors, is bringing the same hate to the public schools where they teach.
Teachers' unions bear a share of the blame, too.
In New York City the powerful United Federation of Teachers endorsed mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani last month, citing his willingness to cede mayoral control of city schools 'to give more say to educators and parents.'
Cross out 'parents'; the UFT is gunning for a union takeover. Period.
New York State United Teachers, the UFT's statewide umbrella group, already has a tight grip on local school boards across the Empire State — fielding candidates for most boards and winning 91% of the time.
NYSUT is intent on making the schools left-wing propaganda machines, parents' wishes be damned.
According to the US Supreme Court, parents have a right to opt their elementary school-aged children out of instruction that violates their religious teachings.
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The case, decided just this year, involved LGBTQ+ themes that Muslim and Christian parents didn't want taught to their children — but the significance of the ruling goes far beyond that one issue.
If Jewish parents in New York object to their children being subjected to a woke rewriting of the Holocaust, or a view of Palestine that vilifies Jews, will they be able to opt their children out?
No. They'll be in for a fight, according to NYSUT.
On July 28, the union issued a response to the high court's ruling, claiming it applies only 'to a single school district' — and that 'educators and school leaders are best positioned to select materials.'
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Parents with religious scruples can take a hike.
Mamdani has expressed almost no interest in education policy, aside from attacking the city's specialized high schools — even though the Department of Education consumes more money than any other city agency.
Indifferent to what education means to parents striving for their children's futures, Mamdani has cynically suggested that Jamaal Bowman, the Israel-hating former congressman and fire-alarm enthusiast, should lead Gotham's public school system, the largest in America.
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Even members of his own party are unimpressed by Bowman: State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs has said the ex-lawmaker should promote 'the economic interests of working-class Americans instead of continuing his antisemitic, pro-terrorist advocacy.'
Don't count on Bowman or Mamdani to heed that advice.
It's time for New Yorkers, and Americans everywhere, to oppose antisemitism in our public schools.
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History's oldest hatred has no place in our kids' classrooms.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of the Committee to Save Our City.