New one says ‘resist a framework that ‘exceptionalizes’ antisemitism and isolates it from other systems of oppression.’
The San Francisco Unified School District held mandatory antisemitism trainings at four of its high schools last week, but some staff were not happy about it.
According to NPR affiliate KQED, the biggest sticking point was whether “anti-Zionism” should be considered “antisemitic.”
That, and the trainings were led by the American Jewish Committee which — gasp! — believes in “the right of Israel to exist and defend itself.”
The trainings had been postponed once already due to “parents and community groups express[ing] concern about the [AJC]’s pro-Israel position.”
The district noted the trainings “do not focus or take a position” on the current Israel-Hamas war, but this didn’t assuage folks like the group Jewish Voice for Peace, which complained that the AJC’s training materials are “inherently political.”
JVP’s Seth Morrison (pictured) claimed the AJC is “very biased in favor of Israel” and that it “basically weaponiz[es] the concept of antisemitism.”
JVP backed an alternate workshop on the topic led by PARCEO which, according to its website, “focus[es] on a range of inter-connected issues, including educational justice; racial justice; workers’ rights; gender justice; challenging Islamophobia; immigrant rights; health and food justice, and more.”
The local teachers’ union said it would “support” teachers and staff who opted for the PARCEO training.
You may have noticed “antisemitism” isn’t explicitly mentioned in the PARCEO description above, but the group does offer a “Curriculum on Antisemitism from a Framework of Collective Liberation.”
Specific details about the curriculum on the PARCEO website are sparse. The program’s summary uses a lot of flowery and post-modernist/oppression-studies language such as “Also covered is an exploration of key historical moments of antisemitism and experiences of violence and discrimination and the ways antisemitism intersects with other targets and histories of systemic violence and oppression” (emphasis added).
Further, the PARCEO training examines “how both data and the ‘hate crimes’ framework are used/misused,” why it’s important to “resist a framework that ‘exceptionalizes’ antisemitism and isolates it from other systems of oppression,” and how “mis-definitions further political goals that are harmful to movements for justice.”
MORE: Northwestern to mandate antisemitism, ‘other forms of hate’ training for students
(Neither PARCEO nor the AJC would not provide their curriculum details to KQED.)
The American Jewish Committee noted it uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of “antisemitism” which includes “the denial of Israel’s right to exist.”
That right to exist, by the way, is an essential part of Zionism — and 80 percent of American Jews say “caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them.”
On the other hand, Jewish Voice for Peace’s approach to Zionism begins with a quote from “Jewish American lesbian feminist, author and activist” Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz: “Solidarity is the political version of love.”
JVP says Zionism is “a false and failed” response to the Holocaust, “a settler-colonial movement” which establishes “an apartheid state,” and has “by design” caused the “dispossession” of the Palestinians.
Jewish Voice for Peace chapters on campuses across the country have sided with anti-Israel activists since Hamas’ October, 7 2023 attack. Its affiliates have complained about police shutting down a pro-Hamas encampment, been suspended, planted symbolic flags honoring Palestinian lives lost since Oct. 7, and participated in a fracas involving the burning of an Israeli flag.
SFUSD teacher Julia David accurately summed up the situation: It is the JVP which “represents a ‘fringe group’ that doesn’t advocate for the majority of Jewish Americans.”
MORE: New ‘Hate Map’ exposes left-wing hostility, antisemitism on college campuses
IMAGE: Shutterstock.com; Seth Morrison/Facebook
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.