Non-Jewish teachers visit Israel in new scheme to combat classroom hate

It comes amid mounting concern over antisemitism in the classroom, with the Community Security Trust (CST) recording 204 school-related instances last year.

A total of 19 non-Jewish teachers were brought across to Israel from the UK and Ireland in the trip earlier this year.

The group visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the Gaza envelope, including Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the site of the Nova Festival, and met staff and pupils at Israeli schools coping with the ongoing conflict.

They included Irish primary school teacher John O Riordan.

Speaking to the JC, he recalled after asking his class to write stories, one nine-year-old pupil at a Catholic school in County Kerry handed in a piece of creative writing about “evil Israelis killing innocent Palestinians”.

The issue of the conflict has seeped into classrooms across the UK and Europe, but in Ireland, it is particularly acute.

O Riordan said: “If you are Irish, it is highly unlikely you would have ever met a Jew.

“The media here is very anti-Israel, and it is a case of misplaced anger. People in Ireland identify as Palestinians.”

For O Riordan, a father of five and Catholic missionary teaching in southern Ireland, the prevailing discourse around the Jewish state feels suffocating.

“The bishop of the diocese is really anti-Israel – he believes all of the Arab propaganda,” he said, recalling his reaction when the bishop followed Pope Francis’s lead and placed a keffiyeh on a Christmas nativity scene. “I was apoplectic.”

The StandWithUS UK delegation[Missing Credit]

West Yorkshire secondary school religious studies teacher Kerry Noble was also on the trip.

In her experience of conversations about Jewish issues with her pupils, most of whom are white, British and from lower-income backgrounds, antisemitism can be part of a set of far-right views.

She said: “I have some students who are quite determined that we should be a white British nation,” adding that she believes such attitudes are rooted in ignorance rather than malice.

Her concerns over antisemitism and classrooms shaped by biased narratives were shared by many teachers on the trip.

Noble said: “The more awareness, the better prepared and equipped we are to challenge antisemitism in schools. There is a lot of ignorance and a lot of misconceptions.”

The trip was intended to challenge the kind of disinformation that can give rise to such behaviour.

Paul, an English teacher from Hampshire, said the tour focused “on the light” and challenged the perception in Britain of Israel as a “white colonial settler state”.

“I now know that this is completely false,” he said.

Arlette, an assistant headteacher in London, said the visit would make her more confident discussing Israel in the classroom. “I’ll feel more confident to say, listen, I have been there, this is what I actually saw.”

In an Israeli market[Missing Credit]

Following the delegation, participants will receive ongoing mentorship, including one-to-one coaching and classroom materials.

Noble is already reshaping her teaching in light of the trip, incorporating lessons on the October 7 attacks into her year nine Holocaust curriculum.

She was devastated during the visit to Kfar Aza, where 62 people were killed and 19 taken hostage from a community of around 1,000.

“When I went there, my eyes were completely opened. I had no idea of the extent of those atrocities. I stood in the kibbutz and cried,” she said.

“I couldn’t get over the fact that something so awful had happened and we didn’t know about it. It is misrepresented,” she added, stating that coverage of the massacre in British media appeared “one-sided”.

For Noble, addressing October 7 alongside Holocaust education is essential.

She said: “We’re talking about the Holocaust, but we also need to look at what is happening now. Antisemitism on this scale is still happening, but I don’t feel this is being taught. We talk about 9/11. But who is talking about October 7? It never comes up. My students wouldn’t have a clue.”

Her aim is for the material to be adopted across her academy chain, which spans more than 50 schools, each with over 1,000 pupils.