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Antisemitism in America: Teachers Introduce BDS-like Materials for Pre-Schoolers
As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, some educators in America haven’t stood idly by.
But instead of teaching young children about the dangers of antisemitism, they have attempted to normalize anti-Israeli views in school curricula.
The Oakland Education Association (OEA), a teachers union in California, used the jargon of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign last month, when it voted to “become involved in the growing anti-apartheid movement demanding freedom for Palestine…” and resolved to distribute “educational materials and resources” to teachers:
In early November, the @OaklandEA voted to “become involved in the growing anti-apartheid movement demanding freedom for Palestine…” and resolved to distribute “educational materials and resources” to teachers. pic.twitter.com/8BfvFZCvFH
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 1, 2023
In accordance with that decision, the OEA issued the following statement — without any mention of Hamas’ genocidal October 7 rampage across southern Israel:
We, the Oakland Education Association, mourn the tragic loss of both Palestinian and Israeli lives these past weeks. We unequivocally condemn the 75 year long illegal military occupation of Palestine. The Israeli government created an apartheid state and the Israeli government leaders have espoused genocidal rhetoric and policies against the people of Palestine. As educators of a diverse community here in Oakland, including those with family and friends directly impacted, our conscience demands that we say clearly that OEA calls for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation of Palestine.
After facing criticism, the OEA updated its statement, adding that “our union unequivocally condemns anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. We call for the release of hostages held by Hamas.”
And it planned to hold “a teach-in on the Palestinian struggle”:
While smearing the official materials distributed by the Oakland County School District on the Israel-Hamas war as Zionist propaganda, the OEA introduced alternative resources, which espouse nothing less than hatred against the world’s only Jewish state.
For example, the OEA’s pedagogical offer to pre-K through 3rd graders includes “Handala’s Return: A Children’s Story and Workbook” presenting the plight of a young Palestinian child, Handala, whose political cartoon character has become the iconic symbol of Palestinian “resistance” and has been widely adopted by the BDS movement:
The Oakland County school district provided materials for teachers to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, but @OaklandEA smeared those as being biased tools of the “Zionist lobby.”
So what did the teacher’s union send out as “educational resources?” Things like this: pic.twitter.com/peCKUdOQsN
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 1, 2023
The claim that “Zionist bullies” scare and torment non-Jewish children, and steal their homes, is blatantly false. Moreover, it draws on centuries of antisemitic blood libels portraying Jews as evil predators who prey on non-Jewish children.
Handala’s story continues:
And this.
Yafa (Jaffa) is undisputed Israeli sovereign territory. Al Quds (Jerusalem) is the capital of Israel. Including them as part of a “Free Palestine” is calling for the destruction of Israel. pic.twitter.com/qshoyLROSV
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 1, 2023
What the workbook creators don’t reveal in this example is that “Yafa” is Jaffa, located in undisputed Israeli sovereign territory; and that “Al Quds” is Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Including them as part of “Free Palestine” is the equivalent of calling for the destruction of Israel.
According to OEA’s database, the source for “Handala’s Return” story is “The Palestinian Feminist Collective.” A quick search reveals that this organization glorified Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel as “a Palestinian triumph”:
And here is an exercise sheet for 3rd-5th graders giving the impression that Israel is an apartheid state created just because Jews were “killed and mistreated” during World War II (and not because of their historical ties to the land):
And a resource called “Art and Action in Palestine” for pre-K through 2nd grade, presents an interactive map titled “Palestine Shrinking, Expanding Israel” with the following talking points:
75 years ago, a lot of decision makers around the world decided to take away Palestinian land to make a country called Israel. Israel would be a country where rules were mostly fair for Jewish people with white skin.
And, this from a workshop for 4 to 7 year olds:
“75 years ago, a lot of decision makers around the world decided to take away Palestinian land to make a country called Israel. Israel would be a country where rules were mostly fair for Jewish people with White skin.” pic.twitter.com/QPhyDwoSXL
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 1, 2023
All of the examples above, which are only a few “highlights” from the OEA’s educational resources, implicitly violate the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
The OEA says that they don’t want to indoctrinate, but rather “introduce our students to a range of perspectives.”
But the only perspective presented in their curriculum is one that generates decades-old hatred towards the Jewish people.
Despite some local media coverage and a story in Newsweek, this dangerous initiative passed largely under the radar.
But when educators use their position to impose BDS-like content on young American minds and rely on sources that praise terrorism, it should raise national and global alarm bells.
The post Antisemitism in America: Teachers Introduce BDS-like Materials for Pre-Schoolers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.