Editor's Letter jarc Our Imperiled Schools H igh school textbooks in America drip with inac- curacy, exaggeration and distortion, always to the detriment of Jews and Israel. This was the finding 15 years ago by Mitchell Bard in his landmark study "Rewriting History in Textbooks:' which analyzed 18 of the history textbooks widely used in American high schools. "This inevitably leads to the conclu- sion that the authors are prejudiced:' Bard told the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) in a 2008 interview titled "Introducing Israel Studies in U.S. Universities." Bard is executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and director of the Jewish Virtual Library. High schools are worse than universities when it comes to anti-Israel teaching, he said. And the gap has wid- ened since 9-11. Those Arab terrorist attacks prompted the Muslim world to rev up the telling of its mainstream story. In a disclosure that should surprise no one, Bard said the people who are producing the information about that story for textbook use are largely funded by the Saudis. "They are presenting a version of Islamic history that is often very selec- tive, to put it mildly," he said. "We have tried during the last couple of years to produce texts on the history of Israel and found it surprisingly difficult to get them into public schools." If that's not a call to action, I don't know what is. It should stir the soul of Jewish leaders to unite behind the cause of upgrading the foundation of our high schools — the textbooks. At stake is the future of highly impression- able teenagers. The timbers of our Jewish future were shaken violently in November when at least 10 kids at a Florida middle school assaulted or encouraged assault of Jewish class- mates in what was billed "Kick A Jew Day:' In October 2008, students at a suburban Missouri middle school attacked Jewish classmates on what was called "Hit A Jew Day." into these textbooks." The authors discovered that the texts are often critical of Jews and Israel, but less challenging of Islam. The texts also alter Jewish belief: For instance, one book states Moses "claimed" to have received the Ten Commandments from God. Gerstenfeld highlights this key ICJR finding: "Arab and Muslim interest groups try to whitewash and glorify all things Islamic and promote Islam." Let that soak in. "These organizations attempt, sometimes successfully, to push the Palestinian narrative Gerstenfeld relates. "Their discourse promoting a whole array of lies has permeated American textbooks. Several of them obfuscate or minimize Palestinian terrorism or even justify it. One book tries astutely to delegitimize Israel as a Jewish state." Enriching Lives. Erasing Barriers. On behalf of the men, women and children with disabilities we serve... That's Not All And there's more. One textbook misstates that Jesus lived in "Northern Palestine." The name Palestine wasn't used until much later. On the refugee front, one textbook states that Israel put the "Palestinians" of today in refugee camps; the deed was actu- ally done by the Arab states occupying parts of the former Palestinian Mandate and the Arab states to which the refugees fled. Before the rise of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964, "Palestinians" meant Jews living in pre- state Israel. Further, most high school texts do not mention the Jewish refugees who made aliyah from Arab lands no longer friendly to Jews. And several texts declare the latest Palestinian intifada a spontaneous uprising against Israel despite clear evidence the Palestinians had long planned it. These examples, wrote Tobin and Ybarra, only scratch the surface of the historical revisionism fueled by the anti-Western, anti-American and pro- Palestinian views engulfing our high school texts. The Root Cause Dr. Gerstenfeld cites this major theme from the book: We need better information about the Middle East, but many publishers and educators still disseminate politics and propaganda dis- guised as scholarship. No wonder so many of our college students Analyst Mitc hell Bard Troubling Account are so ill-equipped to respond to the well- Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, who chairs JCPA's Board of Fellows, orchestrated anti-Zionist/anti-Jewish political machines hum- cites Bard's time-honored work in his wide-eyed review of ming in their midst. How damning is this? It's an indictment the new book, The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History of America's sorry excuse for a public-school textbook screen- and Religion, by Dr. Gary Tobin and Dennis R. Ybarra of the ing process. Institute for Jewish & Community Research (IJCR). That concern is exacerbated by the combination of blind The book by Tobin and Ybarra confirmed Bard's findings parental trust in the schools and parental indifference to what and affirmed that nothing has changed when it comes to their kids are being taught. How do textbook publishers com- teaching bias against Jews in America. mand so much power? Tobin, who died in July, was president of the San Francisco- In a warning Jewish America would be foolish to ignore, based IJCR. Ybarra is a research associate there. They Gerstenfeld concludes: "It will take many years at best to reviewed 28 high school texts from major publishers. They change the situation significantly." focused on four subjects: Jewish history, theology and reli- gion; the relationship between Judaism and Christianity; the 0 • What can Jewish parents do about 1— • relationship between Judaism and Islam; and the history, ti) w public school texts? geography and politics of the Middle East. 1— Z z How can the Jewish community Gerstenfeld, a JCPA editor, concludes in his book review that the IJCR analysis "provides a long list of mistakes, propaganda 0 0 counter the text bias? a. 0 themes and slanted information, which have found their way - THANK YOU! THANK YOU! This year has been a time to celebrate JARC's forty years of helping people with disabilities to live full and dignified lives in our community. As you consider your year-end charitable gifts, please remember how much your generous support enriches the lives of others. Together we will remain strong for another forty years. 30301 Northwestern I Suite 100 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248.538.6611 v/tty I Fax: 248.538.6615 jarc@jarc.org wwwjamorgidonate December 17 • 2009 5