Radical ideology of ‘diversity’ fuels Jew-hate
As I sat in my hotel bed at the Revere Hotel in Boston, my stay covered by Emerson College because they “couldn’t guarantee my safety” as a Jewish student during the pro-Palestinian encampments on campus, a single thought echoed in my mind: “Where did academia go wrong?”
Even up in my hotel room, I could hear the chants reverberating from campus: “Globalize the intifada” and “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around.”
I was writing for my college’s student-run publication, the Berkeley Beacon, covering both pro-Israel rallies and pro-Palestinian protests around Boston. My reporting, which aimed to cover a range of perspectives, made me a target.
My two-night hotel stay came after weeks of relentless hate messages flooding my Instagram DMs — accusations of being a “white supremacist,” an “oppressor” and “complicit in genocide.”
I was alienated by my friend group, unfollowed and uninvited to social gatherings. Alone and confused, I found myself questioning:
•How had this narrative taken hold so quickly?
•Why did nobody seem to understand the devastating reality of the intifadas?
•Why were the terms “genocide” and “occupation” being so casually misused?
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The shocking speed at which misinformation spread — and the immediate enthusiasm of students to embrace these false narratives without hesitation — made me realize that this isn’t just a problem of social-media propaganda. It is something systemic.
It has become clear to me that the radicalization of my peers, many of whom I’d considered friends, wasn’t just a product of TikTok “news” — it was the result of years of inadequate and one-sided education.
Following these realizations, I developed a hunger to understand the very foundation of these persistent distortions. I traced it back to its roots, and the pattern proved undeniable.
The anti-Israel sentiment I encountered on campus wasn’t random; it had been carefully cultivated long before college, beginning in K-12 classrooms.
US high school history curricula are often incomplete and biased, especially regarding Israel and Jewish history. American students are required to take courses in US history, world history and European history.
Within world history courses, key events, especially those concerning Israel and Jewish history, are frequently distorted or ignored altogether. The failures of this system have enabled misinformation to thrive.
The pervasive influence of ideologies like Critical Race Theory (CRT) not only perpetuates harmful distortions of the Middle East but actively breeds hatred and division.
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Since the Hamas-led massacre of 1,200 men, women and children in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with thousands of others wounded and 251 people take hostage, school districts across the United States have spread false narratives about Israel, distorting its history to fit an agenda.
For example, the Bloomfield Hills School District in Michigan hosted Huwaida Arraf, a “political activist” who labeled Israel as an “oppressor.”
Similarly, Newark Public Schools assigned sixth-graders a book that “explores the human cost of the occupation” from a Palestinian perspective.
These incidents are part of a trend seen nationwide, where educational environments have fostered a one-sided narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The rise of ethnic-studies programs in states like California and Massachusetts has played a major role in the increase of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias in young adults. While these programs claim to empower diverse communities, they have instead become incubators for anti-Israel radicalism.
The initial draft of the California Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) referred to Israel as an “apartheid state” and described its 1948 War of Independence as the Palestinian nakba, or “catastrophe.” This entirely disregards the context of Israel’s founding and its fight for survival in the face of aggressive hostilities from neighboring Arab states.
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Of course, racially inclusive history is crucial, and I fully support the teaching of marginalized histories in schools. However, ensuring diverse representation in curricula should not come at the expense of any particular group, nor should it be weaponized to manipulate history or promote ideologies that demonize others.
The California Department of Education revised the ESMC draft after backlash from Jewish advocacy groups. While Aremovals were made, under the poisonous framework of CRT Jews will continue to be demonized, scapegoated and misrepresented. The depths of this framework code Jews as “privileged” through its blueprints that classify people as either “oppressed” or “oppressors.”
Failure to address anti-Israel bias in schools fuels radicalization and the normalization of antisemitism. Without reform, the next generation will continue to engage with anti-Israel propaganda, fueling hostility toward Jewish students and Israel on campuses.
The chants I heard from my hotel room weren’t just the echoes of a campus protest; they were the product of an education system that had failed an entire generation. A system that erased, distorted and manipulated history.
The fight for truth in education is not just about Israel. It’s about protecting America’s educational legacy. If we allow at history, we are complicit in the consequences of antisemitism and misinformation. Without immediate intervention, we risk the future of American integrity, Jewish safety and truth itself.
Margaux Jubin was a student at Emerson College. This spring, she is beginning her junior year at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
