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House Report: K-12 Antisemitism Crisis Uncovered · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism Watch. I'm Rachel Adler. We're also
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  Speaker 1: launching Antisemitism Watch, Mid-Atlantic, for focused coverage from New York,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region. Find out more
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  Speaker 1: at clockworkmedia.org slash MA today. We begin with a significant
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  Speaker 1: development from Capitol Hill. A report released by the House
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  Speaker 1: Committee on Education and the workforce details what it describes
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  Speaker 1: as widespread antisemitism and anti-Americanism infiltrating K-12 schools and major
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  Speaker 1: teachers' unions. According to reporting from the Jerusalem Post, UA News,
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  Speaker 1: The Daily Wire, and JewishExponent.com, the committee found a 135%
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  Speaker 1: rise in anti-Semitic incidents in U.S. schools following the October
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  Speaker 1: 7th attacks. The report scrutinizes curricula in districts like Philadelphia
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  Speaker 1: and Berkeley, alleging they promote ideologies justifying violence and legitimize
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  Speaker 1: radical groups. For example, reporting from jewishexponent.com states that Philadelphia
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  Speaker 1: schools reportedly taught students to label the United States and
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  Speaker 1: Israel as terrorists and to view Hamas as a resistance movement.
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  Speaker 1: The report also cites materials that encourage analysis of Frantz
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  Speaker 1: Fanon's writings and asks students to categorize identities as dominant
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  Speaker 1: or oppressed, as detailed by UANews. The school district of
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  Speaker 1: Philadelphia has pushed back, calling the report's framing blatantly partisan,
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  Speaker 1: and asserting its commitment to combating hate, according to NBC Philadelphia. However,
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  Speaker 1: the committee's interview with Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington, released by JewishExponent.com,
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  Speaker 1: shows him responding, I don't know, when asked if applying
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  Speaker 1: double standards to Israel or comparing Israeli policy to Nazis
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  Speaker 1: was anti-Semitic. In New York City, a 26-year-old Jewish man
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  Speaker 1: was allegedly attacked with a needle or syringe in Midtown Manhattan.
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  Speaker 1: ABC7 NY.com reports that the incident, which occurred after he
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  Speaker 1: was followed by a woman speaking Russian, is now being
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  Speaker 1: investigated as a possible bias incident by the NYPD Hate
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  Speaker 1: Crimes Task Force and Manhattan Shamrim. Internationally, French authorities have
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  Speaker 1: detained a suspect in Paris as part of an investigation
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  Speaker 1: into a planned attack on a synagogue in Sarcelles. fr.news.yahoo.com
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  Speaker 1: reports that the suspect, who lived in Spain, was arrested
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  Speaker 1: on a European arrest warrant. This follows an earlier discovery
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  Speaker 1: of a car containing weapons. Separately, Fox News reports that
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  Speaker 1: raging riots in France, linked to antisemitism, led some synagogues
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  Speaker 1: to cancel Sabbath prayers and resulted in Jews being warned
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  Speaker 1: to hide. Violent mobs were involved, and over 1,300 antisemitic
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  Speaker 1: posts were documented. In the UK, a government-commissioned independent review
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  Speaker 1: led by Sir David Bell has exposed significant antisemitism in
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  Speaker 1: schools and colleges. finding that nearly three in five Jewish
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  Speaker 1: respondents had experienced or witnessed it, according to ukelfi.com and wired-gov.net.
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  Speaker 1: The UK government has accepted all 27 of the review's recommendations,
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  Speaker 1: which include encouraging the adoption of the IHRA working definition
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  Speaker 1: of antisemitism and strengthening safeguarding measures. However, the National Education Union,
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  Speaker 1: Britain's largest teaching union, has rejected the recommendation to adopt
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  Speaker 1: the IHRA definition. Arguing it risks deepening the problem and
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  Speaker 1: stifling legitimate criticism of Israel, as reported by Thechk.com. Critics,
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  Speaker 1: including the Shadow Education Secretary, have strongly condemned the NEU's stance.
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  Speaker 1: On U.S. campuses, a federal complaint filed with the U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Department of Education alleges that Montgomery County Public Schools in
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  Speaker 1: Maryland failed to protect an Orthodox Jewish student from years
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  Speaker 1: of antisemitic harassment. including a bomb threat and fireworks set
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  Speaker 1: off at his home, according to Bethesdamagazine.com. Separately, the University
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  Speaker 1: of North Carolina has agreed to a settlement resolving federal
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  Speaker 1: probes into antisemitism, which includes banning protest masks and implementing
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  Speaker 1: mandatory antisemitism training, as reported by Fox News. In politics
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  Speaker 1: and media, Twitch streamer Hassan Piker has drawn condemnation from
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  Speaker 1: the Israeli-American Council for defending slurs like inbred and Zionist pig,
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  Speaker 1: according to Fox News reports. Rapper Macklemore is also facing criticism,
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  Speaker 1: as his Free Palestine tour is reportedly funding the Palestinian
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  Speaker 1: youth movement, a group that celebrated Hamas's October 7th massacre.
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  Speaker 1: Jewish groups have expressed outrage, as reported by Fox News.
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  Speaker 1: Around the anniversary of October 7th, Combatantismitism.org notes a global
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  Speaker 1: spread of Globalize the Intifada calls and incitement to terror,
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  Speaker 1: with their antisemitism research center recording 36 such incidents. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: an article in The Telegraph contends that current antisemitism parallels
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  Speaker 1: historical conditions that led to the Holocaust, criticizing the trend
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  Speaker 1: of speaking of genocides in plural as a means to
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  Speaker 1: deny the unique specificity of the Holocaust. In Dublin, Ireland,
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  Speaker 1: a four-star hotel reportedly cancelled a reservation for 70 rooms
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  Speaker 1: booked for a conference on combating antisemitism. According to Heritageful.com,
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  Speaker 1: the country's chief rabbi called the incident a disgrace, and
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  Speaker 1: a former justice minister described it as an example of
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  Speaker 1: the escalating antisemitism in Ireland. The hotel's manager had reportedly
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  Speaker 1: asked if the Israel Defense Forces would be involved. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Rachel Adler, thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. For
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  Speaker 1: focused coverage from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the
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  Speaker 1: Philadelphia region, listen to Antisemitism Watch, midatlantic at clockworkmedia.org slash ma.
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  Speaker 1: Follow Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app so you don't
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  Speaker 1: miss the next update. This report was generated with AI
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  Speaker 1: assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with
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  Speaker 1: primary sources.