When a local parent sat down for parent-teacher conferences with her 8th grader’s global studies teacher, she asked a question she had never asked at conferences before: “Will you be teaching about Israel and the Middle East conflict? And if so, could you share the curriculum you plan to use?”
That question set into motion a chain of events that not only protected her child from a biased and harmful lesson but also led to a meaningful intervention that will prevent future students from being exposed to a deeply flawed narrative about Israel, Jews, and the Middle East.
When the teacher shared the lesson plan, the parent immediately recognized troubling content and reached out to Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) for support.
What we found was disturbing. The curriculum wasn’t just historically inaccurate — it was dangerous. It compared Hamas terrorists to American revolutionaries and described suicide bombers in sympathetic terms (“Suicide bombers are people who sacrifice their lives to deliver a bomb”).
It presented a skewed version of history, claiming, for example, the 1948 Arab-Israeli war was an attempt by Arab armies to “protect Palestinians and Palestinian land.” It perpetuated harmful myths, suggesting Israelis are merely European Jews who gained statehood out of global pity after the Holocaust, ignoring the historic Jewish connection to the land and the modern state’s status as a diverse multi-ethnic democracy.
Even more shocking? This curriculum had been in use for 12 years.
When we brought these issues to the attention of the middle school principal and administrators, they didn’t immediately grasp the severity of the problem. This reaction, or lack thereof, was disheartening. But through continued dialogue and advocacy, we presented them with two clear options: adopt a fact-based, primary source-driven curriculum from the Institute for Curricular Services (ICS), or choose not to teach the lesson at all this year to prevent potential harm. To their credit, the administration ultimately chose the responsible path — they decided to forego the biased lesson and pledged to have their instructional review team thoroughly evaluate our feedback.
This was a win, but it left us with a sobering question: Where else is this curriculum, or curricula like it, being taught? In Minnesota, where there is little oversight in social studies content and no standardized testing to ensure accuracy in historical education, the “anything-goes” nature of classroom instruction can allow harmful narratives to flourish unchecked.
This challenge is also an opportunity for our community to step up.
Parents, you have a critical role to play. In this case, the proactive approach of this one parent made all the difference. By simply asking to see the lesson plan, she helped prevent the spread of misinformation and antisemitism in her child’s classroom.
We urge Jewish families — and all families who care about accurate, balanced education — to:
- Engage with your children’s teachers early and often. At parent-teacher conferences or through simple emails, ask if lessons on Israel, the Middle East, Jewish identity, or the Holocaust will be covered. Request to see the materials ahead of time.
- Build relationships with educators. Teachers appreciate involved parents. Showing interest in what your children are learning not only strengthens your child’s educational experience but also opens the door to respectful conversations about potentially problematic content.
- Act quickly if you spot concerning material. Contact the JCRC for support. We can review the content and, when necessary, advocate on your behalf with schools and districts. Anything you share with us is confidential.
This isn’t about censorship or avoiding difficult subjects. It’s about ensuring that sensitive, complex topics like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are taught with intellectual honesty, historical accuracy, and balance. Poorly taught lessons can perpetuate harmful stereotypes and create hostile environments for Jewish students.
Thanks to one parent’s initiative and the JCRC’s advocacy, this harmful curriculum will not be used this year, and the school will engage in a serious review going forward. But we expect this is not an isolated case. By being vigilant and proactive, we can work together to safeguard our children’s education and foster environments that promote understanding rather than division.
Let’s ensure that our voices are heard, and that our history is taught with the respect and accuracy it deserves.
Sami Rahamim is Director of Communications and Community Affairs for the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and an advocate for accurate, balanced education in Minnesota schools.
I’ve seen similar misrepresentations of Christian beliefs and history in high school textbooks in Minnesota. At the same time, I’ve seen Islam presented most positively in these same textbooks in a unit on “world religions”.
Great work! I’m concerned it’s only going to get worse with the liberated ethnic studies legislation that was passed last year in MN.
Thank you for this article. It would be interesting to learn who produced this curriculum. Maybe it was funded by Qatar? By the protests in the streets of Western cities it is apparent that certain actors have been very successful in their application of soft power. It will take time and much effort to repair the damage already done.
Excellent article and advice for parents to be engaged in their schools’ curricula.
Very true. Who produced it and how it was promoted to rich this specific SD and this teacher.
Great article. We need to proactively engage the Minnesota department of education to see what they are doing to prevent this type of inaccurate information from reaching our schools. If it’s a Jewish student or a school district with no Jewish students this type of false information can not be tolerated
Please share which school district this has happened.
Jews are scattered around the state and if this is being taught in a particular place in a public school, parents have a right to know so this can also be addressed with their children who may have already been exposed to this over the last 12 years.
Keeping the district/school a secret is tantamount to complicity. And if it’s in a public school, where else is it being taught? Discretion is not the better part of valor in this situation. Exposure is necessary.
What school did this happen in? Was this in Hennepin County?
Much of what is being taught about Judaism and the Middle East is out of the ignorance of the area and religion. Most people have no idea what is happening in the Middle East and why.I think that this is not just bias, but is mostly ignorance, but bias does sneak in there when the curriculum is being written.The creation of Israel as a viable country by the U.N. is not understood by most people. All Jewish parents should question what is being taught to the children about the Middle East , Israel, and Jews and demand that the truth is taught and not what is not truth.