Campaign Against Antisemitism makes submission to review on Jew-hate in schools
This week, Campaign Against Antisemitism made a submission to Sir David Bell’s independent review on antisemitism in schools and colleges, for the Department for Education.
Racism against Jewish pupils and teachers, and expression of antisemitic views by schoolchildren across the country, have become frighteningly common.
Our detailed and wide-ranging recommendations cover:
- Classroom education and curriculum;
- Staff and training;
- Internal policies and accountability; and
- Regulatory oversight.
Children learn at school, home and on social media. This review looks at the first of these areas; at some point, the other two will also need to be addressed.
There is so much to do and it is incredibly urgent.
You can read about the submission and our recommendations here.
Naturally, the effort to counter antisemitism in schools is not without detractors.
A ‘Parents for Palestine’ group has reportedly launched a campaign against Government measures to help combat antisemitism in schools. The campaign is being backed by a faction of the National Education Union (NEU).
How revealing.
This is yet another sphere in which Palestine activists are trying to thwart attempts to tackle the worst antisemitism in our lifetimes – while no doubt claiming that they just want to be able to ‘criticise Israel’.
These parents’ children are learning these values at home and then taking them into school. Is it that much of a stretch to imagine that those kids are then potentially radicalising their peers or victimising Jews?
The campaign is reportedly being backed by a faction of the NEU. That’s the largest union of educators in the country, which in a recent report whitewashed its record on antisemitism despite the gross discomfort that its Jewish members (and erstwhile members) feel about it. No wonder teachers are becoming radicalised when their own union is backing these moves.
Antisemitism in schools is a major phenomenon. Our children are not being spared the racism that Jewish adults are confronting every day.
We hope that our recommendations to the current review will be implemented and that we can begin to turn the tide of Jew-hate in British education.
Two separate attacks on Jewish schoolchildren
Jewish pupils are not just being targeted for hate inside their schools, but also for abuse outside school.
Mohamed Ullah, 35, appeared at Wood Green Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to making a threat to kill, as well as racially aggravated harassment. He admitted to threatening to “kill Jewish schoolchildren” earlier this year, as well as to “decapitate” them. He will remain in custody until his sentencing, which is due to take place on 5th August.
Separately, Syeda Khatun, 39, was found guilty of attacking a man outside a school in North London. She struck the man’s face after he confronted her for targeting antisemitic abuse at a group of Jewish schoolchildren. Her sentencing is due to take place on 24th July.
The sentences must fit the cowardice of the crimes.
Parliament debates antisemitism on university campuses
Schools are not the only forums of education where antisemitism is rampant.
Labour MP Mark Sewards introduced a Westminster Hall debate last week on antisemitism on university campuses.
During the debate, Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister announced that updated guidance on universities’ existing duties under the Prevent counter-terrorism programme will be published “very shortly.”
He also said that the Government is “strengthening its response” to threats originating from foreign states, including Iran, amid concerns over the Iranian regime’s alleged targeting of British universities.
For years, Jewish students have faced harassment and intimidation on campus. Many universities have failed to act, allowing antisemitic rhetoric to masquerade as legitimate political discourse.
The debate brought MPs from different parties together against the scourge of antisemitism in British universities.
Mr Sewards spoke about the taunts and aggression that Jewish students face – including from an educator.
Democratic Unionist Party MP Jim Shannon quoted chilling testimony from Bangor University, “where a professor [allegedly] physically confronted a Jewish student while screaming medieval blood-libel tropes and calling him a ‘baby killer’.”
He added: “If that level of targeted vicious harassment were directed at any other minority group on campus, the institutions would be shut down, funding would be stripped away and the perpetrators would be immediately expelled.”
The threat is even broader than universities – Jewish communities across the whole country are living under serious menace.
Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron said: “Last week, I was talking to the security guard at my surgery in Kendal. He said his work has increasingly been around Greater Manchester supporting Jewish communities at primary school gates and synagogues.
“It occurred to me that I can just walk into our local primary school and go to my church without any thought whatsoever of security. Yet for some Jewish people in our communities, these are not safe spaces to go.”
Exactly. Jewish people now take it for granted that their institutions need to be guarded and secured; non-Jewish people take it for granted that theirs do not.
Education Minister Josh MacAlister summed up: “Too many Jewish students have been subject to abuse, exclusion and hostility because of their Jewish identity.”
This intimidatory behaviour has been allowed to continue for too long. The incoming Government needs to get a grip by punishing hate directed at Jews at university and around the country.
We’re looking for our next Student Ambassadors!
One of the ways you can fight back against antisemitism on campus is as a CAA Student Ambassador.
In that role, you will:
- Work with our team to monitor antisemitism on your campus and provide tangible support to your peers
- Take part in networking opportunities with like-minded activists
- Develop career-enhancing skills and experience
- And more!
Applications are considered on a rolling basis, so don’t delay to find out more and apply at antisemitism.org/student-ambassadors.
We spoke to some outgoing and prospective ambassadors, to see how they are feeling about antisemitism on campus. Watch what they told us here.
Time for action against supporters of Palestine Action
Once again, supporters of Palestine Action were out on the streets this past weekend, some at the behest of activist group Defend Our Juries.
Palestine Action was proscribed after its activists vandalised aircraft on an RAF base, having targeted Israeli and Jewish sites for years, and after Campaign Against Antisemitism submitted a dossier to the Home Secretary outlining the case for proscription.
Now, with the Court of Appeal having recently upheld the ban, it is time for the police to prosecute not just those expressing support for this proscribed group but also those encouraging them to do so.
It is shocking that, instead of ostracising one of those bad actors, Lush is supporting them.
Lush is selling a product called a ‘bath bomb’ to raise funds that will go to Defend Our Juries and therefore likely towards solidarity with a proscribed terrorist organisation.
We have previously pointed out that Defend our Juries seems to devote more attention to advocating against the ban on Palestine Action than it does on protecting jury trials. It is possibly the biggest backer of the banned group in the UK.
Buy a ‘bath bomb’ and support the biggest backer of a proscribed terrorist organisation – not exactly a PR win.
A pitiful sentence
Two men have been spared jail after abusing a Jewish man for a TikTok video. The pair pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated intentional harassment but were only given a six-week prison term, suspended for twelve months.
This sentence has no deterrent effect. If anything, it reminds antisemites how little they have to fear from the criminal justice system even amidst the worst wave of anti-Jewish attacks in modern British history.
When antisemites are given a slap on the wrist, it sends the message that Jews are fair game. This decision is appalling and will only further erode what little confidence the Jewish community has left in the criminal justice system.
Antisemitic offenders must face punishments that actually reflect the seriousness of their crimes.
Former Green Party leader criticises fixation with Zionism
Former Green Party Leader Caroline Lucas says that the Party’s proposed ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion mooted several months ago was “not […] very helpful,” and that its wording “caused a lot of concern” within the Party.
She also observed that there is a “vast difference” between criticising the Israeli Government and using language that could be perceived as “talking more about individual Jewish people rather than the Israeli Government.”
She urged the Party to return to its focus on the environment. Many in the Jewish community have been distressed by the Party’s pivot to divisive foreign affairs.
The motion to equate Zionism and racism was due to be debated at the Green Party’s Spring Conference, but the debate did not ultimately go ahead for technical reasons. It has been reported that it could return to the agenda later this year.
The overwhelming majority of British Jews identify as Zionist. It is an essential part of their Jewishness. This motion would effectively declare them inherently racist and would open the door to a frightening witch-hunt against Jews.
We hope the Green Party takes heed of Ms Lucas’ sentiment, and categorically rebuffs this motion once and for all.
Young Greens
Meanwhile, activists associated with the Green Party’s youth wing have proposed a motion to dilute their existing guidance on antisemitism, ostensibly to protect “free political expression.” If adopted, the guidance would reverse the Young Greens’ 2020 adoption of the International (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism.
Rather than presume to tell Jews what anti-Jewish racism looks like, perhaps Young Greens should actually consult a representative of the mainstream Jewish community. If they did, they would discover that the overwhelming majority of British Jews identify as Zionist – a meagre 6% do not.
Attachment to Israel is at the heart of Jewish identity, and the effort to sever that connection is at the core of contemporary antisemitism.
Greens in London
The London Assembly has voted to call on Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley to award the Commissioner’s High Commendation to all of the officers who responded to the alleged antisemitic terror stabbing incident in Golders Green in April.
The motion was proposed by Reform UK’s Alex Wilson and was supported almost unanimously.
Only the three Green Party Assembly members – including Party leader Zack Polanski – abstained on the motion.
These police officers potentially saved Jewish lives and the lives of others in the neighbourhood. We are immeasurably grateful for their heroism, and that of the Shomrim and Hatzola Jewish community volunteers on the scene.
Why does the Green Party not believe that this selfless bravery in the line of duty is deserving of commendation?
Campaign Against Antisemitism garners public support for Nova exhibition
London’s Nova Exhibition highlights both the horror of Hamas’ 7th October attack and the resilience of the survivors.
We drove around London with the message, “Still think 7th October was a lie? See for yourself. Visit the Nova Exhibition.”
This is what happened.
We also asked people on the street if they would visit the exhibition.
Here is what they said.
Jews subjected to antisemitic abuse at Pride March
Footage from the London Pride March shows people shouting “free Palestine!” at attendees holding Israeli and rainbow flags, telling them to “go back to your Zionist homeland,” and that “you kill Arab children, you kill gay children”.
One woman appeared to shout “f*** you, Jew”.
The transition from ‘free Palestine’ to ‘f*** Jews’ is usually silent. This incident shows it loudly and explicitly.
It’s incredible, not to mention depressing, how many people still trip over themselves to apologise for and defend the extremism of the ‘Free Palestine’ movement. The authorities need to recognise it for what it is. That can start with identifying and punishing the perpetrators of this incident – which should have happened on the spot, but once again can now only happen after the fact, with Scotland Yard only subsequently opening an investigation.
Jewish people have given up expecting to be included in so-called inclusive movements, but they should still be entitled to the same protections under the law as everybody else.
Jews erased from Battle of Cable Street
Unite the Union, one of the UK’s largest trade unions, appears to have excluded the Jewish community from a page on its website advertising its 90th anniversary event to commemorate the Battle of Cable Street.
This omission erases the central role that Jews played in one of Britain’s defining victories against fascism. You can read more here.
Antisemitism in the NHS
An independent review into maternity and neonatal services in England, published this week, reveals “explicit antisemitic attitudes” among some NHS staff.
The report, authored by Baroness Amos, evidences poor treatment of Jewish patients and healthcare workers, including a family who were allegedly told by a member of staff that “Jewish people are sneaky.” According to the report, some Jewish families “felt compelled” to hide their religious identity in order to secure higher quality care.
You can read more here.
1,000 days
Last Thursday marked 1,000 days since Hamas’ brutal 7th October 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, in which some 1,200 people were murdered, and 251 were kidnapped.
Poignantly, it fell on the same day as 17th Tammuz, a significant fast day in the Jewish calendar mourning evils that have befallen the Jewish people over history.
1,000 days on, the impact of Hamas’ atrocities continues to be felt by survivors, bereaved families and Jewish communities around the world.
We remember the victims of this horrific day and all those whose lives were forever changed. We will never forget those who were murdered, and we will continue to stand against the hatred that inspired such unspeakable barbarity.
