‘Rethinking Schools’ journal responds to liberal Zionism

In its winter 2014-15 issue, the education journal Rethinking Schools has taken another courageous stand against liberal Zionism.  In Fall 2014, the journal published an editorial (“The Children of Gaza”) expressing outrage about the recent Gaza war.  This editorial generated a letter from a liberal Zionist reader criticizing the journal’s stance, and Rethinking Schools has published this letter in its most recent issue.  Not to be cowed, the editors responded to this letter, re-emphasizing the “dire situation” in Gaza as well as the “3 billion a year in military assistance” from the US.

Its mission statement affirms that Rethinking Schools is “dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism” and is a great resource for public school teachers.   The Fall 2014 issue, “Teaching in Black and White,” ran articles on restorative justice, the military invasions of high schools, and included articles titled, “Dear White Teacher,” and “Teaching the N-Word,” among others.

The journal makes its criticism of Israel’s occupation of Palestine clear and unapologetic, and encourages teachers to share ideas on teaching truthfully about Israel and Palestine in their classrooms.  This is a journal anti-Zionist teachers should pay attention to.

The Fall 2014 editorial explained that “Rethinking Schools editors have been horrified and angered by Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people.”  Silent self-reflection, they argue, is not an option:  “As educators, parents, and activists, we have a critical responsibility to speak out against these attacks, paid for in large part with U.S. tax dollars.”  The editorial ended by urging educators to “join together to create curriculum on Israel-Palestine that looks deeply and honestly at the roots of crisis and the prospects for peace.”

As an educator and an anti-Zionist, I welcome educational journals that create spaces to explore issues of power and oppression.  Rethinking Schools has been a great resource for me.  I have felt a sense of camaraderie in knowing that other educators want to teach about Israel/Palestine from a non-Zionist or anti-Zionist perspective.  Having taught Hebrew for over a decade in different schools, I often was approached by parents who wanted to make sure I was teaching “a love for Israel” in my classroom.  Several parents suggested I organize a student trip to Israel.  I was urged by other Hebrew teachers from other local schools to teach Israeli folk dancing on Fridays–”to welcome Shabbat” (simulating what happens at many liberal Zionist camps in the U.S.)–and to bring in Israeli soldiers to talk with my students about taking a “gap-year” in Israel in between high school and college by volunteering in the Israeli army.  One year, I agreed to bring my Hebrew students to an Israeli film with Hebrew classes from other schools.  When we arrived to the theater, a man boarded our school bus and tried to pass around a sheet of paper to collect students’ emails so they could receive information about “upcoming Israeli events.”  I said no, of course, and reminded him that it is illegal to try to obtain personal information about students under the age of 18, especially when they are attending public school.  With few resources available, Rethinking Schools has been a refreshing change for this anti-Zionist school teacher working in an educational system that regularly upholds liberal Zionism.

The letter to Rethinking Schools generated by the original editorial begins by saying that the journal “misses a very important point,” that “Israel did not start the war,” and that “[o]nly after being assaulted by thousands of rockets and the kidnapping and murder of three young Jewish men did it finally respond.”  The writer, Katalin Baltimore from Connecticut, blames Hamas for intentionally building “its missile factories and bunkers underneath civilian homes and stor[ing] its ammunition in schools and kindergartens, hospitals, and mosques.”  As often the case with liberal Zionist rhetoric, the letter does not provide accurate historical context and perpetuates mainstream media stereotypes of Palestinians.  The letter finishes by castigating Rethinking Schools for presumed anti-Israel bias and bigotry: “Singling out Israel for allegedly mistreating the Palestinians while at the same time not covering how the barbaric conduct and atrocities of many dictatorial regimes in the world affect their children reveals”–wait for it–”your anti-Semitism.”  Baltimore finishes her letter by taking a quote from the original editorial and spinning it with liberal Zionist rhetoric: “You ‘urge educators to join together to create curriculum on Israel-Palestine that looks deeply and honestly at the roots of the crisis.’”  Then she adds, “a good start would be to stop publishing such extremely biased reporting on the conflict.”  Baltimore suggests here that the journal is the problem for being so “biased” against Israel.  Liberal Zionists continue to claim victim space using this bait-and-switch rhetoric.  Baltimore doesn’t seem to realize that her views on Israel are the norm.  It is her liberal Zionist narrative that is taught in schools and reinforced in the mainstream media.

I understand this viewpoint, because I used to hold the same view.  I’d defend Israel at all costs and was unable to hear the mere mention of another viewpoint or another narrative.  As a Zionist turned anti-Zionist, I know now that the real problem isn’t a journal’s “bias” against Israel.  It is instead the continued military occupation of the Palestinians on their own land; the journal has simply taken a stand.

When I first read this letter, I was surprised that Rethinking Schools would print it.  After all, it just seemed to repeat the usual liberal Zionist talking points, with no effort to offer a different viewpoint of the Zionist narrative.  But when I read the editors’ response, I realized that printing the letter was an opportunity for them to respond and re-emphasize their points made in their editorial (printed in full below):

One of the tragic ironies of Israel’s occupation of Palestine is that people who agree about so much–including protecting and transforming our public schools–are in such conflict about this issue.  But opposition to Israeli strategies and goals is not anti-Semitism.  Our editorial was based on our principles respecting human rights and the need to nurture all children.

In our editorial, we noted the impact of last summer’s assault on Gaza in terms of human life, education, water, and infrastructure.  The situation remains dire.  Improving conditions for the Palestinians of Gaza will only be possible when Israel lifts the blockade, which makes it impossible to rebuild infrastructure, the economy, and people’s lives.  The International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations are clear that the blockade constitutes illegal collective punishment under international law.

The United States provides $3 billion a year in military assistance to Israel, as well as blocking every attempt in the United Nations to support Palestinian rights to self-determination, so this is very much our concern.

Kudos to Rethinking Schools for taking a stand and continuing to provide truthful analysis of Israel/Palestine and encouraging teachers to do the same.

As a public school teacher, I am witnessing the corporatizing of public education, the implementation of the common core standards which forces students to bring less of their own prior knowledge to a literary text or historic event studied in the classroom, and the constant rhetoric of political quietism that demands instructors “teach a balanced curriculum,” to educate from “all sides,” and to remain “apolitical,” in the classroom.  Teaching “both sides,” when one side has already received more airtime, only perpetuates the norm.  Teaching “balance” in a world where a dominant standard–in this case the liberal Zionist Israeli narrative–already exists, makes sure that the issue of power is never discussed.

The existence of an educational journal that takes a stand against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and supports teachers with resources and a space to think through ideas is a good reminder of the importance of teaching a just curriculum centered around systemic power and oppression.  More of this is needed in schools to reflect the real stories of those actually living the daily reality of occupation.