The New York Post recently reported that the Office of Student Pathways Newsletter, which is sent monthly to teachers and parents across the New York Public School System, included a bullet point titled “Guidelines for teaching about genocide” — which linked to a Google doc titled “STOP GAZA GENOCIDE TOOLKIT.”
By Rachel Avraham
The Times of Israel reported that in the New York Public Schools newsletter Office of Student Pathways, beneath an icon for the Holocaust Center for Humanity, were resources for “facilitating supportive conversations.” According to the report, one of the resources was a link that read, “Scripts to contact representatives.” The link led to a Google doc titled “Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit,” from the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the Times of Israel reported.
According to the New York Post, “The “toolkit” breaks down how to mobilize pro-Palestine campaigns on social media, how to boycott and encourage divestment from pro-Israel organizations and encourages readers to print out Palestine yard signs — among other calls to action.” The toolkit also includes the antisemitic blood libel accusation that “Israel has poisoned the land, air, and water” and also attacks the United States: “As Americans in the belly of the beast, our duty is to channel our rage to deliver the final blow to the U.S. war machine.”
According to the Times of Israel, the toolkit backed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel, calling for boycotts of companies including McDonald’s, Disney and Domino’s Pizza, as well as the Israeli companies Ahava, SodaStream and Elbit. According to the report, a graphic showed the Sabra hummus company’s logo dripping blood over the word “killer.”
The New York Post reported that the document, which has since been updated, called on readers to participate in “rage week” and “resist genocide” by mobilizing on the Sat. Oct. 5 “day of action” ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.
“Today, a troubling oversight was brought to my attention, in which an offensive political toolkit was hyperlinked in one of our published newsletters,” New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos told the Times of Israel. “The inclusion of this toolkit violates our policies on political neutrality and uses hateful, antisemitic language.”
“This language is hurtful to many in our Jewish community, and we deeply apologize,” Aviles-Ramos said. “Once leadership became aware of this link, we immediately ordered its removal and have already begun conducting a thorough investigation as to how this was added to a [New York City Schools] communication.”
However, others do not believe that it was an oversight. “It’s the systemic rot,” Karen Feldman, an educator of over 26 years who co-founded the NYC Public School Alliance with teachers and parents to combat antisemitism and indoctrination at the Department of Education, told the New York Post. “Tons of teachers, parents and students are navigating these sites and coming across these very hateful problematic resources that are literally indoctrinating — filled with misleading information, propaganda and influencing our children’s minds. Maybe even their parents.”
“I commend the chancellor’s swift response, but this is not an isolated incident,” parent Yael Denbo, co-founder of the group Parents Against Antisemitism, told the New York Post. “The antisemitism that continues to surface in classrooms, curricula, and official communications is a symptom of a deeper, systemic issue within the New York City Department of Education—one that demands urgent attention and meaningful reform.”
“This is a prime example of how embedded this hate is in New York City public schools and how the administration has failed to oversee all of the different components within New York City to ensure that the hate’s not spreading,” Tova Plaut, a co-founder of the New York City Public School Alliance, a Jewish advocacy group, told the Times of Israel.
Photo from Chalagi7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Department_of_Education#/media/File:Board_of_education_building_by_Chalagi7.JPG
