A Scottish primary school teacher has been reported to police after appearing in a video in which children are urged to play a game protecting Muslim sites from “the Zios” .
The Instagram clip featuring Sara El-Awaisi, a teacher who has worked at Liberton Primary School in Edinburgh and co-founded the education campaign group Educators for Peace, was reportedly recorded at a conference for Muslim women in Indonesia in July.
In the video, El-Awaisi and another woman demonstrate a game involving “Zios” and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
In the game, each participant uses their thumb to represent the mosque and the grasping fingers of their other hand to represent “Zionists”. Each must simultaneously protect their own “Al-Aqsa” while attacking the other person’s “mosque” with their “Zio” hand.
Many Jews understand the word “Zio” as an antisemitic slur.
In the clip, El-Awaisi responds to a mention of the term saying, “We don’t like them”.
At the end of the video, she says she likes the game and asks whether “the boys and girls” could play it too. The accompanying caption encourages viewers to get their children to play.
Police Scotland said it had received a complaint and that this was being assessed.
The footage has prompted strong condemnation from Jewish community organisations, including the Jewish Council of Scotland, the representative body for Scottish Jews, which said it unequivocally condemned the footage and demanded an “urgent investigation by the relevant education authorities”.
It said: “Teaching children to regard ‘Zios’ as an enemy normalises an antisemitic slur and encourages prejudice through play.”
The organisation has separately raised concerns with authorities about Educators for Peace, whose campaign materials encourage teachers to reject what the group describes as neutrality and impartiality when discussing Gaza.
El-Awaisi is a prominent figure within the group, which has sought a greater role in Scottish education. According to The Times, Educators for Peace says its materials have been used in schools, colleges and English-language education settings across Scotland.
The organisation has received support from a number of educational and political bodies. The EIS teaching union and Scottish Greens have backed the group, while the taxpayer-funded Scottish Peace Platform was an official partner of its first conference in March.
El-Awaisi was also recognised as a “local hero” at the official opening of the new session of the Scottish Parliament in June, an event attended by the King and Queen.
The Times, which first reported the story, said that El-Awaisi's name had been removed from Liberton Primary's publicly accessible staff page, where she had previously been listed as a teacher. The council did not comment on whether she had been suspended, citing confidentiality.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which has repeatedly raised concerns about El-Awaisi and Educators for Peace, said the Scottish government must now step in.
UKLFI said: “Sara El-Awaisi is a serving primary-school teacher who has repeatedly directed highly politicised ‘liberation’ messaging at children, encouraged them to see protecting and ‘liberating’ Al-Aqsa as a personal responsibility, and participated in material portraying ‘Zios’ as a hostile group whom children must resist.
“Ministers should establish whether this ideology or related materials are being brought into Scottish classrooms, teacher training or publicly funded educational programmes.
“The Scottish government should also review its relationships with Educators for Peace and associated organisations, including any access they have been given to officials, policy-making structures or publicly funded educational initiatives. Children should not be recruited into an ideological campaign.”
Police Scotland is assessing a disturbing video in which children are encouraged to play a game defending Al-Aqsa Mosque from “Zios”, following concerns about Edinburgh primary-school teacher, Sara El-Awaisi. https://t.co/4XH2Jxrf83 pic.twitter.com/Eoi8KaYYqr
— UK Lawyers For Israel (@UKLFI) October 4, 2026
Thomas Kerr, a Glasgow MSP and Reform’s deputy leader in Scotland, has also criticised the footage. “The use of the term ‘Zios’ in material involving children is deeply concerning. Such language portrays Zionists, Israelis and, by extension, Jewish people as a collective enemy. They are not,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Scottish government told The Times it was “unequivocal in its commitment to tackling antisemitism” and said those raising concerns about Educators for Peace had been directed to the appropriate processes.
A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of this content and are investigating what, if any, action we need to take.”
El-Awaisi, Educators for Peace, and Liberton Primary school have been approached for comment.
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