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Newsweek
2 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
To Fight Antisemitism and Preserve Democracy, Educators and the Jewish Community Must Partner Closely
There is no question: Antisemitism is on the rise. From acts of mass violence, to efforts to marginalize or target Jews in schools, on campuses and in other key spaces, this threat is real. It comes alongside a broader rise in hate and extremism—and it threatens all of our communities and the core of our democracy. The loudest and most extreme voices are exploiting this moment to further pit our communities against one another, fueling division and polarization rather than constructive solutions. AFT President Randi Weingarten speaks to members of MomsRising during a day of action on Capitol Hill on June 25, 2025, in Washington, D.C. AFT President Randi Weingarten speaks to members of MomsRising during a day of action on Capitol Hill on June 25, 2025, in Washington, MomsRising There are rightfully strong feelings—and important debate and criticism—about events in the world, including the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But we have also seen deliberate efforts on both extremes to explicitly pit Jewish Americans against teachers' unions, academic institutions, and public education itself. These efforts aim to divide communities and institutions that have historically worked together. That's why our organizations, the AFT and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), recently launched a new partnership designed to model constructive engagement. It began in 2024, when JCPA spoke about antisemitism to an overflowing room at an AFT Higher Education meeting. It was immediately clear that educators were hungry for real information and dialogue to understand and combat hate. This year, we've grown our partnership. Our engagement has become all the more crucial as the Trump administration, seeking to exploit the Jewish community's legitimate concerns, has advanced an extreme agenda that guts federal funding for universities, arrests and seeks to deport students without due process, and fundamentally attacks core democratic principles including academic freedom. At the same time, the administration is also destroying the very institutions and tools we need to protect Jewish and all vulnerable students. This month, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can move forward with laying off over one-third of the Department of Education's staff. While the administration claims to prioritize the fight against antisemitism, it has decimated the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, which investigates discrimination in schools and on campus. The administration's harmful actions don't take away from the fact that Jewish educators and students are experiencing real hate and bias—from harassment or ostracization over real or perceived connections to Israel, to efforts to discount the urgency of increasing antisemitism, to explicit violence. Real concerns over antisemitism—and how best to fight it—were spotlighted just recently, with a vote at a National Education Association (NEA) convening on a resolution that sought to boycott Anti-Defamation League (ADL) resources. We applaud the NEA for ultimately rejecting this divisive resolution. What got lost in the controversy was the constructive resolutions the NEA passed aimed at protecting Jewish, and all, students and educators. Neither of our organizations are in lockstep with the ADL, but the solution to antisemitism and broader hate isn't to cut off engagement. On the contrary, we need to build the strongest possible coalitions, even across lines of disagreement. The ways in which antisemitism and anti-democratic extremism reinforce one another threaten not only the Jewish community but all of us. These threats require us to foster an approach that brings people together, recognizing our safety is inextricably linked. Our joint work is premised on three pillars: to create safe and welcoming environments; to challenge and counter all acts of hate, including antisemitism; and to protect people's rights to both their own expression and safe classrooms and campuses. We need to fight hate speech, but we must also change hearts and minds. Through programs and workshops, we are empowering educators and union leaders to recognize and combat antisemitism, as well as broader hate and extremism, and to constructively navigate nuanced issues related to Israel and Palestine. We are also bringing together local unions and Jewish communities to advance shared priorities. We are not naïve; we know that this work is difficult and that the challenges are real. Too many Jewish students and educators in K-12 schools, and on our university and college campuses, feel marginalized and unsafe. That is completely unacceptable, and it needs to change. As we tackle these problems, we fundamentally reject the idea that robust public education and academic institutions, thriving teachers' unions, and strong democratic values are somehow at odds with Jewish safety. On the contrary: Educators, working together with Jewish community leaders, have a critical role to play in fighting antisemitism and all hate. The safety of the Jewish community is intimately connected with a strong public education system, a thriving labor movement, and an inclusive democracy that protects the rights and freedoms of all. The extreme voices who say that we should not or cannot work together are wrong. For the sake of our collective future, we can't let them be victorious. Randi Weingarten is president of the AFT. Amy Spitalnick is CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
The Hill
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Iran pulls out of nuclear talks with the U.S.
Iran no longer plans to engage in nuclear talks with the U.S. that were scheduled to take place in Oman on Sunday, Iranian leaders announced Friday after Israel's deadly airstrikes targeting the Tehran's nuclear facilities and military sites. Oman News Agency and Iranian state media reported that the talks have been suspended indefinitely. 'Israel's unilateral attack on Iran is illegal, unjustifiable and a grave threat to regional stability,' Oman Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi posted on the social platform X after the attacks. 'I condemn it and urge the global community to come together to reject Israeli aggression and support de-escalation and diplomacy with one voice.' Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile, vowed retribution against its long-standing adversary Israel. 'With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself up for a bitter and painful fate, and it will receive it,' he said in remarks released through state media. President Trump and his administration have been working for weeks to reach a deal with Tehran on a nuclear agreement. The meeting Sunday would have been the sixth round of high-level talks since April, as the U.S. and Iran try to hash out an agreement to replace the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) that Trump withdrew the U.S. from during his first term. Trump continued to urge Iran to enter the latest round of negotiations with serious intentions of striking a deal, despite Israel's surprise attack. 'There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.' 'No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,' he added, noting that Iranian hardliners who had resisted an agreement 'are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse.' Trump has repeatedly stressed that a nuclear deal will not allow Iran to enrich uranium into a weapons-grade material, though the country has stood by its stated aim of 'peaceful' enrichment that will be 'mutually beneficial.'
Irish Examiner
22-04-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
More students expected to get higher grades under Junior Cycle update
The new Junior Cycle grading system is to be updated in time for the exams this summer, with more students expected to receive higher grades as a result. The minister for education Helen McEntee has announced that new changes to the grading system will be in place in time for over 73,000 students due to sit their Junior Cycle exams in June. Since starting its rollout in 2017, reforms of the Junior Cycle have replaced the traditional ABC style of grading. The Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement (JCPA) introduced instead "merits" (55% to 74%), "higher merits" (75% to less than 90%), and "distinctions" (90% and above). Under the changes announced today by the minister, these grades will now be evenly distributed in bands of 15 percentage points — meaning to receive a distinction a student needs to score 85% or higher, instead of 90%. In recent years, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) has defended the drop off in the numbers of students achieving the highest grades at Junior Cycle. Students themselves have been campaigning for changes to the system, which they describe as 'demotivating and disheartening' Transition Year students at Coláiste Bhríde in Carnew, Co Wicklow, launched their national campaign after they received their Junior Cycle results last October. 'We saw some of our peers that worked really hard didn't get the results they deserved,' student Sarah Jennings said. Another concern for teachers and students was the 'broad' merit band, which previously ran from 55% to 74%. Under the previous system, a student who received 70% in an exam received a merit grade. Under the new system, this student will receive a higher merit. Higher numbers of students will achieve distinction and higher merit grades with this change, Ms McEntee said. 'With the top four grade bands now becoming evenly distributed, this will have a positive impact on students, ensuring their grades are more reflective of their work and effort, as well as of the work of our teachers.' Teacher conferences The changes have been announced as the annual teachers' union conferences continue this Easter week. Tuesday marks the opening of both the Association of Secondary Teachers (ASTI) and Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) conferences. The ASTI is expected to debate a motion seeking legal indemnity for teachers who suspect a student may have used AI as part of project work due to be introduced under Leaving Cert reforms. Both the ASTI and the TUI have voiced concerns and opposition to the proposed changes, due to begin rollout from this September. Both unions have previously called on the minister to pause the reforms, voicing fears around schools's capacity to roll out the changes — which will begin with chemistry, biology, physics, as well as business studies. A main point of contention is the introduction of project work called additional assessment components (AACs) to be worth 40%. Separately, English teachers have raised concerns about proposed changes to the Leaving Cert subject. While many are enthusiastic about certain aspects of the proposed changes, they are also concerned about the 'overall thrust of the redevelopment process', according to the Irish National Organisation of English Teachers (Inote). In a letter to Ms McEntee, the group warns that potential problems seem 'too substantial to justify moving away from the current specification, which is working very well and has done so for the past 25 years' While the group strongly welcomes the concept of an oral exam in English for the first time, it has also voiced concerns around the introduction of an additional assessment components in the subject. This additional assessment component will be 'extremely vulnerable to AI abuse in ways we cannot even conceive of now, in 2025', it wrote. 'No one knows the capabilities generative AI will have in October 2027, when this proposed AAC will first take place 'AI has already infiltrated our English classrooms and it represents the very antithesis of creativity, as we understand it; in fact, it short circuits this most human of endeavours.' Given the high-stakes nature of this assessment, and 'the inability of teachers to ensure the authenticity of student work in an AI-saturated world', Inote added it would expect a 'detailed and convincing implementation document that can guarantee the same integrity as the current exam model". 'If student work cannot be authenticated satisfactorily, then this assessment moment needs a complete re-think or the weighting of this assessment should at least be reduced to 10%.' Read More Over 100 reports of sexual assault or harassment made to Irish universities
The Hill
10-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Jewish advocacy group questions DHS on plans to use antisemitism to deny immigration benefits
A Jewish civil rights group is asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) how it plans to evaluate migrants' social media accounts after the agency said it would use antisemitic content as a grounds for denying immigration benefits. The department said Wednesday that it would 'begin considering aliens' antisemitic activity on social media' as it weighs whether to approve applications for green cards or student visas. But the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), an 80-year-old, nonpartisan Jewish advocacy group, asked DHS how it plans to make that evaluation. 'Make no mistake: the threat of antisemitism is real and rising in the United States and around the globe,' the group's CEO Amy Spitalnick wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 'At the same time, this new policy raises significant questions as to how it will be applied — particularly as many in the Jewish community have already expressed deep concerns about how our legitimate fears of antisemitism are being used as the pretext to advance policies that undermine rights such as due process and our core democratic norms and values, which ultimately threatens the safety of Jews and all communities.' The notice from the department said the new policy would be used to target those 'who support antisemitic terrorism, violent antisemitic ideologies and antisemitic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Ansar Allah aka: 'the Houthis.'' But it comes as the Trump administration has stripped more than 300 student visas and also arrested some who have participated in protests about the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. While the Trump administration has asserted those arrested have supported Hamas, critics say lawful first amendment protests have been mischaracterized as part of a broader crackdown on free speech. JCPA noted that DHS said the new policy would be applied to those 'affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity.' 'How is that affiliation being defined? Does there have to be antisemitic activity on the applicant's part, or is merely attending a university where someone else espoused antisemitism enough to be denied entry?' Spitalnick asked. The group also asked about other forms of extremism and whether DHS has plans to evaluate any applicant's support for any neo-Nazi or white supremacist groups. 'Will engaging in other forms of hate — such as racism, anti-Muslim prejudice, antiLGBTQ hatred, or misogyny — also preclude entry?' the letter asks. The group also sought more details about how the review would be carried out, asking what search tools would be used, who would be making the decision and if applicants from all countries would be screened. JCPA argues that Jewish safety 'is inextricably linked with inclusive democracy in which everyone's fundamental rights are protected.' DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its Wednesday release, it said it would consider any content 'that indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, [or] antisemitic terrorist organizations.' 'There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world's terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,' DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a release. 'Sec. Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here.' And in a Thursday social media post, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also drew attention for listing 'ideas' as among the items the agency is required to stop 'if it crosses the U.S. border illegally.' A number of Jewish groups have spoken out against the plans to review social media for antisemitic content. 'We already know that President Trump doesn't shy away from breaking bread with and hiring antisemites. And he has already weaponized antisemitism to silence those he disagrees with and to strip funding from universities,' New Jewish Narrative, a progressive group, said in a statement when the policy was announced. 'Antisemitism is a real and very serious problem, but this is not the answer. Given Trump's track record, we already know that this move is not genuinely about protecting American Jews.'
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jewish non-profit chief says Musk will spur violence with his ‘Nazi salute'
The head of a prominent US Jewish civil rights body said Elon Musk's repeated fascist-style salute during Donald Trump's inauguration could act as a spur for violent extremists. 'The salute itself should be enough to warrant condemnation and attention,' said Amy Spitalnick, adding that so should 'the ways extremists see an action like this and take it as license for their own violent extremism'. Spitalnick is chief executive of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a progressive non-profit founded in the 1940s and headquartered in New York City. On Monday, she watched with the rest of the world as Musk, the world's richest person and a key Trump ally, spoke in Washington at the new president's inaugural rally – and gave two fascist-style salutes. Musk and his followers have sought to brush off the affair, but to Spitalnick, 'there was nothing ambiguous' about the salutes, no matter how many attempts are made to describe them as 'Roman' or anything else. 'There's a long history here,' she said. 'The fact that Nazi salutes are now a regular part of our political discourse is how I got involved with all of this. Before JCPA, I led the non-profit [Integrity First for America] that brought a lawsuit over [the far-right march in 2017 in] Charlottesville and against [the activist] Richard Spencer and a variety of other defendants who are clear neo-Nazi extremists. 'You know: 'Gave the Roman salute' is just the euphemistic way of saying 'Nazi salute'.' To Spitalnick, 'most people today don't have a full understanding of what the term 'fascist' even means, and so naming it for what it is – the Nazi salute – feels important right now.' It's also important, she says, not to dismiss the fallout as just another online spat, an attempt to distract opponents with outrageous behavior. Not only has Musk expressed support for Alternative für Deutschland, a German far-right party widely accused of Nazi-esque views, but he chose to throw out his right arm on day one of an administration that has thrown out executive orders advancing draconian policies on immigration, equality and more. Musk's salute found a warm welcome on far-right sites – much as when in November 2023 he endorsed a post on his own platform, X, that said Jewish people promote 'hatred against whites' and support immigration by 'hordes of minorities'. After condemnation from advertisers and the Biden White House, Musk apologized: saying it 'might be literally the worst and dumbest post I've ever done', he visited Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in Poland, in a show of contrition. To Spitalnick, that apology rang hollow: 'There was some engagement with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu [of Israel] and others that was used as attempted cover for not just his own embrace of antisemitism and extremism but the ways in which he's let it run rampant on X, and given the ways in which it's normalized, not just on social media but in our politics more broadly, we can't excuse that. We can't give it cover in any way.' This time, Musk has not apologized. On Thursday, he continued a run of joking posts about his behavior at Trump's parade with a series of Nazi-themed puns, including: 'Some people will Goebbels anything down!' Nor have all pressure groups condemned Musk's salutes. The Anti-Defamation League, which fights antisemitism and which Musk previously threatened to sue, said merely that he 'made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute'. The JCPA 'fundamentally disagrees', Spitalnick said, 'and we work closely with the ADL on a variety of fronts. They do critical work. And in this case, to me, there was no question what the intent, and even more importantly the impact, of this action was. 'It was at a presidential event, and [Musk] is someone who has a presidential appointment, an office in the executive building. He is not a random third party. He is a senior member of the Trump administration who gave a Nazi salute from the presidential podium. And there's no world in which that doesn't lead to more hate and extremism that will make Jews and so many other communities less safe.' Musk is working for a president who reportedly praised and admired Hitler; whose own vice-president once called him 'America's Hitler'; and whose opponent in last year's election, Kamala Harris, called 'a fascist' and an admirer of dictators. Spitalnick acknowledges that after an election featuring a flood of such invective, which Trump won regardless, the public may decide Musk's apparent fondness for fascist-style salutes is not worthy of serious attention. But she has fought the far right before – and won. The Charlottesville lawsuit was brought by nine plaintiffs who alleged physical harm and emotional distress arising from the Unite the Right rally, a pro-Trump protest in Virginia in August 2017. In November 2021, a jury awarded the plaintiffs $24m, later substantially reduced. Related: 'Trump is a little guy, Musk is a big guy': historian predicts trouble for president-elect In the second Trump administration, Spitalnick says, the courts will again provide an arena for progressives to fight back. She 'worked in the New York attorney general's office during the first Trump administration, and over and over again, our office and a number of other state AGs won cases against his administration, not just on constitutional grounds and administrative procedural grounds but on a variety of other grounds. The law is the law, and we have to fight like hell to protect the law and protect our justice system and our broader democratic norms.' Amid outcry over Musk's salutes, Spitalnick says, those who oppose the billionaire and his boss should remember 'that when people feel like it's just been a barrage of bad over the last few days, the response is just beginning'. Sign in to access your portfolio
