Demonization vs. Inclusion – How to Respond : From Blog Posts to Book 

The purpose of “Demonization vs. Inclusion – How to Respond” and these blog posts is to combine them into a published book entitled Safe Schools for Jewish Students: An Educator’s Guide to Preventing Antisemitism and Strengthening Belonging.

Go here for the full Table of Contents.

Chapter 5 – Demonization vs. Inclusion: How to Respond

How to Respond in the Classroom

Below are the most common classroom manifestations of how students might demonize Jews.

1. Classroom behavior: Jews are “privileged,” “white,” or the “oppressor class,” so they don’t need protection.

Underlying trope – “Jews are privileged and therefore immune to oppression.”

Problem: This erases historic and present antisemitism and positions Jews as permanent oppressors, not a minority.

Solution: Have the student research the percentage of white Jews and non-white Jews in the world. Also, have them research what steps the Nazis and German citizens took to oppress white German Jews. Lastly, the student can research if anything similar to what German citizens did to German Jews happened in other Western countries like the U.S. and Britain.

2. Classroom behavior: Jews control U.S. and global politics.

Underlying trope – “Jews control governments and world affairs.”

Problem: This mirrors classic conspiracy thinking about secret Jewish political power.

Solution: The student should compare the percentages of how many Christians, Jews, and Muslims are in the U.S. government or global governments. If they have a specific political decision in mind, they can also research where most of the funding comes from for these politicians or political decisions.

3. Classroom behavior: News is biased because Jews control the media and Hollywood.

Underlying trope – “Jews control the media.”

Problem: Equates all Jews with broadcasting network decisions of what to cover, leading to harmful conspiracies.

Solution: If the student has a specific news claim in mind, they should check to see the percentage of Jews and non-Jews that are in charge of the news outlet.

4. Classroom behavior: Jews weaponize the Holocaust for sympathy and support for Israel.

Underlying trope – “Jews exaggerate their suffering for gain.”

Problem: A diminishment of Jewish trauma to delegitimize Jewish identity.

Solution: To me, this is a slap in the face.

A comedian said, “If anyone says something racist or homophobic, they get fired or cut off from the community. If someone says something antisemitic, the worst they get is a compulsory trip to a Holocaust museum.”

I’m having trouble coming up with a solution for such behavior. Indeed, what comes up as an idea is to have the student see “Schindler’s List,” and go to a Holocaust museum to ground the history in reality. I’m tempted to add that the student should see “Bearing Witness,” the 45-minute footage recorded by Hamas on what they did on October 7th, 2023. The footage includes a Palestinian (not a member of Hamas) proudly telling his father that he killed ten Jews. Seeing the film would show how antisemitism is not a relic of the past. However, such footage can be traumatizing.

5. Classroom behavior: The war is the fault of the Jews.

Underlying trope – “Jews are responsible for global conflict.”

Problem: Equates all Jews with government decisions and justifies hostility.

Solution: Determine what the specific claim the student is making and have the student research how the antithesis might be true. For example, if the student claims that the Jews want to kill all the Palestinians, have the student research his claim and also check for evidence that Palestinians want to kill all the Jews.

6. Classroom behavior: Jews are European colonizers in Palestine.

Underlying trope – “Jews stole land and are foreign colonizers.”

Problem: This erases Jewish indigeneity and echoes historical claims of Jewish illegitimacy.

Solution: Have the student make a table with one side listing all the villages that Jews attacked and stole from non-Jews, and the reason the Jews gave for doing so. On the other side of table, have the student list all the villages that non-Jews attacked and stole from Jews, and the reason they gave for attacking the Jews.

7. Classroom behavior: Jews run the banks and are rich penny-pinchers.

Underlying trope – “Jews are greedy or financially manipulative.”

Problem: A stereotype dating back centuries, still common today.

Solution: Have the student research why Jews were money-lenders and tax collectors in the Middle Ages. As for the modern age, have them research who was Chairman of the Board of Directors for Israel’s major bank, Bank Leumi, from 2019 to 2023.

8. Classroom behavior: Jews care more about Israel than the U.S.

Underlying trope – “Jews have dual loyalty.”

Problem: Assumes Jews cannot be trusted citizens of their home countries.

Solution: Have the student research where Jews fled to during WWII, and with the rise in antisemitism across the globe after October 7th, where could Jewish people safely flee to if Israel didn’t exist. Make sure they evaluate how easily the Jewish people could escape to the country the student decided on, and how safely Jewish people could live there by evaluating the level of antisemitism in the country.

9. Classroom behavior: Jews won’t let us criticize Israel or their religion. It’s censorship and violates a teacher’s freedom of speech.

Underlying trope – “Jews silence critics through power.”

Problem: A reframe that makes responding to antisemitism appear sinister.

Solution: Perhaps the most popular example of this in my mind is how the California Teacher Association put a ton of pressure against Assembly Bill 715 which, now that it has passed, requires teachers to teach fact-based classes, forbidding teachers from inserting their own political opinions that could be construed as discriminatory.

The bill was inspired as a way to oppose the rise in antisemitism in school and those who fought against the bill said it would “chill” the teacher’s freedom of speech. Opponents saw the bill as a form of teacher censorship, shutting down their ability to criticize Israel.

If a student says that calling out antisemitism is “censorship,” have them specify what they were censored for claiming, then have them research why their claim can be considered antisemitic.

10. Classroom behavior: Israelis kill babies

Underlying trope – “Blood libel and moral corruption.”

Problem: A modern update of an ancient myth portraying Jews as inherently harmful.

Solution: The student should research the historical blood libel and all its manifestations from the Medieval Period to the present.

When I complained about signs a teacher posted claiming Israel was a warmonger, the principal asked me how I felt about the signs. I said they felt like a blood libel. I was surprised to see that he had to look it up to know what I was talking about. The blood libel is one of the oldest surviving antisemitic tropes in history.

It’s ironic because in Jewish law, Jews are forbidden from having a drop of blood in their food or drink. That’s why kosher meat is heavily salted, to absorb and remove the blood.

11. Classroom behavior: Jews aren’t really indigenous to Palestine

Underlying trope – “Jewish identity is fake.”

Problem: Delegitimizes Jewish peoplehood and indigeneity.

Solution: Have the student study what Jewish archeological finds have been discovered in Israel, connecting Jews to the land.

12. Classroom behavior: Jews made vaccines to control us.

Underlying trope – “Jews cause plagues and disasters.”

Problem: A medieval accusation resurrected in modern forms.

Solution: Have the student research how and why rumors started in the Middle Ages about the Jews being the cause of the plague, what the true cause of the plague was, and how their conspiracy theory mimics the medieval accusation.

13. Classroom behavior: Jews are a part of a malicious secret society.

Underlying trope – “Jews run secret societies.”

Problem: Classic conspiratorial scapegoating.

Solution: The student should research the history of claims that Jews belonged to secret societies, and what the outcome was for those Jews who were falsely accused.

14. Classroom behavior: Jews are the servants of Satan

Underlying trope – “Jews are inherently evil.”

Problem: Rare in classrooms but still appears via online radicalization.

Solution: Have the student research which people in the past and in the present make such claims and if similar claims are made about Americans. When they discover that teachers and imams from Yemen, teachers and imams from Egypt, and others in the Middle East make the same claims about the Jews and the Americans being Satan and must be destroyed, hopefully they’ll understand that across much of the world, they are considered as much of an evil Satanic worshiper as the Jews are accused of being. MEMRI is a good source for confirming this modern libel.

15. Jews want to kill Palestinians and Arabs

Underlying trope – “Jews are bloodthirsty.”

Problem: Portrays all Jews as evil.

Solution: Have the student make a table listing the Israeli wars that Israel started or provoked and the Israeli wars that Palestinians and/or Arabs started or provoked.

16. Israel committed a genocide against the Palestinians.

Underlying trope – “Jews are inherently evil.”

Problem: Infers that all Jews support genocide.

Solution: Have them research the average ratio of non-combatant to combatant deaths in urban warfare, look up the ratio of non-combatant to combatant Palestinian deaths in the Gaza War of 2023, find three examples of urban warfare in history, and research the ratio of non-combatant to combatant deaths in those examples.

Since the intent of the leadership must demonstrate the desire to destroy in whole or in part a people to qualify as a genocide, have them make a table listing on one side the orders Israeli leadership gave the IDF during the war, and on the other side the orders Hamas leadership gave their militant followers during the war.

Have them also research the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948 and compare it the the Hamas Charter of 1988 (the original charter).

17. Gaza is an open-air prison

Underlying trope – “Jews are inherently evil.”

Problem: Ignores the original intent of providing the land to Palestinians as a start towards self-determination, and creates the double-standard of ignoring the wall Egypt built between itself and Gaza.

Solution: Have them do the following: Research who—before October 7, 2023—had control and was in charge of governing the Palestinians in Gaza. Determine which countries share a border with Gaza. Compare the requirements for Gazans to go through the borders out of Gaza into each country. Research which people were permitted and which people were not permitted to enter Gaza before October 7, 2023.

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Author Biography of Safe Schools for Jewish Students

Ezra Barany, son of a Bronx father and a Dutch mother from Nazi-occupied Netherlands, loves riveting readers with Jewish thrillers. His first two books in The Torah Codes series were award-winning international bestsellers. In his free time, he has eye-opening discussions on the art of writing novels with his wife and book coach Beth Barany. A high school physics teacher, Ezra lives in Oakland with his beloved wife and two cats working on the next book. Ezra, not the cats.