We believe all students benefit from learning about the history and diverse experiences of the American Jewish community. Jews are an example of religious and ethnic identity being interconnected – a concept that is important for students to explore. Jewish experiences with oppression, immigration, fighting for human rights alongside other groups, and contributing to American culture have much to offer students of all backgrounds.

As Jewish Studies scholar Jill Fields writes, “Key concepts and frameworks central to ethnic studies analysis draw upon the Jewish experience…. Diaspora, ghetto, model minority, melting pot, and genocide are all terms that emerged from and were named by the experiences of Jews.” Many Jews also identify with one or more of the four groups which are the focus of ethnic studies (Black, Latino, Asian, and Native Americans). Furthermore, learning about all forms of antisemitism is crucial to building a full understanding of racism, white supremacy, and discrimination in America, particularly in light of the increase in violent hate crimes against the Jewish community in recent years. Finally, it is important for education about American Jews to not be limited to the history of the Holocaust. It should include the stories of Jewish refugees and immigrants from the Arab world, Iran, Israel, Central and South America, Europe, the former Soviet Union, and beyond.

Our community has already been able to make this case with some success. From 2019-2021, Jewish community members and high school students across California called for their stories to be included in ethnic studies. For example, Anna, a Latina Jewish high school student, believes ethnic studies should, “reflect the full diversity of the Jewish people. In light of rising antisemitism in high schools and beyond, it must also teach students about this dangerous hatred. Learning about antisemitism in all its forms is crucial to building a full understanding of racism and discrimination in America.”

Because of activists like Anna, the California Department of Education and the State Board of Education officially approved content about Jews for use in K-12 ethnic studies courses. The California Regional Ethnic Studies Collaborative (CRESC) built on this further by including Jewish Americans in its planned resource hub and professional development opportunities. Additionally, the U.S. National Antisemitism Strategy released in 2023 calls for the inclusion of, “Jewish studies in ethnic studies and history curricula.”

In most cases, legislation, educational standards, and course outlines for ethnic studies are not problematic on the surface. Often, they include language, values, and goals we support. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

Big picture, our challenge stems from university ethnic studies departments, many of which are institutionally biased against Israel and Zionism. Too often, this descends into antisemitism with Jews and Israelis being smeared and dehumanized as privileged, white supremacist, colonial oppressors. The most egregious examples occurred in 2020 and 2021 in the San Francisco State University (SFSU) College of Ethnic Studies. An academic program within this department organized multiple events glorifying convicted terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S. designated terrorist group.

While not all ethnic studies academics promote these destructive ideas, there has been far too little resistance within the field. Some also mistakenly view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of racism and colonialism in America. As such, ignorance, misleading claims, bias, and hate filter down to activists and educators who advocate for ethnic studies and teach the subject in K-12 classrooms.

This is why we have seen problems with the development of ethnic studies curriculums. If a committee of local “experts in the field” is formed to write curriculum and/or standards for ethnic studies courses, chances are that at least a few members will push anti-Israel bias and even antisemitism. Others involved likely won’t know or care enough to push back without the active involvement of our community. As such, if we’re not part of the process of curriculum development and implementation, we can expect that the outcome will be harmful to us.

The most prominent example is the K-12 Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) written by the California Department of Education (primarily meant for public high schools). The first draft of the ESMC from 2019 included deeply offensive antisemitic content, anti-Israel narratives, and other one-sided political agendas. Now, the writers of that first draft are actively promoting this bias in school districts across the state. A California State University (CSU) professor who leads this campaign is on record smearing the Anti-Defamation League as a “white supremacist” organization.

Anti-Israel bias has appeared in Arab American Studies materials, which are framed as part of Asian American studies (while Jewish immigrant communities from the same exact region are arbitrarily excluded for the most part). We have also seen misleading comparisons between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and various injustices faced by Black, Latino, Native American, and other communities in the U.S. Some examples include:

• Israelis being falsely accused of the same atrocities that European colonizers/imperialists committed against Native Americans and other indigenous populations.

• Israelis being framed as whites oppressing people of color (in this case Palestinians), including accusations of “Jim Crow segregation”.

• Equating Israel security barrier which was built to prevent terrorism with U.S. border policies meant to restrict immigration.

• Comparing Israel’s politicies toward Arabs and Palestinians to apartheid, trying to evoke U.S. campaigns against South African apartheid.

The fact that most Israeli Jews would be considered people of color in an American context is often ignored as well. So are the experiences of Jews who lived in Europe as second class citizens at best, and then faced a genocide fueled by white supremacy.

These dehumanizing narratives erase 3,000 years of Jewish history, identity, and rights in the land of Israel, and rely on many misleading claims about the conflict. To learn more about anti-Israel/anti-Zionist themes you may come across, see Answering Tough Questions about Israel.

Some purists believe including education about Jews (and sometimes other groups like Armenian and Arab Americans) would dilute the focus on Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American communities. Others, such as “Liberated” ethnic studies scholars and activists, are politically motivated to include one-sided Palestinian perspectives, and exclude Jewish and Israeli voices. Thankfully, the final draft of California’s ESMC recognized that Jews belong in K-12 ethnic studies education.

At StandWithUs, we believe there is no contradiction between focusing on the four main groups, and also including material about Jewish Americans, Arab Americans, Armenian Americans and others.

Jewish students feel the effects of rising hatred and ignorance every day, including through antisemitic bullying, defacement of school property with antisemitic symbols, and even harmful comments from teachers. Pushing back begins with more complete and accurate education. Moreover, it is important to acknowledge that antisemitism is at the core of white supremacist ideology (along with other extremist far left and Islamist ideologies). The positive goals of ethnic studies education can’t be fully achieved if this reality is excluded, because students will receive an incomplete picture of hate and discrimination.

The critical ethnic studies approach incorporates critical race theory (CRT). Other approaches to ethnic studies do not, or may include the work of CRT scholars alongside many other perspectives.

CRT is a body of scholarship and an academic movement which began in the 1970s and 80s, with the work of Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, and other legal scholars. It is based on the premise that U.S. laws and institutions are inherently racist, and that race itself is a social construct that is used to oppress and exploit people of color. CRT argues that this system of white supremacy creates and maintains social, economic, and political inequalities between white people and everyone else. Tenets of CRT have crossed over into many disciplines, especially in the social sciences and humanities.

In recent years, CRT has become an increasingly controversial and partisan issue in K-12 education. Some argue it is crucial to educating about and combating racism. Others argue it is divisive and harmful, shaming white students and making students of color feel victimized and powerless.

For StandWithUs, much of the CRT debate falls outside of our mission to educate about Israel and fight antisemitism in a non-partisan manner. Studying biases and blindspots in various institutions (as many CRT scholars do) can help create a better understanding of antisemitism and life in the United States . However, concepts from CRT and critical ethnic studies can also be used to promote anti-Israel bias and antisemitism, as discussed in question #2 of this FAQ. When that line is crossed, we will always take action against hatred and misinformation.