Politics Morning Star
Jewish Voice for Liberation slams antisemitism in schools review as politically biased
JEWISH campaigners have condemned a review of antisemitism in schools as politically biased and drawing inappropriate conclusions from flawed data. Commissioned by the government, Sir David Bell’s rev
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Commissioned by the government, Sir David Bell’s review published last week made 27 recommendations, including strengthening guidance on political impartiality.
It found that three in five Jewish pupils said they had experienced or witnessed antisemitism and about half of incidents were not reported.
It said that some Jewish staff feel “excluded or insufficiently supported” by education unions over messaging relating to Israel’s genocide.
The government accepted — instantly — all 27 recommendations, with Education Secretary Lucy Powell saying that “change will come” and vowing to write to schools calling on them to adopt the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, whose own author has warned it has been used in practice to suppress criticism of Israel.
In Saturday’s statement, The Jewish Voice for Liberation (JVL) said that the review’s findings will silence debate and foster distrust.
It agreed that “no child or young person should experience bullying, harassment or discrimination because they are Jewish” but said that Sir David “makes no case for treating antisemitism as a safeguarding issue needing special status different from other forms of racist abuse, except to elevate a biased view of politics to the domain of child protection.”
The group said: “By singling out Jews for exceptional treatment, the government has at a stroke confirmed the worst fears of black, Asian, Muslim, and other racialised communities confronted daily with a hierarchy of racisms.
“They yoke Jewish identity to Israel, a genocidal state, and demonise those who protest against it, particularly Muslims.”
JVL disputed the review’s presentation of hate-crime data, pointing out that the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed Muslims were the most likely of any religious or ethnic group to face religious and race-based hate crime between April 2022 and March 2025.
And it backed the National Education Union’s response that the IHRA’s “contested framing risks blurring the line between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and the genocide in Gaza.”
The union said: “Schools must enable young people to confront difficult issues openly and develop empathy, not drive teachers into silence or leave pupils afraid to express their views.”JVL also noted that Sir David sits on the board of the Academic Study Group for Israel & the Middle East, and that the review was commissioned by Labour Together stalwart Bridget Phillipson when she was education secretary.
The group warned that the recommendations would lead to “increasing penetration of zionist propaganda into our schools.”
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