Wokeness, Racism and Anti-Semitism : Toronto District School Board

TDSB Trustee Alexandra Lulka. Photo by TDSB

"[The materials were] virulently anti-Israel and even anti-Semetic [and justified] suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism [against Jews]."

"I was outraged to discover that some of this material justifies suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism."

"This is reprehensible. These materials were provided by an employee from the TDSB equity department, the very department that should be countering anti-Semitism and violence, not fanning the flames."

"I made the statement after hearing concerns from constituents who felt traumatized by the incident. Given the concern over this incident, it is reasonable that a public statement be issued by an elected representative."

"I believe that to be within the scope of my responsibilities as a Trustee."

Toronto School Board Trustee Alexandra Lulka

"[Links included in the material] support the use of violence and terrorism against Israeli Jews; specifically, including a link to the website of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [a group that is currently on Canada's Listed Terrorist Entities], documentary and resources about Leila Khaled who was involved in plane hijackings, and an interview with Ghassan Kanafani, who was involved in violent actions against civilians."

Toronto District School Board Human Rights Office

A Toronto District School Board logo is seen on a sign in front of a high school in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

The issue of which the TDSB Trustee speaks is that of two teaching manuals focusing on the Middle East, produced with the ostensible purpose of aiding teachers in discussions relating to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in a classroom setting. The manuals had been circulated through an opt-in mailout. When the trustee was contacted by some parents in the school system to express their consternation over the material included in the manuals, she spoke of her condemnation of the material.

The school board's human rights office was brought into the controversy that followed, to investigate the matter and they concluded that links within the material were indeed as Trustee Lulka described them; anti-Semetic and excitation to 'justifiable' violence in support of the Palestinian 'cause' against a purportedly oppressive Israel squatting on Palestinian land.

The material included a statement that Palestinians "have been legitimately resisting racism, colonization and genocide since the 1920s to the present day by any means necessary: general strikes, demonstrations, armed struggle, and martyrdom operations called 'suicide bombing' by Zionists". Slanderous incitements to anti-Semitism and violence, in other words; raw, repellent and slanderous, canted toward isolating and defaming Jews.

The Jewish students and their families who would be exposed to this alternate version of history and irreconcilable hostility, rage, victimhood storytelling, vicious contortions of reality to suit a Palestinian narrative of justification for never-ending attacks on Jews and Israelis had good reason to complain that the Toronto and District School Board was hosting anti-Semetic diatribes reflecting an agenda of deliberate delegitimization of a democratic, legal state, and placing Jews in Canada in danger.

Prior to this incident, a scheduled invitation to Nadia Murad -- a Yazidi woman who escaped sex slavery under the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and told her horrendous story across the world of the atrocities committed by the Islamist-deranged ISIL against her people in mass murder, rape, recruiting of children for military training and assaults and sex-enslavement of women and girls -- had been cancelled.. The board saw fit to cancel that speaking engagement by the Nobel Laureate in the fear that her story would arouse sentiments of Islamophobia.

For bringing the situation to the attention of the public, Trustee Lulka was placed under a probe by the board; her behaviour brought to a vote on whether to condemn and censure her. An equity adviser, Javier Davila, had prepared the manuals in question. Davila included links to information about anti-Semitism and critical dialogue on Israel and Zionism, along with Canada's role in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Resources were included directing readers to Palestinian writers and academics.

The school board has not seen fit to explain why it is in a Canadian school curriculum meant to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography, science it would be seen as critical to a child's development and reasoning skills to be exposed to an ongoing violent dispute taking place in a far-off region, featuring Palestinians and Israeli Jews. According to the board investigation by Integrity Commissioner Suzanne Craig, the manuals had not been approved by anyone at the school board.

Davila, the author of the manuals in question, now claims himself to be a victim of "harassing and hateful messages" following the publication of Trustee Lulka's statement in describing the manuals. A campaign was underway, he complained, to have his Ontario College of Teachers licence revoked. He was temporarily suspended following the distribution of the manuals, but soon after reinstated.

When, subsequently the school board's Human Rights Office looked into the manual's materials, they found links that "could be reasonably considered to contain anti-Semitic materials and seen to be contributing to anti-Semitism". The recommended resources in the manual dismissed the historical connection between Jews and the land of Israel; they lump all Israelis together, claiming "martyrdom operations" represent a legitimate means of resistance.

Even so, the investigation found that the statement made on Twitter by the trustee violated the TDSB's Board Member Code of Conduct, falling into the definition of discrimination. That's right: a complaint about blatant discrimination represented discrimination in and of itself. The finding was that the original statement by Trustee Lulka perpetuated negative stereotypes about Palestinians and Muslims "when it stated that the materials which included Palestinian voices and perspectives 'justify suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism', equating a Palestinian perspective as one that would 'justify suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism'."

This, despite that the manuals included materials themselves that did just that; justified martyrdom assaults as noble acts of 'resistance' against the 'illegal occupation' of Palestinian land, upon which Israel sits. The conclusion of the investigation stated that Ms.Lulka be censured as "a strong condemnation of an action or statement of a Trustee who has been found to have breached the Code".

 

Toronto District School Board (TDSB) sign on the headquarters building in Toronto. JHVE Photo/Shutterstock

"This outrageous process is just the latest manifestation of the institutional anti-Semitism afflicting the TDSB, Not only is the investigation and its findings unjust, but it’s ridiculous that the person who calls out a transgression is being punished, but the person responsible for the transgression was not."

:It is critical for TDSB to continue to address discrimination in all its forms, but that must include anti-Semitism, which sadly has not received the same attention as other forms of hate."

"We call for the development of a comprehensive action plan on anti-Semitism that will value the voices of Jewish staff, students and families in the TDSB community—action that is long overdue."

Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of policy, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center