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Anti-Israel Groups Oppose California Holocaust Education Bill That Passed Unanimously
Nihad Awad, co-founder and executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Photo: Screenshot
Major anti-Israel groups opposed a Holocaust education bill in California that passed unanimously in the state’s legislature.
Last week, the California State Assembly and Senate approved Senate Bill 1277 by margins of 76-0 and 40-0, respectively, representing rare unanimous, bipartisan agreement.
The bill established a state program called the “California Teachers Collaborative on Holocaust and Genocide Education.”
According to the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC), the state “has required Holocaust and genocide education to be taught in public schools” since 1985. However, it continued, “most schools are not up to state standards, and there is no systematic teacher training to help bridge the gap. The Collaborative is led by JFCS [Jewish Family and Children’s Services] and brings together 14 leading Holocaust and genocide education institutions from across California.”
JPAC’s executive director, David Bocarsly, said in a statement that despite the importance of Holocaust education, “unfortunately, in many schools across California, we’ve seen how such education is simply non-existent or not meeting state standards.”
Despite the unanimous vote and the seemingly uncontroversial content of the bill, it garnered opposition from radical anti-Israel and progressive organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies.
The bill “was surprisingly opposed by Jewish Voice for Peace, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies,” JPAC wrote in a press release.
The root of this opposition, the group claimed, had to do with opposition to Israel: They argued that Holocaust educational institutions should not contribute to Holocaust education if those institutions also support Israel.”
But JPAC noted that “all major US Holocaust educational institutions do [support Israel].”
“Despite such disingenuous opposition,” JPAC added, “the bill’s overwhelming bipartisan support in the legislature demonstrated the desire for such education.”
The Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) was another organization that opposed Senate Bill 1277.
The legislation would “put genocide education in the hands of anti-Palestinian organizations that deny Israel is committing a genocide,” Lara Kiswani, executive director of AROC and a lecturer at San Francisco State University, told the progressive news organization Truthout.
The opposition to the bill was despite the fact the program would go beyond just Holocaust education.
“In addition to the Holocaust, educational groups about the Rwandan, Cambodia, Guatemalan, Uyghur, and Native genocides are members of the Collaborative,” JPAC noted. “Together, they develop curriculum, train 8,500 public school teachers, and educate one million students by 2027 – including teachers and students in every California local educational agency (LEA).”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has a long history of celebrating and justifying terrorism against Israel. It created and distributed flyers that read “L’Chaim Intifada” at the height of the second intifada, which featured more than 130 suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and countless shooting and stabbing attacks. The flyer also included a picture of Leila Khaled, a Palestinian terrorist who hijacked a plane in 1969 and attempted to do it again a year later.
JVP has also supported rallies calling to “globalize the intifada” and local chapters have celebrated Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, claimed Hamas treated the hostages it kidnapped well, and argued the terrorist group does not pose a threat to Jews.
Additionally, in November, CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said “yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in,” referring to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, when the terrorist group killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” he said.
About a week later, the executive director of CAIR’s Los Angeles office, Hussam Ayloush, said that Israel “does not have the right” to defend itself from Palestinian violence. He added in his sermon at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City that for the Palestinians, “every single day” since the Jewish state’s establishment has been comparable to Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
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IDF Releases Investigation into Discovery of 6 Hostages’ Bodies
i24 News – The IDF released on Tuesday the investigation into the murder of six abductees at the end of August: Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi,
Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lubnov, Almog Sarusi, and Sergeant Ori Danino.
According to the findings of the investigation, when the IDF operation began in the area of the tunnel, Major General Nitzan Alon did not believe abductees would be in the area. As the operation continued, the military assessment said the probability was even lower.
The abductee who was extricated, Qaid Farhan Alkadi, was found alone, as neither he nor additional terrorists taken from the area provided indications to the additional abductees.
In the absence of new information, the operation continued in the area, the investigation said. Only then did the forces locate the bodies of the six abductees. In addition, forensic findings were found indicating that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been there. It remains unclear whether he gave the order to murder the abductees himself. No signs of struggle during the murder were found in autopsies.
IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagri visited the tunnel and described the harsh conditions in which the six abductees endured. “They were heroes who were cold-bloodedly murdered by terrorists who build tunnels under children’s rooms,” he said. “We will hunt them down and know exactly who they are, we will find the one who murdered them. The teams here collect all the evidence from the scene.”
“We didn’t know the exact location of the hostages in the tunnel. They were killed before we could reach them. We are investigating the incident of their names being leaked prior to their rescue. This is a very serious event that is harmful to the families and the security of the forces on the ground.”
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Actress Emmanuelle Chriqui Talks About Jewish Pride, Growing Up in Modern Orthodox Family
Emmanuelle Chriqui attending the Creative Coalition Celebrate Election Night with a Star-Studded Dinner & Watch Party Held in Beverly Hills, California, Nov. 6, 2024. Photo: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images via Reuters Connect
Jewish actress Emmanuelle Chriqui opened up in a podcast interview on Tuesday about being raised in a Modern Orthodox household in Canada, being proud to be Jewish and how pro-Israel activists in Hollywood inspire her.
Chriqui, 49, was born to Moroccan Jewish immigrants in Montreal, Canada. Her late mother, Liliane, was born in Casablanca, while her late father, Albert, was born in Rabat and moved to Casablanca as a child. Growing up herself in Canada, Chriqui kept kosher at home and celebrated Shabbat every week with her family.
“I was raised in a small town outside of Toronto and we were two Jewish families but I lived in, I would consider, a Modern Orthodox home,” the former “Entourage” star told Jewish comedian Elon Gold during a guest appearance on his podcast “Stars of David with Elon Gold.”
“We did Shabbat dinner every Friday [and] Shabbat lunch Saturday. Dad went to temple,” she said. “All our biggest fights were [about] going out on Friday night. And my mom was an extraordinary cook. In Canada in the winter time, I would race home from school [on Fridays] so I could plug in the water, light the candles, cuz I’d be the first one home, turn the oven on low, all the things. We had milk and meat separate at home.”
The “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” star added that she still lights Shabbat candles every week in her home. She also noted that her favorite Jewish holiday is Rosh Hashanah. Explaining why, she said: “I love new beginnings; renewal. I love the symbolism, the food, [and] as much as I dread that it means Yom Kippur is around the corner, I love this time and I love how I feel after Yom Kippur.” She said in a previous interview that she includes a clause in her acting contracts, stating that she will not work on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur.
Chriqui has been an avid supporter of Israel for many years. After the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel last year, she expressed solidarity with Israel and its right to defend itself against Hamas. She signed an open letter condemning the US-designated terrorist organization, has advocated for the release of the hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and shared posts on social media about the need to bring the hostages home. She has also supported efforts to counteract boycotts of Israel, including efforts to have Israel banned from the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. Since 2020, Chriqui has been in a relationship with American actor Sam Trammell, who in early 2024 condemned antisemitism.
“Obviously this past year has been incredibly confronting on so many levels and things have come up that I’ve never lived through before,” Chriqui said during her podcast interview this week, referring to the global experiencing a rise in antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack. She also said she thinks the “silver lining” of this past year has been seeing how Jews in Hollywood are embracing their Judaism in different ways than perhaps before the Oct. 7 massacre.
“Like in my 20-plus years of being in Los Angeles, it’s never been like this. Like I can’t keep up with the invitations,” she said. “It’s never been that way. Jews, fellow Jews that were like Jew-ish, suddenly it means something different. And I think that’s the thing – being Jewish in this moment has taken on a different meaning.”
She said “very much so,” Jews are starting to express pride and unity in their Jewish heritage that she has not seen before. She also told Gold that Jewish friends and pro-Israel advocates in the Hollywood community inspire her, including Hen Mazzig, Noa Tishby, Mandana Dayani and Montana Tucker. “I’m very inspired by all of them,” she explained.
Chriqui was also asked about the backlash that some Jewish celebrities receive for not speaking out publicly either enough or at all in support of Israel.
“In the beginning, I think the sentiment was that we felt so alone so who are the Jews who have millions of followers that can affect change,” she said in response. “But it’s also about releasing expectations; releasing judgments. What I might do works for me, might not work for you. And I think really we need to be more tolerate with each other, especially within the community. That’s something that breaks my heart a little bit.”
“I think that speaking out against antisemitism on my platform, for me, is about standing tall in who I am. So it’s much less about what happened but really embracing who we are,” she noted.
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A History of Hanukkah and Jewish Survival
A Hanukkah menorah. Photo: Pixabay
We like to think that Hanukkah was the great victory of Judah, the son of Mattiyahu the Priest (who initiated the resistance) against the mighty Syrian or Seleucid Greeks over 2,000 years ago. The Seleucid campaign against Judea began when Antiochus the 4th invaded in 167 BCE). He believed his culture was far superior to that of the Jews. Jewish merchants were beginning to rival the Greeks in the Eastern Mediterranean, so commercial rivalry was a factor too.
Judah (the name Maccabee is not mentioned in Talmudic sources) did indeed defeat some Seleucid armies and retook the Temple and purified it in 164 BCE. But in fact, the fighting went on for some five years.
Although in between, the Temple did indeed function the way it did before Antiochus, nevertheless it was not a clear-cut victory. The in-fighting in the court of the Syrian Greeks, the assassination of kings and rival generals, all contributed to stalemate with Syrians still holding on to their fortress in Jerusalem.
Judah was killed in the battle of Elasa in 160 BCE. Judah’s brother Jonathan was killed in 143 BCE. Only with the last brother Simon, who was recognized officially as Judea’s high priest and the head of the Judean state in 142 CE, did Judea become independent, for a while.
Judah did not establish the annual eight-day festival we have today. He did replicate the Eight Days of King Solomon’s original dedication of the first Temple when he re-took it. The late Talmudic rabbis established the ongoing eight days to commemorate the miracle of the oil not mentioned earlier. And their failure to mention Judah indicates their disapproval of the Hasmonean dynasty in general as it played out.
Was Hanukkah just a matter of military conquest — or just cultural disagreement with the Greeks? There were no Palestinians to be seen. In competing for markets, Greeks killed Jews and Jews killed Greeks back. John Hyrcanus, Simon’s successor ,was particularly effective at retaliating against those who attacked Jews even beyond his territory.
Within the Jewish community of Judea, there were huge divisions, which reflected the precise divisions that exist today within the Jewish communities in Israel and the Diaspora.
Succeeding generations could not even agree what the significance of Hanukkah was. For those who fought, it was a military victory that ultimately led to the establishment of regaining and re-opening the Temple and an autonomous state.
For the rabbis of the Talmudic era, who were scarred by the Roman conquests, it was a celebration of the spiritual flame kept burning by the few against the many. Judah the fighter was not mentioned. Some saw it as a response to the Diaspora festival of Purim, others as the interaction between the Diaspora and Israel, with both suffering from different pressures and antagonisms. What we now call antisemitism.
A lot has changed over the last 2,000 years — and a lot has not.
Empires have come and gone, rulers have risen and died, and Jews remain a people as Bilaam says (Numbers 23:9) “A nation that dwells alone and is not regarded (or valued) by the other peoples.” We have always been loners. Does this really matter? For some it does and that explains why so many Jews have always abandoned the confines of Jewish life to try to thrive in the non-Jewish world. It also explains why others have fought for their beliefs and freedom — and why some have become zealots.
We should not be surprised today to discover how many Jews are antagonistic to the Jewish people, and certainly not about how the non-Jewish world continues to be extremely ambivalent towards us. Both in the Middle East and in the West, communities are now no longer as monochromatic or as unified as they once were. Mass migrations have changed the complexity of many societies and divided them against themselves.
This is why the Hanukkah story is so important. It’s the only festival we have that records the military triumph of Israel against its opponents, and the survival of our tradition despite the continuous, repeated attempts to snuff us out.
We have thrived despite it all. In our prayers every single day of the year, we think of Jerusalem and returning to it in our minds if not in our bodies. This is something that the world just does not get — because they are not concerned with history or facts. This is our story, whichever the way the wind blows, and they will not snuff our lights out.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
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