The infiltration of anti-Israel/anti- American rhetoric has moved beyond the web, beyond the media, beyond the universities. Its now in our public school system. On Saturday, February 26, a half-Day workshop on "Teaching Palestine" was held, organized by MECA, the Middle East Childrens Alliance
Their announcement follows:
Join the Middle East Children's Alliance, Rethinking Schools and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network for a half-day workshop for youth educators who want to teach about Palestine through pedagogy that is student-centered, rigorous, empowering, skill-strengthening, highly informed, and makes connections to local struggles for justice.
THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR:
* Elementary, middle and high school teachers AND youth workers and organizers
* Educators who support justice for Palestine but are new to the issue AND educators who are involved in the Palestine solidarity movement
* Educators who have never taught about Palestine before AND educators who teach about Palestine and are interested in strengthening their approach, tools and knowledge base
* Educators interested in building their individual practice AND educators interested in developing resources and support for teaching Palestine locally and nationally
* AND everyone in between!
FACILITATORS:
* Ziad Abbas is the associate director and education coordinator of the Middle East Children’s Alliance. He is a Palestinian refugee from the West Bank, where he was the co-founder and co-director of the Ibdaa Cultural Center at Dheisheh Refugee Camp. He is a journalist as well as a teacher and youth worker.
* Perry Bellow-Handelman is an organizer with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and a member of the Bay Area Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. She currently works as a history teacher and internship coordinator at an East Oakland public high school. Prior to becoming a teacher she worked with youth in a broad range of anti-racist movement work through her roles as a youth organizer and popular educator.
* Jody Sokolower is the policy and production editor of Rethinking Schools. Until last year she taught social studies and English in Bay Area middle and high schools, most recently at Berkeley High. She has a long history as an anti-imperialist activist.
Perry Bellow- Handelman was arrested several years ago for interrupting a presentation at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center. She currently teaches at the East Oakland School of the Arts. Her classroom blog (yes, she's a history teacher) links to Indybay, Al Jazeera, Radio Zapatista, and other questionable sites.
Whats a parent to do? Listen to your children. Teach them the truth. Get involved in their schools. Check out their textbooks for bias (The Saudis have invested 130 million dollars in the American educational system, including K-12)And don't be afraid to complain to the principal and to the district if you see your child's classroom used to incite hate and spread propaganda.
12 comments:
A few years back, an Al Awda (Palestinian extremist group)volunteer "Kinneret Israel" was discovered to be working in 3 Bay area Hebrew schools. Apparently she was finding very interesting ways to slip anti-Israel activism into her curriculum.
I suspect this kind of activity has been going on for a long, long time.
Kinneret Israel or Kinneret Alexander (which name is real? She goes under both) is now teaching a class at City College of San Francisco called "Demystifying the Middle East". I also think she needs further investigation.
I'd suggest talking to the administration of the City College of San Francisco, especially if you can document anti-Semitism or inaccuracies and bias in her curriculum.
Re: Kinneret Israel/ Kinneret Alexander.
I've heard she was an Israeli Arab passing herself off as an Israeli Jew to better infiltrate Jewish organizations. Don't know if its true, though.
It is is worse than you might expect. I overheard Nihaya Qawasmi, a local anti-Israel troll tell a friend that she is planning on getting a teaching credential just so she can propagandize young children. California no longer has any standards for teachers apparently. so Nihaya assumed she could slip in through the cracks. Very scary.
As a student taking the class "demystifying the middle east" at ccsf, I think your blog goes perfectly with what we have learned about Zionists. They have no regard for the rights or livelihood of indigenous Arab-Palestinians. I thank professor Israel for teaching us the history of the region so well!
Anonymouse: if you had a competent teacher, you would know by now that the vast majority of " Palestinians" are recent migrants to this land. Even your beloved United Nations acknowledges this, and defines a Palestinian as one who lived in this land prior to 1946.
You might consider taking a class taught by a great teacher such as Kinneret in order to learn about the Palestinian struggle because it seems you have been false or faulty information. or we'll have to agree to disagree but know that your tax payer dollars (if you live in the city) are being put to excellent use through the funding of a class such as the one mentioned where Zionism is exposed and the plight of the Palestinians is fully analyzed. good day sir
A deeply biased one sided presentation of history is unconscionable, particularly at the University level.
My sincere hope is that you pick up some books and read the real history of the region. Look at period newspapers. The truth is out there, but you need to get off the Internet.
Robert F Kennedy was in pre-State Israel. Read his reports about the wave of Arab immigration that poured into the Holy land. He wrote "The Jews point with pride to the fact that over 500,000 Arabs in the 12 years between 1932 and 1944, came into Palestine to take advantage of living conditions existing in no other Arab state. This is the only country in the Near and Middle East where an Arab middle class is in existence."
You can rise above bias and inaccuracy in teaching, but it will take some effort on your part. If you'd like a suggested reading list, I'd be happy to provide one. Good luck.
Nihaya Qawasmi Dugan a Palestinian activist mentioned on this page lives at (deleted by moderators) She continues to incite hatred toward the Jews and has begun teaching children to hate the very country they come from USA for supporting the Jews and Israel on
Thank you for that information. I deleted Nihaya's home address. Although it is a matter of public record, I do not feel comfortable publicizing this. If you are a parent with a child in her class, please share your concerns with the administrators in the school, and if you aren't satisfied with the response, consider discussing it with the district supervisors.
The classroom should not be a place for spreading propaganda, and no child should be subject to racism and bigotry.
https://web.archive.org/save/https://www.gofundme.com/nihaya039s-master039s-degree.
Nihaya Qawasmi's Go Fund me site. She blames the Zionists on her inability to afford an education, writting:
I am Nihaya Qawasmi, a Palestinian freelance journalist based in Jerusalem. I have been accepted for graduate studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands to pursue a long planned degree focused on Gender Studies. My tuition fees will be covered by a loan I will coordinate, however I cannot afford the living expenses during my study and for that, I need your generosity to make my dream come true.
I have been trying to pursue my graduate studies for a long time but was defeated by Zionists administering academic programs in the US where my registration was even declined due to my Palestinian heritage and strong political views. I was also forced to leave my studies later in Lebanon and return hastily to Jerusalem as the Israeli authorities canceled my residency in Jerusalem if I stay longer outside the country.
Due to the residency issue in Jerusalem, I am struggling to maintain a status in the city while unable to work or study as all permits for work hinge on the residency issue. The last lawyer I met told me that due to the fact that I’m politically active, it might take me several years to regain my residency.
I tried to keep myself busy in a positive manner. I initially traveled to the different cities of Palestine to show my fellow refugees worldwide their homeland live on Facebook and even looked for the homes of their families before they were expelled from Palestine in 1948. I documented the abuse against the Jerusalemites at the hands of the occupation forces after Trump’s decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem and I am actively engaging Palestinians and others worldwide, through social media, to keep them abreast of happenings in Palestine.
I am also active in my community and have worked with the children in my neglected neighborhood on fixing some of the problems that we have. We fixed a road full of holes and we cleaned up the neighborhood. We pay taxes through the nose, but we hardly receive any services from the occupation authorities. Despite that, I wanted to teach the kids that Palestine is their homeland and it is their duty to keep it clean and beautiful and this is how they grow their sense of citizenship and belonging to the homeland.
I can’t legally work in Palestine and I can’t put my life on hold and wait for the liberation of Palestine and achieve minimal change when I know that I can do more. I aspire to be the feisty woman version of Edward Said and I need your help in achieving that. The occupation wants us to despair and wither away, but the occupation must never win.
Through the gender studies Masters program, I will be able to put my passion for equality and humanity into an academic framework. I hope to be able to inspire other young women either by sponsoring them financially or helping them secure scholarships to come and study in Europe and contribute to the advancement of women in the Arab world. I’m a firm believer that women are the true driving force of change in the world and I want to invest in those women and I hope that you will help me with this investment.
Any contribution will be appreciated no matter how small. Shukran, Thank you.
Disclaimer: Gofundme suspended my campaign until I answer the following questions:
Who you are and where you’re from?
I am Nihaya Qawasmi as stated above in my campaign statement and I'm from Palestine.
Your relationship or contact to the parties you're raising funds for?
I'm raising the funds for myself.
How the funds will be spent (be specific as possible)?
As stated in my statement above, the money is needed for my living expenses as I work on my degree.
Your withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary/ies?
As soon as I make it to Utrecht, I will open a bank account and deposit the money in it.
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