The Anti-Defamation League and Newton clergy tell the Boston Globe that the have no concerns that the Newton Public School system’s curriculum contains anti-Semitic material and Islamic dogma, Evan Allen of the Boston Globe reports.
“We take these allegations very seriously, and we look into them,” said ADL New England regional director, Robert Trestan. Trestan. “We concluded that the ad’s description of the material that we reviewed goes beyond reasonable criticism… The Newton public schools do not have an agenda to delegitimize Israel and glorify Islam.”
and here’s more…
Clergy at Temple Emanuel … “sent out a joint statement last week demanding that the ads be retracted, calling them ‘baseless’ and ‘scurrilous.’
Eric Gurvis, rabbi at Temple Shalom and father of three Newton North alumni and one current student, called the ads “a witch hunt to promote a very narrow agenda.”
Reasonable people might assume that between this — and the findings by state education officials plus this joint statement by three leading Jewish organizations — that this issue would now fade away.
Unfortunately, we’re not dealing with reasonable people.
Exactly. Morons doubted this curriculum.
Rabbi Gurvis’ quote in the Globe article includes this:
“There are things in that ad that are based on things that actually happened, but a lot of it is hyperbole based on a trumping-up of what happened and a shading of the facts,” he said. “I just don’t think that’s a legitimate way to conduct discourse in a community.”
Also in the article:
The “Arab World Studies Notebook” was removed from the curriculum last year after a parent complained in 2011 of bias and the district decided the material was outdated, school officials said. Flashpoints had been linked to the Newton North High School library website and was removed after parents complained, officials said.
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So I can understand seeing some material they find offensive and complaining. I can’t see making a big public fuss about it; it’s a molehill, not a mountain. Bad tactics, obviously. However I don’t assume there is absolutely nothing to the complaints.
When the conservative rabbis start circling the wagons along with reform liberal rabbis against vocal concerned Jews who are willing to stick out their necks in the name of anti-Semitism, ALL American Jews are need to be troubled.
Janet, I imagine that people that are in the business of calling out anti-Semitism want to focus on cases that actually rise to a level that warrants public outcry. Groups that go over the top hurt the cause of fighting real bigotry. I think it’s good for the ADL et al to call it like they see it either way and maintain their credibility as an honest watchdog.
Well said Steven.
Janet, you are correct.
They are in denial. Not a new story.
I agree– well said but brief and to the point, Steven. Nothing more to see here.
It’s the first I’ve heard of the ADL being in denial about anti-Semitism.
Jerry,
I remember others, but I found this quickly from a search
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/phillips/130426
@Barry
Liberals were shot, gassed, and cremated along with Conservatives by the Nazis (Russians, Poles, etc). Antisemitism is growing faster worldwide today than it was in Europe in the 1930’s. If the ADL doesn’t support the opinions of liberal Jews, they will lose their major donors. Their opinion is of no use to me.
The brave ones are the same Jews who fought in the Warsaw Uprising, folks like Dr. Charles Jacobs – is not only pro-Israel and pro-Jews but also a humanitarian protecting blacks in his work with Christian Solidarity International who are enslaved by Muslims in the Sudan.
Janet,
People are in denial about the threat from Islam. They think that, because they know people who seem to be nice, we needn’t worry. The ones who seem nice aren’t the problem. The Tsarnaevs, the Major Hassans, the Anwar al Alawkis, the Ahmadinejads, the binLadens, etc. They do the dirty work or get people to work for them in the name of Islam. They will silence any dissent in the Islamic world. Every German wasn’t a problem. But the Nazis controlled the country, its military, and its infrastructure, and hyped up the Aryan supremacists and silenced the voices of dissent. Taking books supplied by Saudi Arabia that depict Islam as a picture of peaceful innocence and coexistence and using them to propagandize our kids is playing into their hands. I don’t think you see them teaching how wonderful Christians and Jews are in Moslem countries. Rather, they are taught hatred and the need to eliminate non-Islamic influence from the entire world.
It’s perfectly legitimate to dislike the ads, however the materials for 9th and 10th grade history classes have not been reviewed. Only three classes (our of twenty) have been produced. How is possible to say to say there’s no problem with materials if you haven’t seen them?
The NPS has already removed a heavily used classroom supplement and material from Newton North library, both of which came to their attention only after parents and/or students complained. Does this indicate there’s ‘no problem’? Why are we relying on fourteen-year-olds to let us know about false and objectionable statements in their own assignments?
The president of Temple Emanuel (not “Emanual”) is Lisa Hills, Matt Hills’ spouse. What would you expect them to say?
Matt Hills said he thought the Arab World Studies Notebook section claiming Israelis had “imprisoned, tortured, or killed hundred of Palestinian women” was perfectly fine. No comment yet from Rabbi Gurvis or the author if this piece on what they think about their kids learning this. Apparently, they feel it’s perfectly fine.
BTW, Temple Emanuel is the synagogue that kept members from learning about the Notebook or other problematic material in Newton schools during a panel presentation on “Anti-Israel Material in K-12 Textbooks”. They did manage to fly someone in from California to discuss the issue, though.
If people want their kids to learn that Israelis routinely murder innocent women because of their ethnicity (another word for this is “genocide”), or fail to learn that there were as many or more Jewish refugees during the 1940’s as Arab refugees, or to learn that the PLO recognizes Israel (Abbas himself disputes this), that’s their choice. The madrassa at the Islamic Society of Boston (a.k.a. the Roxbury Mosque) has an excellent program which I’m sure teaches all this and more.
But people who believe they can review material they’ve never seen – much less someone who thinks it’s fine to target Jewish children because their parent spoke up about anti-Israel material – need their moral as well as intellectual ‘reasonableness’ examined.
It’s a pretty big leap from possible inclusion of some offensive supplemental materials, to children being taught Israelis are committing genocide. Have any kids come home saying “mommy, the Israelis are murdering inncocent women!”? Sounds like NPS removed the material. Is there more to this?
@Steve,
The immense rush of anti-Semitic propaganda presently sweeping worldwide continues to assert that Israel is the new ‘Nazi-regime’ and ‘murderous to their captives’. Even if SC Vice Chair Matt Hills, Superintendent David Fleishman Rabbi Eric Gurvis, the ADL, Mayor Setti Warren et al., deny this propaganda is being taught in Newton Schools, why is there so much to resistance to repeated requests to release these “scholastic” materials? Wouldn’t releasing the requested materials easily make the claims of APT and anyone who is concerned about the curriculum go away?
Point of information (and ironically so): Holocaust education is not mandatory in Massachusetts (but is it in New York, New Jersey, California Florida and Illinois.)
Janet,
There’s some famous quote about the Nazis that I don’t remember that goes something like: first they came for the communists, and then the Gypsies and then the Jews and then the Catholics and then they came for us, but no-one was left to defend us. Now the Moslems are coming after the Jews in the form of a small but successful Israel, and we don’t see it. Obama, the hypocrite and pro-Moslem, after cynically supporting Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, who thankfully is out, is selling out Israel for a nonsensical agreement with Iran, the arch-enemy of Israel and modern Nazi Germany. And we are sitting and watching while this is happening. The Europeans, the historical cowards who tried to placate the Nazis, are yielding still again. But, when the Moslems in France and Belgium and Italy force Islam on the people it will be too late. Then, by the time they have the power to impose it in the US, there won’t be anyone to help us either. But let’s just let them build a mosque by the site of 9/11, their major victory medal in the US, that completely changed how we live. After all, we stand for religious freedom, at all costs.
Barry,
The quote was attributed to German Pastor Martin Niemöller.
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Before he founded Americans for Peace and Tolerance, Charles Jacobs has been a founder of Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, the American Anti-Slavery Group, and the David Project and a member of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. So when Charles Jacobs speaks, he should not be dismissed. It was Charles Jacobs who exposed how Wellesley, MA public middle school kids were asked to pray to Allah during a field trip to a Boston mosque.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/video-shows-mosque-that-hosted-wellesley-public-school-students-also-sponsored-hate-speakers-says-americans-for-peace-and-tolerance-103856028.html
“After all, we stand for religious freedom, at all costs.”
The First Amendment prohibits the federal government, and state governments through the 14th amendment, from not simply establishing a formal religion but from actions which unduly favor or inhibit one religion over another. It essentially requires government neutrality. Upholding this has not been without tension and conflict evidenced by the Supreme Court looking away from things such as religious invocations at the start of legislative sessions, “In God We Trust” on our money, but those have been justified as rather de minimis or historical encroachments. Would you have us relinquish our right to be free from a government which may favor religions in exchange for a government that may inhibit a particular faith or perhaps even all faiths?
What Steven said. But it’s more than a big leap. Continuing to treat Charles Jacobs as though he is beyond reproach or to associate him with Warsaw ghetto fighters, or to make free associations with Newton’s curriculum and the Holocaust is simply offensive and counterproductive to the cause APT claims to represent.
I’m starting to think we need a corollary to Godwin’s law for these discussions.
We already did, in the original thread about this issue – and it only took a little longer there than it did here.
I would give more credence to what Charles Jacobs has to say that what the ADL has to say.
It was Charles Jacobs that exposed how Wellesley, MA public middle school kids were asked to pray to Allah during a field trip to a Boston mosque.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellesley/news/x1685474021/Advocacy-group-claims-it-urged-Wellesley-mom-to-film-inside-mosque
As of right now, I’m willing to give Charles Jacobs the benefit of the doubt here.
Lisap,
“First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Islam is a multi-pronged organization. If it were simply a group of people who wanted to practice their own religion, I think I’d agree with you. But, it also can be viewed as in violation of RICO
“Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.”
Even the Mafia under Al Capone did a lot of human services for people it liked, but it was a criminal organization nonetheless. Islam performs many seemingly noble functions, and has a theology. But, worldwide, it commits criminal acts, consisting of terrorism, intimidation, discrimination, and plain old crimes. The Taliban are probably the biggest purveyors of heroin in the world.
We need to understand the nature of the organization. If we allow Islam to pretend that its evil sides are disconnected from its simple religious endeavors, then we are setting ourselves up for disaster.
Lisap, all rights are important, but, you know what, the right of survival trumps all, and in my mind, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to pursue other religions, etc., also trumps their simple “freedom of religion”. They don’t allow these things. It’s a matter of self-defense to be wary of them.
Try to exercise 1st Amendment rights in any of the countries in which Islam has an overwhelming majority. Try to build a synagogue or a church near the Kaaba, as they are building a mosque near Ground Zero.
Lisap, we can sit in our ivory towers and philosophize all we want, while we let the various arms of Islam seduce our children in our schools and churches on the one hand, and terrorize us on subways, trains, buses, and in restaurants, schools, etc. I don’t want to hurt what seem to be peace-loving Moslems. But, I don’t want our schools to be vehicles for indoctrinating our kids into their beliefs, while there is no way they allow their kids to be exposed to our beliefs in a positive way.
This thread is offending me more and more. Conspiracy theories against local synagogues, now Islam-bashing, all in the name of tolerance? I’m glad that’s not what our school system is teaching.
This is interesting and everything, but all I hear is accusations, but I don’t hear proof. Everyone is allowed their opinion, but if you’re accusing the school system of teaching this stuff there must either be proof in the text or a student who will come out and say that this stuff is being taught. Maybe I’m not following it as closely as I should, but I haven’t seen anything like that.
I’m not sure how interesting it is Tom but other than that I agree with Adam and you. This thread is closed.