[House Hearing, 119 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
FROM PLAYGROUND TO CLASSROOM: THE
SPREAD OF ANTISEMITISM IN K-12 SCHOOLS
=======================================================================
HEARING
Before The
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD,
ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, SEPTEMBER 10, 2025
__________
Serial No. 119-27
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Workforce
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT
Available via: edworkforce.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
63-857 PDF WASHINGTON : 2026
=======================================================================
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE
TIM WALBERG, Michigan, Chairman
JOE WILSON, South Carolina ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT,
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina Virginia,
GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania Ranking Member
GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut
ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida
RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon
JAMES COMER, Kentucky MARK TAKANO, California
BURGESS OWENS, Utah ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina
LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan MARK DeSAULNIER, California
MARY E. MILLER, Illinois DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey
JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana LUCY McBATH, Georgia
KEVIN KILEY, California JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut
MICHAEL A. RULLI, Ohio ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota
JAMES C. MOYLAN, Guam HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan
ROBERT F. ONDER, Jr., Missouri GREG CASAR, Texas
RYAN MACKENZIE, Pennsylvania SUMMER L. LEE, Pennsylvania
MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER, Washington JOHN W. MANNION, New York
MARK HARRIS, North Carolina YASSAMIN ANSARI, Arizona
MARK B. MESSMER, Indiana
RANDY FINE, Florida
R.J. Laukitis, Staff Director
Veronique Pluviose, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
KEVIN KILEY, California, Chairman
MARY E. MILLER, Illinois SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon,
GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania Ranking Member
BURGESS OWENS, Utah JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut
MICHAEL A. RULLI, Ohio SUMMER L. LEE, Pennsylvania
JAMES C. MOYLAN, Guam JOHN W. MANNION, New York
RYAN MACKENZIE, Pennsylvania FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida
MARK HARRIS, North Carolina ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina
MARK B. MESSMER, Indiana YASSAMIN ANSARI, Arizona
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on September 10, 2025............................... 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Kiley, Hon. Kevin, Chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
Elementary, and Secondary Education........................ 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 4
Bonamici, Hon. Suzanne, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education............. 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 9
WITNESSES
Neily, Nicole, President and Founder, Defending Education.... 11
Prepared statement of.................................... 13
Shufutinsky, Dr. Brandy, Director, Education and National
Security Foundation for Defense of Democracies............. 18
Prepared statement of.................................... 20
Jacobs, Rabbi Jill, CEO, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human
Rights..................................................... 48
Prepared statement of.................................... 50
Lerman, Rachel, Vice Chair and Director, Appeals and Critical
Motions, The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights
Under Law.................................................. 67
Prepared statement of.................................... 70
ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS
Ranking Member Bonamici:
Motion to Table: Subpoena of Stephen Miller.............. 105
Letter to Representative Kiley from Karen Marder......... 106
Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'', a Representative in Congress
from the State of Virginia:
Article dated July 10, 2025, from the National Education
Association (NEA), titled ``NEA Statement on Action
Taken by Delegates at 2025 Representative Assembly''... 108
Article dated July 14, 2025, from the National Education
Association (NEA), titled ``NEA Statement on
Representative Assembly Recommendation''............... 113
QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD
Response to question submitted for the record by:
Rabbi Jill Jacobs........................................ 122
Ms. Rachel Lerman........................................ 126
Ms. Nicole Neily......................................... 132
Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky................................... 137
FROM PLAYGROUND TO CLASSROOM: THE
SPREAD OF ANTISEMITISM IN K-12 SCHOOLS
----------
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and
Secondary Education,
Committee on Education and Workforce,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:17 a.m., in
Room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Kevin Kiley
(Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Kiley, Miller, Thompson, Owens,
Rulli, Moylan, Mackenzie, Harris, Messmer, Walberg, Bonamici,
Hayes, Lee, Mannion, Wilson, Adams, Ansari, and Scott.
Also present: Representative Fine.
Staff present: Jenna Berger, Investigative Counsel; Lexi
Boccuzzi, Investigator; Antonette Bowman, FDD Fellow; Vlad
Cerga, Director of Information Technology; Maren Emmerson,
Staff Assistant; Cabell Fleet, Intern; Amy Raaf Jones, Director
of Education and Human Services Policy; Libby Kearns, Press
Assistant; Isaiah Knox, Legislative Assistant; Campbell Ladd,
Clerk; R.J. Laukitis, Staff Director; Danny Marca, Director of
Information Technology; R.J. Martin, Professional Staff Member;
Audra McGeorge, Communications Director; Eli Mitchell,
Legislative Assistant; Ethan Pann, Deputy Press Secretary and
Digital Director; Ian Prince, Professional Staff Member; Chance
Russell, Economist and Policy Advisor; Dominico Sassano,
Intern; Kent Talbert, Investigative Counsel; Leah Raymond,
Intern; Anders Vendt, Legislative Assistant; Ann Vogel,
Director of Operations; James Whittaker, Damian Arambula,
Minority Intern; Ellie Berenson, Minority Press Assistant;
Ilana Brunner, Minority General Counsel; Christian Haines,
Minority General Counsel; Sarah Holehouse, Minority Intern;
Maxine Jones, Minority Intern; Alexandra Pernie, Minority
Intern; Stephanie Lalle, Minority Communications Director;
Raiyana Malone, Minority Press Secretary; Kwesi Matthews,
Minority Einstein Fellow; Marie McGrew, Minority Press
Assistant; Eleazar Padilla, Minority Staff Assistant; Veronique
Pluviose, Minority Staff Director; Banyon Vassar, Minority
Director of IT.
Chairman Kiley. The Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
Elementary and Secondary Education will come to order. I note
that a quorum is present. Without objection, the Chair is
authorized to call a recess at any time. Good morning. Over the
past 2 years, the Committee on Education and Workforce has been
instrumental in investigating the horrifying rise in
antisemitism at universities across the country.
Following this Committee's oversight, several prominent
university Presidents have stepped down, and we have seen
important reforms at leading institutions. Progress, however,
remains uneven, and far too many Jewish students continue to
face discrimination, harassment, and civil rights violations at
universities across the country.
This jarring State of affairs is unfortunately not limited
to higher education. Antisemitism is also a growing problem in
our K-12 education system. At some schools in my home State,
California, the antisemitic environment is so hostile that
Jewish children are withdrawing and transferring to other
schools.
Even the California Department of Education has found
ethnic studies curricula to be antisemitic in multiple school
districts. As with higher education, there are clear factors
driving antisemitism in K-12 schools. Today's hearing will
address these underlying causes.
First, teachers colleges increasingly prime faculty to see
themselves as activists rather than educators, prioritizing
divisive ideologies and casting Israel as an oppressor, instead
of focusing on preparing future teachers.
Second, local and national teachers' unions abuse their
monopolies to put antisemitic activism into action. Take the
National Education Association for example, which the Committee
recently announced it will investigate. The NEA uses its
position as the largest union in the country to spread
antisemitism nationwide.
In July, its representative assembly unbelievably voted to
ban one of the Nation's premiere antisemitism watchdogs, the
Anti-Defamation League. Third, an expansive network of outside
groups partners with school districts to promote the use of
instructional material that traffics in antisemitic tropes.
Such groups often advance foreign interests and an anti-Israel
agenda.
These driving factors incite severe discrimination against
Jewish students and teachers, forcing many to move schools to
avoid being targeted by their peers and colleagues.
Administrative malaise or even prejudice, at the school,
district, and State level has allowed antisemitism to fester
and even become normalized.
Many of the incidents documented by our witnesses today
truly shock the conscience. I will tell you that I have also
met personally with many students in our K-12 system, who have
had to live through things that we would never have imagined in
this country; outright discrimination, sometimes you know the
discrimination and the bigotry is couched, cloaked in simply,
you know, anti-Israel rhetoric or other tropes.
Sometimes it is just outright undisguised antisemitism that
they are confronted with as they are just going about their
lives, trying to get an education in our public school system.
This disgraceful reality that we are faced with, that one of
the world's most ancient retrograde prejudices has deeply
infected our public education system, demands decisive action.
We must use every tool available to protect students across
America and to stop poisonous ideologies from corrupting their
schooling. My colleagues and I are committed to understanding
why antisemitism has gone unchecked at the K-12 level and to
ensuring a safe learning environment for Jewish students.
I look forward to hearing the testimony of our witnesses
today, as it will certainly inform this Committee's ongoing
work, and with that I will turn to the Ranking Member for an
opening statement.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Kiley follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. Thank you
to the witnesses. We can all agree that schools are responsible
for creating safe, learning environments for students,
teachers, and faculty, free from discrimination, harassment,
and violence. There is no question that antisemitic acts of
harassment and intimidation have increased, especially since
October 7th of 2023.
As I have said repeatedly in this Committee, we must do
more. This is now the 11th hearing we have had on antisemitism
in the past few years, and what has happened? Are things
better? No. Antisemitism is on the rise, and tensions and
divisions have increased.
As the mother of Jewish children, I know and understand
that we can and must do more to protect Jewish students and
Jewish Americans who are threatened, harassed, and attacked
because of who they are. Once again, I do not see the work of
this Committee as productive in accomplishing this stated goal.
Today's hearing and multiple past hearings have been used
to attack schools and their leaders and educators, rather than
to have a substantive discussion about how to curb
antisemitism. Some on this Committee recently belittled and
shamed the now former President of Northwestern University,
Michael Schill, a descendant of Holocaust survivors.
This was personal, beyond policy differences. They gloated
when he resigned, excuse me, and that does not stop the spread
of antisemitism. One of our strongest tools is the Office for
Civil Rights in the Department of Education. OCR is dedicated
to investigating and resolving civil rights violations,
including antisemitic instances at schools and universities.
The Trump administration fired almost half of OCR's staff
and closed 7 of their 12 regional offices. Instead of offering
real solutions, Republicans employ antisemitism as an excuse to
turn our Nation's civil rights laws upside down and undermine
public education.
We have seen this most prominently with higher education,
and it is clear the Committee is now seeking to do the same
thing to our local public, elementary, middle, and high
schools.
The reality is that the Trump administration and
congressional Republicans are using the real plight of Jewish
students experiencing antisemitism to destabilize institutions
they do not approve of, whether institutions of higher
education or teachers' unions. If you wonder why, here is a
quote from the Academy Magazine last spring.
``Donald Trump is coming for America's universities and
higher education workers for the same reason that Benito
Mussolini demanded loyalty oaths in 1931, and Viktor Orban
launched a `vicious smear campaign' against Hungary's premiere
university in 2019.''
Our commitment to open inquiry over propaganda to
persuasion over coercion and to democracy over dictatorship
provides a check on authoritarian rule. I will add that all of
this is happening while Republicans in Congress continue to
refuse to address the antisemitic cancer that is metastasizing
in their own party, including in the Trump White House, and
against the backdrop of the promotion of white Christian
nationalists into key government roles.
I have consistently called out the multiple Trump White
House officials with ties to antisemitic extremists, but my
colleagues have not, including the liaison to the Department of
Homeland Security, the Communications Director for the Office
of Management and Budget, the Deputy Press Secretary of the
Department of Defense who posted Nazi slogans on her social
media accounts, and promoted the antisemitic great replacement
conspiracy theory.
The leader of President Trump's Antisemitism Task Force
agreed that the President could ``revoke someone's Jew card''
and shared a post on social media from the former leader of a
white supremacist group organization that called for the
``Nazification of America.''
The current White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy,
Stephen Miller, is known as a racist and a white nationalist.
The Rabbinical Assembly called for his firing during the first
Trump administration because of his white supremacist views,
and so did 25 Jewish Members of Congress who wrote these
hateful views, have no place in our government, much less steps
from the Oval Office.
At this time of rising antisemitism, xenophobia, racism and
white supremacy, we must forcefully call out and refuse to
accept intolerance or hate anywhere within our government. Now
Stephen Miller has far reaching influence in the White House.
In an interview President Trump said that it would be a
downgrade if he appointed Stephen Miller as National Security
Advisor, instead saying that Stephen is much higher on the
totem pole than that.
Mr. Chairman, you just criticized the trafficking of
antisemitic tropes, and you said to use every tool possible.
What will truly help Jewish students, and Jewish Americans will
be to determine why the Trump administration has been
infiltrated by white nationalists and antisemites.
To ascertain their reasoning for dismantling the Office of
Civil Rights, defunding universities and undermining public
schools will hurt students, Jewish and other, instead of
providing them a safe place to learn. If this Committee truly
cares about Jewish students and fighting antisemitism, we do
have an obligation.
We have an obligation to, as the Chairman said, use every
tool possible, and to exert our full authority. Therefore, Mr.
Chairman, I move that the Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
Elementary, and Secondary Education subpoena Stephen N. Miller,
White House Deputy Chief of Staff to Policy, to come before
this Committee as a witness, no later than 30 days from the
date of adoption of this motion to answer for the Trump
administration's antisemitic actions, and to answer for
defunding the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights,
which will exacerbate antisemitism at our Nation's schools.
Chairman Kiley. The gentlelady has made a motion to
authorize a subpoena in accordance with Rule XI, clause 2(k)(6)
of the Rules of the House of Representatives. That motion will
be held in abeyance, and we will continue.
Ms. Bonamici. I look forward to the discussion on the
motion, and I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Ranking Member Bonamici
follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Kiley. I will now introduce our witnesses. Our
first witness is--sorry, actually, before I do that, pursuant
to Committee Rule 8(c), all members who wish to insert written
statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the
Committee Clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5
p.m., 14 days after this hearing.
Without objection, the hearing record will remain open for
14 days to allow for the statements and other extraneous
material noted during the hearing to be submitted for the
official hearing record.
I note that some of our colleagues who are not permanent
members of this Subcommittee may be joining us at this hearing.
I will now introduce our witnesses. Our first witness is Ms.
Nicole Neily, the President and Founder of Defending Education
in Washington, DC.
Our second witness is Brandy Shufutinsky, the Director of
Education and National Security at the Foundation for Defense
of Democracies in Washington, DC. Our third witness is Rabbi
Jill Jacobs, the CEO of T'ruah, The Rabbinic Call for Human
Rights in New York, New York.
Our fourth witness is Ms. Rachel Lerman, the Vice Chair and
Director of Appeals and Critical Motions at the Louis D.
Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law in Los Angeles,
California.
We thank the witnesses for being here today, and we look
forward to your testimony. Pursuant to Committee Rules, I would
ask that you each limit your oral presentation to a 3-minute
summary of your written statement, as Committee members have
many questions for you, the clock will count down from 3
minutes.
However, pursuant to Committee Rule 8(d) and Committee
practice, we will not cut you off from your testimony until you
reach the 5-minute mark. I would also like to remind the
witnesses to be aware of their responsibility to provide
accurate information to the Subcommittee. I will first
recognize Ms. Neily for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MS. NICOLE NEILY, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, DEFENDING
EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Ms. Neily. Chairman Kiley, Ranking Member Bonamici, and
distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for
inviting me. We all saw what happened at universities following
October 7th.
Less well known though is how K to 12 schools across the
country have faced similar problems. Discrimination and
harassment based on national origin or shared ancestry is never
acceptable, but when directed at minor children who are unable
to defend themselves, it is particularly vile.
Frighteningly, our country's learners are now being taught
the world's oldest hatred by the very people entrusted to shape
young minds. Many teachers today are activists. In most states,
aspiring teachers must obtain credentials through education
schools before entering a classroom.
However, America's schools of education now instruct
teachers to view the world through an oppressor/oppressed
matrix, in which inconvenient minorities like Jews and Asians
are categorized as oppressors. That teaching is a political
act, and that the job is to cultivate social justice activists
and change agents.
It is little wonder that our children are being used as
foot soldiers to avenge perceived historical injustices. Unions
are manipulating teachers. Activists have spent the last decade
infiltrating the Nation's two largest teachers' unions to
enlist them in the fight against Israel, an effort that has
yielded significant dividends.
Unions have served as a superhighway to disseminate Jew
hatred for years, with support for antisemitic resolutions,
coordinated through special interest caucuses like Educators
for Palestine. In July, NEA members voted to sever ties with
the Anti-Defamation League at their annual meeting, only
walking back the vote following massive backlash.
This is an issue not only at the national level, but also
State and local. Back in 2021, unions in LA and San Francisco
both voted on BDS resolutions. More recently, the Massachusetts
Teachers Association has obsessed over Israel, voting on
several anti-Israel resolutions, hosting multiple webinars on
the topic, and promoting biased resources.
Activist networks create an echo chamber. Classroom
antisemitism is reinforced by outside activist networks, like
the Arab Resource Organizing Center or AROC, which currently
has a memorandum of understanding with San Francisco Unified to
provide workshops in classrooms focused on cultural
empowerment.
AROC regularly leads disruptive pro-Palestine protests,
shutting down the Bay Bridge in 2023 and occupying Senator Alex
Padilla's office 2 weeks ago. Groups like BLM at School and the
Middle Eastern Children's Alliance provide teachers with
lessons and activities that can be incorporated into the school
day.
Accordingly, teachers spread biased information. In
classrooms, an alarming number of teachers have exploited their
authority over students to teach a one-sided version of the
conflict to captive audiences of minors, demonizing Israel and
pressuring student newspapers to even alter coverage of the
war.
Others have tried to influence coworkers, lobbying peers to
donate to Hamas linked charities and confronting colleagues
with different views.
Administrative inaction encourages bad behavior. Sadly,
anti-Jewish incidents have not been adjudicated with the same
determination as similar acts committed against other ethnic
groups, sending a clear message to students and families that
not all individuals are valued equally.
Districts avoided making public statements after 10/7,
unlike the way they did after the death of George Floyd and the
Atlanta spa shooting. Other districts simply swept problems
under the rug. In California's Sequoia's Union District, the
school dismissed swastikas at a school as mere Buddhist
religious symbols.
Pro-Palestinian walkouts, frequently facilitated by
administrators were tolerated at a time when walkouts on other
issues would be punished, demonstrating a clear viewpoint
discrimination issue.
K to 12 antisemitism is now a self-perpetuating ecosystem,
and pupils are paying the price. Although it will not be easy
to address this problem, identifying the root causes and
vectors is a critical first step because American children
deserve an education free from bias.
Jewish students deserve an education free from harassment
so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it
interferes with their learning. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Neily follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Kiley. Thank you very much. I will next recognize
Dr. Shufutinsky for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF DR. BRANDY SHUFUTINSKY, DIRECTOR, EDUCATION AND
NATIONAL SECURITY FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Ms. Shufitinsky. Chairman Kiley, Vice Chair Miller, Ranking
Member Bonamici, members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies Program, thank you. On
behalf of the Foundation for Democracies Program and Education
and National Security, thank you for the opportunity to
testify.
The sharp rise of antisemitism in our Nation's universities
and K through 12 schools, those sparked by the terrorist
attacks of October 7, 2023, is part of an upsurge that has been
many years in coming. Elected officials and community leaders
have started to address the problem in educational settings and
materials, but there is considerable amount of work to still be
done.
FDD's Education and National Security Program is
researching root causes, which include domestic maligned actors
and foreign funding. We have started to uncover some disturbing
findings. There are multiple ways that anti-Jewish and anti-
American ideology is becoming institutionalized in K through 12
education, including teacher training programs, foreign funded
materials, radical union members, and curriculum development
organizations.
FDD has found foreign funding going directly to developing
curriculum and K through 12 teacher salaries in multiple
states. Multiple public-school districts receive funds from
Qatari Foundation International, an instrument of the Qatari
Royal Family that is somehow able to operate as a 501 (c)(3) in
the United States, outside of Foreign Agent Registration Act
regulations.
Outside organizations frequently partner with school
districts to provide teacher training and curriculum
development. This has opened the door for maligned domestic
actors, such as the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, known
by its acronym AROC. In 2023, AROC not only provided teacher
training, but also direct services to students in San
Francisco's public schools.
On October 7th, on its Instagram page, this organization
endorsed the kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of 1,200
Israelis, calling for a protest in front of the Israeli Embassy
on October 8th. Within 2 weeks, AROC had produced a tool kit
guide for K through 12 students on how to conduct student
walkouts.
AROC is but one of many maligned domestic actors that have
ties to U.S. designated foreign terrorist organizations that
are developing curriculum for children as young as
kindergarten. Our research has also found universities to be a
source that spreads anti-Jewish biased materials into K through
12 schools because they train teachers and develop programs and
curriculum.
For example, the University of California at Santa Cruz
works closely with the Liberated Ethnic Studies Coalition, a
group that celebrated October 7th, to introduce anti-Jewish
curriculum into California schools through the new ethnic
studies mandate. The connections between universities in K
through 12 school districts must not be ignored.
FDD has uncovered evidence at the Nation's largest teachers
unions, such as the United Teachers Los Angeles, are
perpetuating antizionism and antisemitism in our schools.
Across the Nation, groups that are hostile to the Jewish State,
and even to the Jewish people, have found multiple avenues of
influence through which they can quietly shape our education
system.
The most pressing need right now is for transparency, so
that parents and their elected representatives can see what is
taught in children's classrooms, who is providing it, and who
is paying for it. Thank you again for the opportunity to
testify, and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Shufutinsky follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Kiley. Thanks very much. I will next recognize
Rabbi Jacobs for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF RABBI JILL JACOBS, CEO, T'RUAH: THE RABBINIC CALL
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Rabbi Jacobs. Thank you, Chairman Kiley and Ranking Member
Bonamici, for the opportunity to testify before you today. I am
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the CEO of T'ruah, The Rabbinic Call for
Human Rights, which represents more than 2,300 rabbis and
cantors who serve Jewish communities in 47 states.
We work to advance democracy and human rights. I am also a
graduate of public schools and the parent of two public school
students. Rabbis are on the front lines of fighting
antisemitism in schools, both supporting families and bringing
issues to school officials.
They know the pain of Jewish children who have encountered
swastikas graffitied on school property and more. Classmates
who are performing Nazi salutes, and they have heard their
peers mocking the murders of Israeli Jews.
Most school professionals are committed to ensuring the
safety and well-being of Jewish students, but antisemitism
permeates our society today, just as it has in so many places
for more than 2,000 years.
Schools, as well as workplaces, political arenas, and
professional associations are not immune. The response must be
education, not punishment. My message is simple, antisemitism
in schools is serious. We have a responsibility to ensure that
Jewish students, and all students, are safe.
Unfortunately, Congress and this administration are taking
a dangerous and wrongheaded approach that subordinates the
needs of Jewish students to a political agenda.
Half a year into this administration, the evidence is clear
that our government is more focused on defunding public
education, weakening labor unions, and philanthropies, and
cracking down on immigrants than on keeping Jewish children or
adults safe.
The Jewish community has spoken loud and clear. In April, a
survey of U.S. Jews showed that the majority disapprove of the
administration's approach to antisemitism. Our community is
paying that this administration is cynically using our fears as
justification for dismantling the very Democratic institutions
and protections that have kept Jews safe.
Federal action this year mirrors Project Esther, a plan
developed by the Heritage Foundation, without participation by
Jewish organizations or antisemitism experts, which wrongly
frames the core institutions of liberal democracy as a threat
to Jews and to American civilization.
If we really want to put a student's safety first, we need
to invest in the following. First, education. We cannot just
punish or sanction our way out of this problem. We need schools
to be better equipped to teach about and respond to
antisemitism.
Vilifying our teachers, our school systems and teachers'
unions, or cutting public education funding does not do
anything to help Jewish children or teachers.
Second, prevention. Congress should urge the administration
to restore the Hate Crime Prevention and Response Program it
authorized. This administration has eliminated virtually every
prevention tool, including 46 million dollars in hate crime
prevention grants.
The nonprofit security grants program is important, but our
children need a better plan for their security than bulletproof
glass and barricades.
Third, democracy. Jews are terrified about the erosion of
our constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, worship
and association and due process. These are the rights that have
allowed us to flourish and to be safe in the United States.
Fourth, inclusion and equity. Jews need programs to promote
inclusion and respect for all groups. The assault on diversity,
equity and inclusion ultimately does not increase Jewish
safety, especially not for Jews who are also people of color,
disabled or transgender.
These programs must better serve Jews, not be eliminated.
Fifth, protection for all students. The administration's
singular focus on antisemitism to the exclusion of other forms
of bigotry singles out Jewish students. Some have expressed
fear that they will be scapegoated for harsh measures taken in
their name.
Finally, I implore you to lead by example and speak out
against antisemitism. This administration and Members of
Congress must take the same stand on antisemitism that they are
asking of schools, universities, unions and other entities.
An administration truly dedicated to Jewish protection
would not be inhabited by cabinet members and staff who openly
espouse antisemitic and other bigoted beliefs, some of whom
have ties to neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations.
Nor would an administration committed to fighting
antisemitism have pardoned the January 6th insurrectionists,
many of whom promoted antisemitic conspiracies. An
administration committed to fighting antisemitism would not
have dismantled the Office for Civil Rights, the only office
with the expertise and mandate to investigate instances of
antisemitism, and other bias in schools and universities.
Nor would such an administration be breaking down the
separation of church and State and encouraging the imposition
of Christianity in schools. We need solutions that protect
Jewish students, and the Democratic Institutions that make it
possible for Jews and other minorities to flourish in our
country.
Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to
answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Rabbi Jacobs follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Kiley. Thank you very much, and last, Ms. Lerman,
you are recognized for your testimony.
STATEMENT OF MS. RACHEL LERMAN, VICE CHAIR AND DIRECTOR,
APPEALS AND CRITICAL MOTIONS, THE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS CENTER FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS UNDER LAW, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Ms. Lerman. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Kiley,
Ranking Member Bonamici, and members of the House Education and
Workforce Committee. I am honored to appear before you to
address the rising antisemitism in our K through 12 schools. I
am the Vice Chair of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human
Rights Under Law, which I joined as a full-time lawyer after
almost three decades in private practice as an Appellate
lawyer.
I am testifying on behalf of the Brandeis Center to tell
you that real children in K-12 schools are being harassed,
excluded and silenced, just for being Jewish, or because they
are perceived think they are Jewish. This has to stop.
A lot of attention has been focused on antisemitism in
higher ed, as you mentioned. I am here to tell you that the
problem in K-12 is even larger. Thanks to antisemitic messaging
by teachers and third-party contractors like AROC and Liberated
Ethnic Studies Coalition, Jewish students in K-12 schools are
being bullied and shunned by their peers, solely because of
their Jewish heritage, and their connection to Israel, the
homeland of the Jewish people. No child should have to hide
their identity or endure harassment because of their identity
in an American school.
As you know, Title VI protects Jewish students who are
targeted on the basis of their Jewish ethnic identity in both
college and in K-12. Executive Order for combating antisemitism
that was issued in 2019, E.O. 138899 confirms this, it also
requires agencies that apply Title VI to consider the IHRA
definition of antisemitism when they analyze allegations of
antisemitism.
IHRA is clear that criticism of government policies,
Israel's government policies, just like that leveled at any
other country is not antisemitic, but demonizing the Jewish
State, saying it has no right to exist, or using a double
standard might well be. Let me say a word about teachers
unions, which play a very significant role in bringing
antisemitic and anti-Israel content into the classroom.
The unions indoctrinate schoolteachers, inviting them to
participate in events, celebrating the October 7 massacre,
celebrating. One teacher that I work with resigned from the
union after receiving this bulletin, which went to all teachers
in San Francisco, and he has since been attacked by the union
as a result.
According to the union, sorry, teachers who resign from the
union are disloyal to their colleagues and are freeloading.
Unions in California and Massachusetts, among others, create
and provide teachers with instructional materials that teach
hate. For example, teachers are instructed to tell young
children that a group of bullies called Zionists stole
Palestinian land by force. They even provide coloring books
telling very young children to draw Zionist leaders taking
money to harm Palestinians.
The message is clear, Zionists are evil, and Jews who do
not renounce their religious or ethnic allegiance to the State
of Israel are also evil, so it is no surprise the Jewish
teachers and students are shunned by their peers, or that
Jewish students are bullied to the point that their families
are moving them out of their public schools.
I urge this Committee and Congress to act decisively to
ensure that are civil rights laws are enforced, that schools
are held accountable, and that every child in America is able
to learn in an environment free from fear and hostility. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lerman follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Kiley. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Under Committee Rule 9, we will now question witnesses under
the 5-minute rule. I will first recognize the Chairman of the
Full Committee, Mr. Walberg of Michigan for 5 minutes.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to the
panel for being here. Let me make a couple comments initially
as coming from what I have heard. I respect highly, and
appreciate my Democrat colleagues, or Democratic colleagues is
the proper term. I understand that the rhetoric at times is
talking a game that they are expected to talk by sadly, the
radical base.
During this past--their past opportunity in the majority,
these issues that they are expressing concern that we are not
dealing with, and yes we are, were not addressed, including the
feckless Office of Civil Rights, who were not doing their job.
Probably could have continued to do what they have not done,
except for the fact that October 7th exposed the antisemitic
wrought within our graves of academe, our higher education
institutions.
COVID helped to expose multiple concerns in our K-12
classrooms, as parents for the first time in many cases, got a
chance to see what was happening or not happening in their
school classrooms. The luxury of having served on this
Committee now into my 17th year allows me to look back
historically and say this is why it has finally come to a head,
and we have to deal with this.
The first aspect is exposing what is going on. We can take
action, and we will continue. As our Committee dives deeper
into oversight of antisemitism in K-12 schools, it would be
helpful to get a clearer picture of the most problematic
districts in this space.
Ms. Lerman, in your view, which school districts are the
worst actors when it comes to failing to address, or even
encouraging antisemitism?
Ms. Lerman. I will turn on my machine. Let me preface by
saying that I live in Los Angeles and am most aware of what is
happening in California. The Brandeis Center is centered in
Washington, DC, and has offices in New York, but I am seeing in
California, particularly in the Bay area in San Francisco, and
Oakland, and Berkeley, some really alarming things.
I am aware of schools in Massachusetts and Philadelphia
that are also experiencing similar things, and we have are
taking action in New York against Origins School, which also
has very severe problems.
Mr. Walberg. Okay. Dr. Shufutinsky and Ms. Neily, given the
work you have done all across the country, are there any school
districts you would add and highlight to this list?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Yes, San Diego, Philadelphia, New York
City Public Schools, Chicago.
Mr. Walberg. Ms. Neily.
Ms. Neily. Montgomery County, Maryland and Fairfax County
Public Schools come to mind in the immediate region.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you. Our Committee has conducted
extensive oversight into antisemitism in higher education. Ms.
Neily, can you please describe whether universities are
contributing to antisemitism in the K-12 space specifically,
and if so, how?
Ms. Neily. University created curriculums are problematic
because they give the premature of legitimacy. As Chairman
Kiley knows, you have looked extensively into the Brown
University's Choices Program. That is assumed to be beyond
reproach because of Brown University's reputation itself, but
that program was underwritten by the Qatar Foundation and is
full of historical distortions about the State of Israel.
That is only one of many, but universities are giving the
impression that these programs are completely legitimate and
acceptable.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you. Dr. Shufutinsky, and Ms. Lerman, do
you want to add anything about how antisemitism in higher
education is contributing to the wrought developing in public
schools in K-12?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Yes. I can give a really good example.
University of California Santa Cruz has a critical race and
ethnics studies department. It is a direct funnel of their
graduates into the K to 12 public school system, and because of
the mandate, the requirement for students in California to take
an ethnics studies class to graduate, it is making these
teachers, these new graduates, the leaders in these K through
12 classrooms. When we look at the curriculum that they are
creating, it is not just anti-Israel and anti-Jewish, it is
anti-American, and it is calling for students to commit to
engaging in activism, rather than scholarship.
Mr. Walberg. Thank you, and Ms. Lerman, I am sure you had
more, but my time is expired, and I have got to abide by the
rules. I yield back.
Chairman Kiley. Ranking Member Bonamici of Oregon is
recognized.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Rabbi Jacobs, you
said in your testimony that if we fight antisemitism in ways
that only divide Jews and their neighbors, we are only
isolating Jews in ways that sew greater division, and that
ultimately make Jews less safe.
Is the Trump administration's approach the best way to
reduce antisemitism in schools? If not, what would be more
effective?
Rabbi Jacobs. Thank you. Jews have found success and have
flourished and found safety in this country because it is a
liberal democracy with strong protections for the rights of
both individuals and groups, including religious groups and
different ethnic groups.
Something that I have heard very often from students is
that the Trump administration's hyperfocus on antisemitism is
actually marginalizing Jewish students, and that many Jewish
students are afraid that the attacks, for example on
universities, the defunding of medical research in the name of
fighting antisemitism, which does nothing of course to fight
antisemitism, only serves to further marginalize Jewish
students.
What we need is a comprehensive approach that is going to
protect the rights of all students. Unfortunately, instead the
Trump administration is trying to dismantle democracy, and as
we have already heard, including eviscerating the Office for
Civil Rights, which is the office that has both the mandate,
and also the expertise to address instances of antisemitism and
other bias.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you. Just a couple days ago a U.S.
Senator, a Republican, U.S. Senator said America is a white
homeland. Rabbi, are the policies of the Trump administration
and statements like that, the policies like mass deportation,
repealing environmental protections, promoting white Christian
nationalist ideas, and individuals, are those consistent with
Jewish values?
Rabbi Jacobs. These policies are absolutely not consistent
with Jewish values. Judaism has thousands-year-old history that
is based around figuring out how to create a system and a
society that is just for everybody. Unfortunately, the Trump
administration's attacks on immigrants, gutting of social
services, means that this country is no longer able to serve
the needs of everybody, and we find that many members of our
own society are being marginalized.
The Jewish community has been very outspoken for many, many
years, hundreds of years defending the rights of immigrants,
defending the rights of those who are in need, defending of
course public education.
Ms. Bonamici. Rabbi, we know that this country was founded
on freedom of religion, so when we see this administration
flaunting the U.S. Constitution, we see people being picked up
without due process off the streets. What message does that
send to the Jewish community?
Rabbi Jacobs. This sends a message that the administration
is not actually concerned with what the Jewish community is
saying that it wants, and what Jewish leaders are asking for,
including this administration's attack on the separation of
church and State will certainly result in the imposition of a
certain type of Christianity in schools in a way that only
makes Jewish students less safe.
We heard this even earlier this week in the President's
remarks at the Museum of the Bible, saying that he wants to
bring more religion into school, which certainly will be
Christianity, and that of course makes Jewish students, and
students--other students who are not Christian, less safe in
their schools.
Ms. Bonamici. Absolutely. In the remaining time, Rabbi,
will you please tell us about Project Esther, which you
mentioned in your written testimony? Who wrote it and what are
the consequences if its policies are implemented?
Rabbi Jacobs. Thank you. Project Esther is a plan that was
written by the Heritage Foundation, without participation of
Jewish organizations, or of experts on antisemitism, and it
purports to be about addressing antisemitism, but actually it
casts many, or most of the institutions of liberal democracy as
antisemitic and sets out a plan for dismantling them.
Bizarrely, it even criticizes the Jewish community for its
approach to antisemitism, and its supposed complacency on
antisemitism. Instead of addressing the issues that the Jewish
community is actually bringing to the table, Project Esther is
all about dismantling democracy, and unfortunately, this
administration seems to be following that plan laid out by the
Heritage Foundation, rather than what Jewish leaders and Jewish
communities are asking for.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you. Rabbi, we have seen, particularly
in this administration, a lot of disparaging remarks, a lot of
hate speech. How does that affect the Jewish community when we
see a Presidential administration dividing rather than, you
said, prioritizing education to address antisemitism?
Rabbi Jacobs. It certainly sends a message that this
administration is not interested in the safety of Jews, or of
other communities. Certainly, when there is people in the
administration who have ties to Neo-Nazis and white
supremacists, that does not make the Jewish community feel any
safer.
Ms. Bonamici. Understand, and I have a pretty long list of
those, but I did not read them off in my statement. Thank you,
and I yield back.
Chairman Kiley. Mr. Harris from North Carolina is
recognized.
Mr. Harris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to all of
you on the panel for being a part of this today. A very
important, important theme that we are talking about. Let me
just say Ms. Neily, in your view, which local or national
unions have been the most problematic in terms of spreading
antisemitic course content, and indoctrinating teachers?
Ms. Neily. Oh, we are going to need more than 5 minutes. I
would start with the NEA. As we talked about their annual
meeting this summer, aside from their EDL vote, they were
mocking, threatening, and harassing Jewish delegates. They
denied a speaker the opportunity to recognize the 50th
anniversary of the Jewish Affairs Caucus.
Actually laughed and clapped when the death of a Holocaust
survivor in Boulder was mentioned. Going back as far as 2018,
annual meeting resolutions condemned U.S. aid to Israel,
talking about apartheid atrocities and gross violations of
human rights. Their handbook talks about using digital
communications to educate members on antizionism and
antisemitism and has downplayed the Holocaust targeting of
Jews, framing it as just a bigger struggle.
That is really, you know, dehumanizing that. Then of course
the Educators for Palestine Caucus, but the UFT in New York is
also awful. The Portland Association of Teachers, I mean we
could be here all day, sir.
Mr. Harris. Well, listen, I agree with you, and the largest
teachers union in the country, the NEA, that you referenced
right off the bat, is for some reason aligning itself with this
hateful ideology. You referenced this summer at their annual
conference they voted to cut ties with the Anti-Defamation
League's education materials, antisemitism, and the Holocaust.
You referenced the 2025 handbook omitted Jews in this
description of the Holocaust, and referred instead, and I want
to just add a little bit to what you said by quoting, ``More
than 12 million victims of the Holocaust from different faiths,
ethnicities, races, political beliefs, genders, and gender
identification, ability/disabilities and other targeted
characteristics.''
You work with parents across the country. Do parents feel
comfortable knowing that a union representing their children's
teachers is promoting this antisemitic view of history?
Ms. Neily. Absolutely not. I think that is why we are
seeing in places like Oakland, after the Oakland education had
their unsanctioned teach in about right, following October 7th,
we saw about 30 families leave the district. We are seeing
students and families opt out of the public school system
because they are scared, because they feel unprotected, and
they feel that their teachers are inserting their opinions and
this ideology into classrooms where it has no place.
Mr. Harris. Well, and as you may know, the NEA has a
Federal charter, and given these antisemitic sentiments, not to
mention their other indiscretions to oppose parental rights,
support CRT, keep kids out of school, would you say they are
upholding the mission in their Federal charter when I again
quote, ``To elevate the character and advance the interests of
the profession of teaching?''
Ms. Neily. Absolutely not. I think a Federal charter is
something that is a big deal, it is sacred. With great power
comes great responsibility, and on every level they have let
down families, students, and stakeholders in the education
system.
Mr. Harris. Safe to assume that you think the NEA should
not continue to have this explicit endorsement from Congress?
Ms. Neily. I do not sir, no.
Mr. Harris. I agree, and that is why I introduced the NEA
Charter Repeal Act, and why I hope to see it move forward in
this Congress. I want to move real quickly in the few moments I
have left to Ms. Shufutinsky. We have seen local teachers
unions across the country distribute antisemitic instructional
material to their members.
In Oregon, for example, a union provided a lesson plan that
stated, ``Israel would be a country where rules were mostly
fair for Jewish people with white skin.'' Meanwhile, the
Massachusetts teacher union distributed material that included
a picture of a dollar bill shaped into a Star of David. In your
experience, are unions developing this material on their own,
or are they receiving these type of materials from outside
sources?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Both. We are seeing union members, some of
these caucuses like Ms. Neily mentioned, the Educators Caucus
for Palestine, and some of the teachers unions, developing
curricula, but we are also seeing unions receive curricular
materials from outside sources.
Mr. Harris. Excellent. Well, thank you. Thank you again for
all of your expertise, and the input that you have shared, and
with that Mr. Chairman, I yield back my time.
Chairman Kiley. Representative Hayes of Connecticut is
recognized.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. I just have to compose myself
because the National Education Association is made up of three
million teachers, including myself, and everything that was
just said is blatantly untrue. Rabbi Jacobs, thank you for
coming again before Congress.
I do not know if you were able to watch yesterday's hearing
in the HELP Subcommittee on a very similar topic. We are on the
11th hearing on this topic. The Chairman of the Full Committee
made some quite pointed remarks about AFT President Randi
Weingarten.
I believe that Chairman Walberg said that Randi, who is
Jewish, and married to a Rabbi, something along the lines of,
``Has not said anything, anything, about antisemitism.'' She is
the President of the American Federation of Teachers, and she
quickly responded with at least ten examples of her very public
work to combat antisemitism.
As an expert in this area, can you explain how false
charges or smears of antisemitism undermine the difficult work
we are all trying to do to combat the resurgence of this
ancient problem?
Rabbi Jacobs. Thank you. I did see that instance that you
mentioned, and this was extremely offensive that there would be
an accusation, a false accusation against a Jewish leader, a
Jewish woman leader, who has a very long history, as you
mentioned, of speaking out against antisemitism.
This is just a case in point of why so many in the Jewish
community feel short-changed by the response this
administration, which often uses antisemitism and the real
fears of the Jewish community, as a way to attack political
opponents, as opposed to actually listening to what the Jewish
community is asking for, and dealing with the concrete
instances of antisemitism on the ground.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. I think you lead me into my next
question because once again, we are having our 11th hearing on
antisemitism on the left. As Ranking Member Bonamici, and you
yourself mentioned in your opening remarks, we have done
nothing about documented examples of antisemitic behavior on
the right.
Can you talk a little on the right, particularly within the
Trump administration, can you talk a little bit about what
happens when politicians use antisemitism as a partisan
political tool, as opposed to doing the actual work to help
people?
Rabbi Jacobs. Absolutely. Antisemitism has existed for more
than 2,000 years, and it exists in every space, whether schools
or workplaces, or even the halls of Congress. It is crucial
that all of us address antisemitism where we see it, whether
within our own political camp, or beyond.
I have certainly, in my work, spent a lot of time
addressing antisemitism, both on the right, and also in
progressive spaces. I would expect the same from this
administration. As was mentioned, unfortunately, there are
people who are in the positions of power in this administration
who have ties to Neo-Nazis, who have promulgated antisemitic
stereotypes, of course, the pardoning of the January 6th
insurrectionists, many of whom also push forward antisemitic
stereotypes, makes it very dangerous for Jews.
We have also seen, as I mentioned, the really--the
decimation of the Office for Civil Rights. We have seen that
under Presidents of both parties. The Office for Civil Rights,
and the Department of Education, and the Department of Justice
have had success in addressing and resolving complaints of
antisemitism, or other bias, but they can only do that with
funding.
We need to restore the funding to the Office for Civil
Rights, bring back their experts, bring back their regional
offices, so that they can actually concretely address the
issues that Jewish students are bringing, rather than what the
administration is doing, which is trying to use antisemitism to
dismantle democracy.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you. Getting back to the topic of this
hearing, because I see that it is a back door attempt to attack
public education, to attack the Department of Education, and to
attack labor unions.
As an expert in this field, I am a teacher. If a teacher is
confronted with antisemitic acts on the playground or in the
classroom, are there best practices that they can turn to for
how to address this, and make sure that their students feel
safe, and that they improve understanding within their
classrooms?
Rabbi Jacobs. The first recourse always has to be
education, so education for students, education for teachers,
and for administrators. When instead, the response, as we have
seen in this administration, is punitive, and trying to strip
funding from universities, and from K to 12 education, that
does not help any students. That does not help any teachers
better serve their students.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairman Kiley. Thank you. I will recognize myself for 5
minutes. Rabbi Jacobs, I appreciate you being here today to
testify. You have leveled some accusations against this
Committee that I just wanted to clarify. You said that we are
demonizing teachers unions.
It is true that the NEA recently voted to boycott the Anti-
Defamation League. Do you agree with that decision to boycott
the Anti-Defamation League?
Rabbi Jacobs. I do not agree with that decision. We have
heard a lot of vilification here of teachers' unions, of
teachers, and of administrators, and that is not helpful.
Chairman Kiley. The NEA did vote to boycott the ADL,
correct?
Rabbi Jacobs. The NEA and other organizations engaged with
many different types of material. I will say that T'ruah's
booklet on antisemitism is part of materials that are on the
NEA website, but ultimately, it is the school districts, not
the unions that are deciding on their curriculum.
Chairman Kiley. Sure, but just to clarify, you do disagree
with the decision the NEA made to boycott the ADL, correct?
Rabbi Jacobs. I disagree with that decision.
Chairman Kiley. Thank you.
Rabbi Jacobs. The question is how to move on from there,
and I believe that we need to invest in education at the local
level, and beyond.
Chairman Kiley. Sure. I understand that. I am just saying,
be careful please with the accusations that we are demonizing
this group, and when you actually agree with us about what they
are doing is a very bad thing. You also noted that we have you
criticized us for a hyper focus on antisemitism.
Do you know roughly what percent of the American population
is Jewish?
Rabbi Jacobs. It is about 2 percent.
Chairman Kiley. Do you know last year what percent of
religious based hate crimes were directed against Jewish
individuals?
Rabbi Jacobs. The majority of hate crimes are against
Jewish individuals, that has been true for a long time.
Chairman Kiley. 69 percent, so 2 percent of the population,
69 percent of the hate crimes, so do you think that I hyper
focus on antisemitism, is that the right way to characterize
our work?
Rabbi Jacobs. Well, I will say that the vast majority of
hate crimes, particularly violent hate crimes against Jews and
against other communities are committed by people on the far
right, and I do not see that this is----
Chairman Kiley. I do not care who it is committed by, I
think it is terrible whoever commits these crimes, and so I
think that deriding us for focusing on the issue, I mean Ms.
Lerman, I think I have got that statistic from your testimony.
Is that right? 69 percent of religious based hate crimes?
Ms. Lerman. That is right, that is what----
Chairman Kiley. Mic?
Ms. Lerman. That is what has been reported by the ADL and
the AJC.
Chairman Kiley. I mean do you think that the problem is
that we have too much of a focus on antisemitism given those
facts?
Ms. Lerman. No. I think you absolutely need to focus on
this problem, which has become very large, and I do not really
care whether it is from the right or from the left. There are
some on both sides, but there is no point like arguing which is
worse, so we just need to address the problem.
Chairman Kiley. Thank you very much. I could not agree
more. Dr. Shufutinsky, you have mentioned the liberated ethnic
studies curricula that is going around, especially in
California. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that
is?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Sure. It is a version of ethnic studies
that is actually rooted in the foundation of ethnic studies,
which insists on putting people in either the oppressor
category, or the oppression category, depending on a couple of
things, real or perceive success and skin color.
Chairman Kiley. Yes, and we actually had the superintendent
of Berkeley Unified here last year, whose district has adopted
that curriculum, and there was an example from a classroom
where she defending saying that, ``From the river to the sea,''
is a valid perspective that is being presented.
I was actually in the State Legislature in California when
the legislature voted to mandate ethnic studies as a graduation
requirement, and then at the same time, the Department of
Education produced a model curriculum that was liberated ethnic
studies. It was so bad, it was so blatantly antisemitic, that
the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, which was about a
dozen Democrat lawmakers actually, wrote a letter saying that
this State approved curriculum, ``echoed the propaganda of the
Nazi regime.''
I mean this is their words, their actual words. What does
that tell you that a State adopted curriculum, that would have
been a graduation requirement for every California student is
likened to Nazi propaganda by leading Democrats in the State
even?
Ms. Shufutinsky. I think it shows how pervasive
antisemitism and anti-Jewish bigotry is in education, but I
also want to say one other thing. It also shows the bait and
switch. When people hear the words ``ethnic studies,'' they
think it is the study of different ethnic groups. It is not.
Most decent people would agree that students should be
learning about all of the different communities that make up
the fabric of our country. That is not what the discipline of
ethnic studies is, which is why we saw the blatant
antisemitism, and still see it in multiple versions of ethnic
studies curricula across the country.
Chairman Kiley. It is a huge problem, and just to give the
end of this story, or at least where we are at right now, they
did come up with a revised remodeled curriculum in California
because even the Governor had to say the original was offensive
in so many ways and would never see the light of day.
Then the group that came up with the original version split
off, and they are the ones that are now offering this liberated
version. Even the revised version has huge problems from the
perspective of antisemitism. I raised these on the floor of the
assembly at the time, but it has still passed, and now there
has since been an effort to try to address those before this
graduation requirement takes effect. There is huge lobbying
against this by the very types of groups that we are talking
about today.
Unfortunately, I think that it is going to be necessary for
our Committee to do some real investigations and further
oversight into what is happening precisely at schools like
this, and with a curriculum like this in California and across
the country.
Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania is recognized.
Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We should just get
straight into it. This is yet another hearing for the
Republicans to continue their attacks on against education and
organized labor. It is about promoting rising anti-
intellectualism, and anti-worker sentiment at the same time
because authoritarians cannot thrive in a well-educated country
or well organized one.
We know Republicans do not care about indoctrination. Every
move this administration and its extreme conservative allies
make points to the contrary. The so-called parents' right
movement, which is nothing more than an attempt to suppress
topics that conservatives do not like, or that make them
uncomfortable is just an attempt to further indoctrinate
students who they are upset might be exposed to a full review,
or opportunity through education.
We know this is not about protecting marginalized students,
including Jewish students. Republicans are dismantling the
Department of Education, including the Office for Civil Rights,
and censoring valuable lessons and subjects by banning books,
including books about the Holocaust, or Anne Frank, and the
original sins of this country: the ethnic cleansing of the
indigenous people and the enslavement of African people. In the
second week in office, Trump issues an executive order to end
so-called radical indoctrination in K to 12 schooling. The
executive order states that parents trust America's school to
instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible nation.
What he is really doing is sanitizing history. Not only is
patriotic admiration not quite the purpose of K to 12
education, but we cannot take our lead on patriotism from the
same people who would rather our entire nation fail or go down,
to acknowledge our country's true history and the legacy of its
actions.
Rabbi Jacobs, in your testimony you highlight the
importance of safety, inclusion, and respect in schools. Do you
think the Trump administration's plans for education, including
teaching patriotism and banning books, will make our Jewish
students, or any other students feel safer or more included are
respected?
Rabbi Jacobs. The Trump administration's approach certainly
does not make Jewish students or other students feel seen and
respected and feel a sense of belonging in their classrooms. It
is really important for both Jewish students, and for other
students to be able to see themselves reflected in the
curriculum, so that includes having books with Jewish
characters in the classroom.
It includes teaching about the Jewish experience, both in
the context of American history, and in the context of world
history, and it includes having a curriculum that shows a broad
perspective, in which every student can see their story
reflected.
Unfortunately, as you have mentioned, we have seen many
states adopt the Project 2025 approach, and start to ban books,
which as you have said, have included books about the
Holocaust, including the Diary of Anne Frank.
Ms. Lee. Thank you. It is going to be really hard to do
that while this administration continues to attack and erode
diversity, equity, inclusion programs. For instance, we know
that this administration has essentially threatened to cut
Federal funding for any schools that do not prioritize their
own students, what they know works, the health and safety of
those students, over the needs or the whims of rising
authoritarian.
These programs work. I have talked to teachers who care,
they have taken great strides in closing equity gaps, or
education gaps by including students culturally in the
curriculum, making them feel included in their school's
culture. It works. Let us not forget it was teachers' unions
who led the fight resulting in a Trump appointed Judge ruling
against the administration to preserve a school's ability to
protect civil rights, the student's civil rights.
Public schools have been able to withstand some of the
unrelenting attacks from this administration because their
labor is organized. Villainizing teachers hurts them, but it
also hurts their children that we sent into their classrooms
every day. We ask teachers to educate diverse groups of
students about the most foundational skills, and reading and
math, and also, yes, the most harrowing instances of inhumanity
in our world's history, and during children's most formative
years.
The training and care that goes into developing the skills
is not something we could replace with a whitewashed history
video from PragerU. Really quickly, Rabbi Jacobs, in your
testimony you shared your organization's work to educate
schools and community partners in a way that makes communities
stronger instead of fearful.
Do you think this administration's approach fosters a
strong sense of community in the classroom?
Rabbi Jacobs. Absolutely not. You mentioned the attacks on
DEI. Jewish students actually need diversity, equity, inclusion
programs. Jewish students sometimes need accommodations,
whether it is kosher food, or being able to make up a test that
was given on a holiday, and they need to see their own stories,
as I mentioned, being told in the classroom, and in books in
the classroom.
When there is DEI programs that do not sufficiently include
the Jewish experience, then that has to be addressed, and it
has to be addressed in partnership with schools and with school
districts. Just abolishing the whole idea of diversity and a
belonging of every student, hurts Jewish students, as well as
all students.
Ms. Lee. Thank you. I appreciate your testimony today and I
yield back.
Chairman Kiley. Representative Owens of Utah is recognized.
Mr. Owens. Thank you, Chairman Kiley, for holding this very
important hearing today on antisemitism. It is unfortunate we
have been forced to have to go to the same inquiry for the last
2 years, which includes private and government sector unions,
higher education, teachers, and college accreditation, and now
K through 12.
We need to ask ourselves why are we talking about
kindergarten in this regard? Well, it is because if the goal of
evil is to perpetuate the spread of hate, there is no better
place to start than with our young, our most innocent and most
pliable. Antisemitism is a terrible cancer, that not only
threatens the well-being of Jewish students, but also the
emotional and spiritual health of every other student affected
by it.
Children are not born to judge each other based on race,
creed, color or culture. This happens only when hatred is
taught to children by angry, hate filled, Godless adults. I
watched this in my youth, and Jim Crow South, a Nation Growing,
working to become a more perfect union.
Here we are in 2025, once again, seeing the divisiveness
being taught throughout our entire educational pipeline. I am
here to report this will end on our watch. This Committee is
taking the stance against ideologues who work to infect our
children with the evil cancer of hate.
There is no place in our classrooms, and those who teach it
will soon find themselves no longer compensated by the American
taxpayer. Ms. Neily, your organization, Defending Education,
released a report on teachers' colleges, last year that
described colleges of education as pipelines of turning
teachers into activists.
Can you kind of give us a little more examples of what that
looks like?
Ms. Neily. Sure. Teachers today in teachers colleges are
not learning how to be better educators, how to teach phonics.
Instead, they are learning to view the world through oppressor/
oppressed matrix. As I said in my opening statement, groups
like Jews, or Asians, or even males are considered oppressors.
We are put into these big groups. There is no respect for
the dignity of an individual, of somebody's circumstances that
brought them to where they are, and so things like that, when
teachers that are going into the classroom, having learned
those things, they spread those ideas on.
These are teachers colleges that are at State schools, they
are private schools, and the fact that our teacher licensing
pipeline mandates that you must have a teaching degree from
these schools, a master's degree, a Ph.D., means that you have
to marinate in these ideas, steeped in critical race theory,
queer theory, anti-whiteness, privileged, things like that.
That of course you are going to come out of the other end
if you have been in that program for four, or six, or 8 years.
A complete and utter believer, and I think that is deeply
dangerous.
Mr. Owens. You are describing DEI, okay, imagine the
framework, okay. Ms. Lerman, you mentioned in your written
testimony Brandeis Center brought a lawsuit against a school
district in Santa Ana, California for creating ethnic studies,
which included antisemitic content.
Can you share some of those--that information that was
built in the course of this lawsuit?
Ms. Lerman. This was a procedural lawsuit, but in the
process of getting discovery, we found members of the Committee
that approved these curricula saying, well, how do we handle
the Jewish problem? We saw them agreeing that it would be a
good idea to hold sessions on Passover, so that the Jewish
members would not attend.
We saw one of the Jewish teachers who was on the Committee
called an f'ing baby and a colonialized mind. He was one of the
ones that they did not want appearing on the Passover meeting.
Mr. Owens. Okay. A quick question. Was there any reprimand?
Any consequences to these folks at the end of the day? Anything
happen to these people?
Ms. Lerman. Yes. We reached a settlement with them that
they had to stopped teaching these curricula that were full of
anti-Israel and antisemitic content. They agreed to work with
Jewish organizations to create alternative content. They agreed
that they would follow what we have in California--it is called
controversial issues.
They have to teach both sides of something, not just one
side of something;
Mr. Owens. Okay.
Ms. Lerman. They have to let students disagree.
Mr. Owens. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you.
Ms. Lerman. And so on.
Mr. Owens. Real quick, Dr. Shufutinsky, in your opening
statement you discussed foreign funding for K through 12
programs. Can you give an example of some foreign funding
supporting antisemitic course material or teachers?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Yes. Part of that is coming from Qatari
Foundation International, where they are funding Arabic
language and culture classes in multiple school districts in
multiple states. Some of that course material then is a
complete revision of history, obviously, demonizing the State
of Israel, and also misdefining Jews as an ethnoreligious
group.
Mr. Owens. Okay. Thank you. I just want to say thank you
for this Committee for being so forward thinking and make sure
this ends. We have to make sure that hatred stops teaching our
kids this way, so with that I yield back. Thank you.
Chairman Kiley. Thanks very much. Representative Mannion of
New York is recognized.
Mr. Mannion. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to make a
statement about the teachers of this country. To characterize
them as angry, hate filled, Godless, adults does them a
disservice, as what I found teachers to be in this country, my
colleagues, people I represented, are compassionate, educated,
intelligent educators who are trained to be sure that when they
see instances of antisemitism in their classroom, that it is
immediately addressed.
It is not just their training that assures that those
issues are addressed, there is a network that is built of
administrators, of Offices of Civil Rights at the State and the
Federal level to ensure that all children can learn in an
environment that is supportive. When there are instances of
racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia in the classrooms across
this country, they are addressed.
They are addressed by those dedicated, compassionate
individuals that are trained effectively to make sure that all
of their students are respected, and can learn in a setting
that is supportive, helpful, individualized. I was trained to
be a teacher. I was not trained in an oppressor/oppressive
model.
That is not an accurate depiction of what is happening
across this country and in our classrooms. We have members of
the school board, administrators, parents, students, that are
constantly engaged in a discussion to assure that any form of
racism or antisemitism is addressed.
I have found the statements made to be dishonest, to be
offensive, and insulting to the teachers of this country, and
therefore, the students who learn from them, and with that I
yield the rest of my time to Representative Hayes.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, Representative Mannion. I just want
to clarify for the record a statement was made earlier by the
Chairman that the NEA voted to boycott the Anti-Defamation
League. That is absolutely not true. Once again, this is a
union of 3 million members. I do not support that vote, I mean
that procedure, but their charter, the NEA's charter mandates
that when the executive board puts something for a vote, it
goes up to the full committee.
There were a few members of the executive board who thought
they wanted to vote on this, and that is what happens with
Democratic processes. You get a vote. On July 18th, NEA
President Becky Pringle actually issued a statement saying that
they were not putting this to the full committee, and the NEA
would not adopt this policy, so it is once again, just not an
accurate statement to say that the NEA voted to boycott the
Anti-Defamation League at their representative assembly.
The executive board, which is part of their charter, when
you are in a Democratic process, a member may not like
something, they want to put it up for a vote, you get a vote on
it. You get a vote on it. I know that you guys do not like the
idea that if you disagree with something there cannot be any
dialog, any discussion, any discourse.
That is just not how it works. While I disagreed with even
that proposition, I believe that those members get the right to
force a discussion on it. Whether you like it or not. Again, I
am thinking this is the third time I have seen some of these
witnesses here at this Committee Hearing, so I guess there is a
shortage of people who want to pedal these ideas, but we have
to call it out.
I encourage everyone watching this hearing to look up the
information for yourself. Look at the footnotes and testimony
because so many egregious statements have been made today, and
with that I yield back.
Mr. Owens. [presiding]. Thank you. I would like to now
recognize Mr. Moylan from Guam.
Mr. Moylan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Shufutinsky, what
can be done to prevent teachers from attending trainings, or
professional development sessions that engage in anti-Jewish
bickery?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Thank you for that question. I just want
to say in my testimony today, both oral and written. This is
not to demonize teachers. This is to point out a problem that
is persistent and unfortunately increasing in our K through 12
school system. We are seeing a huge rise in antisemitism in our
K through 12 school system.
We want teachers to have the resources available, so that
they can best do their job. Part of what is failing teachers,
as well as students, is professional development programs that
are peddled to teachers, that are teaching them antisemitic
ideology. What can be done? We can make sure that at least at
the State level, the district level, that those credits are not
counted toward professional development credits.
We can also make sure that taxpayer dollars are not funding
groups and organizations that are providing antisemitic teacher
professional development. That should not be allowed.
Mr. Moylan. Thank you. Let us talk some more. In many
cases, school districts will pay for their teachers to attend
radical seminars, or institutes. When school districts set up
these partnerships, are district leaders privy to the content
of these programs ahead of time?
Ms. Shufutinsky. If they are not, they should be. That is
part of the responsibility of being a district administrator
and a leader.
Mr. Moylan. Our principals and administrators capable when
it comes to antisemitic professional development efforts
proliferating in their districts?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Many of them are. Many are not
unfortunately. What we are seeing is there is some district
administrators that can use education on what antisemitism is.
Part of that is them being able to get educated on who the
Jewish people are as a people, as an ethnoreligious group where
Jewish people come from, and how being anti-Israel and
antizionist is antisemitic.
AI think that we can really use a lot more education
related to that. We can also use some education related to
Jewish people are not a monolith. There is no Jewish community.
There are multiple communities, and multiple points of views,
and that should be acknowledged.
Mr. Moylan. Very well. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. Owens. Thank you. I would like now to recognize Ms.
Wilson.
Ms. Wilson. Thank you, Chair Kiley and Ranking Member
Bonamici, for recognizing me. This hearing is being held to
paint the picture that Democrats are antisemitic, and you are
failing. All of these hearings that you have had on
antisemitism--you did it to do that, and you failed. It is not
working.
Democrats, as a party, are not antisemitic. I am from
Miami, and I live amongst thousands of Jews, some in my own
neighborhood on my own street. I was a school principal. In all
of my years of being a school principal at Miami-Dade County, I
never heard a child taunt a Jewish student based on their
religion.
The only antisemitism I am aware of was I was raised during
the Civil Rights Era, and signs on Miami Beach spoke loudly,
``No Jews or Niggers allowed.'' My shared struggle with Jews is
clear. I believe in the separation of State. I believe in the
separation of church and State. That is one of the tenants of
our democracy.
Guess who is trying to tear that down? It is Republicans.
Right across the street we have the Department of Education in
shambles. It has been reduced to shambles, and the President is
asking them to pull together whatever skeleton staff they have,
to come up with a plan to determine how we could institute
prayer in schools, so that we can hurt little Jewish students'
feelings, break their hearts, and bring them to tears.
How can you hold a hearing on antisemitism when the
President announced that this week? I believe in separation of
church and State, and now Republicans are saying we are going
to ask schools to be sure to post the Ten Commandments on every
school classroom wall, and post a crucifix on every classroom
wall.
What is more antisemitic than that? Breaking little Jewish
children's hearts, breaking their spirits, and making them
contemplate if there is a place in that school for them? How
dare you? Such hypocrisy. Who is antisemitic my friends? My
colleagues on the other side are truly antisemitic when they
try to come up with anti-American ideas of spreading
Christianity across public schools in our Nation to make our
Jewish students feel ashamed of their own religion.
With that, I have a question. Ms. Shufutinsky, I noticed
that you called that opinion piece in the Jewish news of
Northern California, that opinion piece you highlighted that
Governor Newsom stood up for Jewish students by vetoing a
curriculum. You also highlighted that he stood firm, ensuring
that bigotry was not included in the new curriculum.
Can you confirm that Governor Newsom has stood firm against
bigotry and fought antisemitism in California? Are any blue
states trying to mandate prayer in schools? Are any blue states
trying to put crucifixes, crosses, on the school walls? Are
they placing the Ten Commandments on school walls, or the
Lord's Prayer on the public-school classroom walls?
Who is antisemitic?
Ms. Shufutinsky. Governor Newsom----
Ms. Wilson. I yield back.
Chairman Kiley. The witness may answer.
Ms. Shufutinsky. Governor Newsom did veto the first draft
of----
Ms. Wilson. I yield back. That is my time, and I yield
back.
Chairman Kiley. All right. We will go to the next person
for question, Mr. Messmer of Indiana.
Mr. Messmer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the
witnesses for being here today. Teachers unions across the
Nation have been consumed by antisemitic ideology and activism.
Ms. Neily, can you talk about the ways in which teachers'
unions perpetuate antisemitism in the K through 12 schools?
Ms. Neily. Sure. I think one great example comes from
Southern California where the Los Angeles Union School--Unified
School District, and the UTLA, which is an affiliate of both
the NEA and the AFT, have actually created a provision to work
on a joint ethnic studies commission.
This went back as far as 2019, and it is still in effect as
of today because it was just resigned in 2025. Half of the
people on that committee are union representatives. That
committee oversees implementation of the mandated course
requirements and ethnic studies, and associated professional
development, as Ms. Shufutinsky alluded to, is deeply
problematic.
Curriculum selection, recommendations for expanding ethnic
studies to include gender specific courses and sexual identity,
and also advocating for salary point credits, so that ethnic
study teachers get a higher salary just for teaching that
class. This is incentivizing teachers to go down this path and
to produce and insert this ideology into their classrooms.
Adopting curriculum from places like Brown University,
putting these things together, but also just across the board
we have seen these teachers' unions do things like, you know,
push curriculum like woke kindergarten, which has been paid for
using Federal task dollars in districts like in Northern
California. That was used in New York City Public Schools to
have third graders sing the wheels on the tank.
Third graders do not even--they still believe in the tooth
fairy at that point, and so to use children as our foot
soldiers, human shields in this battle of ideology is something
that is so deeply unconscionable, and to be pressed and promote
through teacher union networks, which we have obtained records
through FOIAs of all of the leaders of the Educators for
Palestine Caucus.
They were sharing these materials, they are encouraging
each other to participate in these teach-ins, like the Oakland
Education Association. This is a superhighway to share this
hateful information with each other from coast to coast.
Mr. Messmer. Thank you. How have Jewish teachers been
impacted by antisemitism within the unions that represent them?
Ms. Neily. Teachers are also being abused by this,
unfortunately. Watching some of these things be disseminated.
The Freedom Foundation actually has a number of lawsuits
against teachers associations, including the Portland
Association of Teachers because in Portland Public Schools, the
Portland Association of Teachers has distributed anti-Israel
teaching materials, which drew from programs like Teaching
While Muslim, and Woke Kindergarten.
They have actually coauthored the Teach Palestine Guide of
the Oregon Educators for Palestine, urging educators to present
a singular anti-Israel perspective in classrooms. They have
published know your rights guides, teaching and organizing for
Palestine within Portland Public Schools, which promotes and
tells teachers who to get this material into classrooms.
Defended the use of the phrase, ``From the River to the Sea
Palestine Will be Free,'' which is widely recognized as a call
for the annihilation of the State of Israel. This is just one
of many issues where teachers have been left out to dry. There
have been--there was a protest a few months ago outside of the
New York City Department of Education because those educators
in that union also have been betrayed by UFT, that have not
stood up for them.
There was a teacher in New York City Public Schools that
came to light in this hearing last year, where a teacher was
chased, and had to hide in a locked classroom because she was
being chased by a mob. That teacher's union did not stand up
for her, did not defend her.
If something like that happened to another teacher of a
different race, of a different religion, there would be--bloody
murder would be screamed, but the fact the silence speaks
volumes, and that is unacceptable.
Mr. Messmer. Are these teachers given the opportunity to
leave the union, or voice their discontent?
Ms. Neily. If they are in a public sector union, thanks to
the Janus decision they are, but if they are a private sector.
If they are a private school, or if they are in a private
union, they are not allowed to, and I think that is something
else that, you know, hopefully this Committee and Congress
eventually looks at.
Mr. Messmer. Okay. Thank you. The most important time to
shape a child's mind is during the K through 12 education where
they can develop views and morals that take them well within
adulthood. Ms. Shufutinsky, sorry about that, how does exposure
to antisemitic messaging from authority figures in K through 12
schools affect Jewish students' sense of safety and identity,
as well as create problematic ways of thinking for all
students?
Ms. Shufutinsky. What it can do to Jewish students is it
can make them feel like their identity is not valid, and like
they are worth being targeted, so it can increase their
insecurity, make them ashamed, make them feel embarrassed at
the communities that they come from.
Mr. Messmer. Thank you. What mechanisms currently exist to
hold K through 12 faculty accountable when they promote
antisemitic rhetoric in a classroom, or and are those
mechanisms sufficient?
Ms. Shufutinsky. They are not sufficient. There are
mechanisms. There are standards. There are education codes that
districts and teachers are supposed to follow. Unfortunately, I
think in the cases that we have all spoken about, we have seen
it all too often they are not being followed.
Mr. Messmer. Okay, thank you. Thank you for your responses,
and I yield back my time.
Chairman Kiley. Representative Adams of North Carolina is
recognized.
Ms. Adams. Thank you, Mr., Chairman, and thank you all for
your testimony today. I am really appalled at all that I have
heard. Let me just say having been in the classroom for 40
years, having trained teachers, I really resent much of what
has been said about our unions, particularly the NEA.
I support them. I support unions and what they do for
children. Let me just begin by saying this pretty plainly.
Antisemitism is real, it is rising, and it has no place in our
schools. Every student, Jewish, Muslim, black, brown, or
otherwise, deserves to feel safe, respected, and protected in
their learning environment, and that is not up for debate.
When students tell us that they do not feel safe, we have a
responsibility to listen, not to score political points, not to
pit one group against another, but to take action that protects
each and every child. What troubles me is how too often instead
of working together on solutions, some of this Committee have
chosen to weaponize antisemitism as a political tool to
undermine teachers, to attack unions, and to discredit higher
education.
I have spent 40 years in the classroom as a professor, and
I taught in public education as well, public schools, and
private public schools. My daughter works in public schools, my
grandchildren, my children, all went to public schools, but I
know what really happens in our schools.
Teachers show up every day to nurture, to challenge, to
protect our children, and they are not the problem, and blaming
them does not do anything to keep Jewish students safe. Let me
just turn to Rabbi Jacobs, and ask you, Rabbi Jacobs, the
majority has claimed that antisemitism in our schools has been
brought there by teachers, by teachers' unions, and even by
academic views.
How do you respond to that assertion, and what do you see
as the real drivers of antisemitism in schools today?
Rabbi Jacobs. Thank you. I want to echo what you said.
There are more than 3 million people who wake up every morning
and teach our children in public schools, and I have seen their
extraordinary work personally as a graduate of public schools,
as a parent of public-school students.
Teachers get into this profession because they care about
children because they want children to learn. We have heard
accusations against teachers, against administrators, and of
course we can come up with egregious examples, but the vast
majority of our teachers and administrators walk into those
school buildings every morning because they want to help
children learn.
I also want to appreciate Representative Hayes for
clarifying that the NEA Regional Assembly did pass that
resolution that was mentioned, but that the board rejected it,
and the NEA President showed her leadership in making a very
powerful statement about antisemitism. This is actually an
example of how engagement with the community is the response,
not punitive responses.
Similarly, in public schools when there is an instance of
antisemitism the response should be to engage with the school
to ensure that the school's code of conduct is followed, to
engage with the school district, and of course, if it cannot be
resolved at that level, to bring it to the Office for Civil
Rights, which as we have said has been decimated.
Ms. Adams. Okay. Let me move on if I can.
Rabbi Jacobs. Yes, go ahead.
Ms. Adams. I have some more questions. The Office of Civil
Rights at the Department of Education is supposedly on the
front lines of protecting students, but we have seen that
office gutted and undermined. How could the Department of
Education's Office for Civil Rights better serve Jewish
students right now, and what resources or authority would make
the greatest difference?
Rabbi Jacobs. Thank you. Just over a year ago Jewish
organizations and civil rights organizations supported
Representative Goldman's bill, the Showing Up for Students Act,
which would have increased the OCR budget by 280 million
dollars. That is money that is desperately needed, so that the
office that has the mandate to investigate and to resolve
complaints, as well as the experts who have the knowledge to do
so, can do their work.
What we need to do is we need to restore funding to the
Office for Civil Rights, and we need to ensure that they can
investigate and resolve complaints that come.
Ms. Adams. Okay. Thank you. Listen, I have heard from
Jewish students in various meetings, they do not want their
pain to be politicized. They want to be safe. They want to be
part of a community, and you know, I think what we have heard
here today is pretty awful. I want to yield back to the
Representative from Connecticut.
Mrs. Hayes. Thank you for the time. I just want to clarify
the record once again. The Oregon Educators for Palestine is
not a teacher's union, it is an advocacy group made up of
community members, educators, but it is an advocacy group. It
is not associated with any teacher's union. With that I yield
back.
Chairman Kiley. Representative Fine of Florida is
recognized.
Mr. Fine. No, no.
Chairman Kiley. I am sorry. Representative Scott will first
go first, and then we will go to Representative, Mr. Fine, as
having waived onto the Committee.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, Mr. Chairman, we
heard that 67 percent of religious hate crimes were
antisemitism. I would like to put that in perspective. Of all
of the hate crimes, the Office of Civil Rights has pending
discrimination cases over 5,800 disability, over 3,200 race and
national origin, 2,800 and some sex discrimination, and of the
category that could be included in antisemitism, also
Islamophobia, 144.
Of all the hate crimes, it is a small minority. The
religious hate crimes that could be--if you just want to put
that in perspective. Rabbi Jacobs, you indicated--well, you
outlined the many initiatives that can actually fight hate
crimes generally. How effective can those initiatives be
against antisemitism if it ignores protecting all students,
including race, Islamophobia, homophobia, gender and disability
and others?
Rabbi Jacobs. Thank you. When we educate about bigotry, we
have to educate about bigotries, all bigotries. We have to
ensure that schools are safe for all children, so that includes
educating teachers and students about antisemitism, along with
racism, along with homophobia, along with Islamophobia, and
other bigotries.
That is an approach that works. We also have to educate
against bullying because when we allow bullying and harassment
into our schools, then that opens the door for bullying that is
based in hate against specific groups, and unfortunately, this
administration also has dropped the initiatives of previous
administrations to address bullying.
Mr. Scott. How effective can an antisemitism initiative be
if it just ignores everything else?
Rabbi Jacobs. I do not believe that we can talk about
antisemitism in a vacuum. We have to make sure that American
society, as well as our schools are places that are safe for
everybody, including Jewish students.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. This is the 11th hearing we have had
on antisemitism. We have had none on racism, Islamophobia,
gender discrimination, disability discrimination. The Chair
talks about all the oversight we have done and complains about
antisemitism. The agency that can actually do something about
it, the Office forf Civil Rights, is essentially being
dismantled.
I think you talked about defunding hate crime prevention
grants. What is the difference in talking about the problem and
actually doing something?
Rabbi Jacobs. Thanks. Well, the Jewish community is making
very specific requests, including funding, as you said, hate
crime prevention grants, including the Office for Civil Rights.
Those are programs that will address specific instances on the
ground, as well.
As I want to mention President Biden's comprehensive
national strategy on antisemitism, which used every tool that
the U.S. Government has at its disposal to address
antisemitism, ranging from using humanities grants to ensure
that Jewish stories are told, to doing training for government
employees at every level, to school-based education.
That is an approach that was created in consultation with
more than 1,000 Jewish leaders. I was honored to be one of
them, and that addressed very concrete instances of
antisemitism, and it is an approach that this administration
has completely dismissed in favor of an approach that is just
about attacking political opponents and cynically using the
fears of the Jewish community to try to dismantle Democratic
institutions.
Mr. Scott. What about dismantling the Office of Civil
Rights, which had actually enforced problems of complaints we
have had, they are presented to the Office of Civil Rights,
something could actually be done. Is that right?
Rabbi Jacobs. Yes. In the last annual report of the Office
for Civil Rights, they reported that they had resolved more
complaints than in any previous year, and so this is an office
that is desperately needed, and has been defunded, and so we
need to restore funding to that office, bring back their expert
staff, as well as the regional offices, which are the ones who
can deal with specific cases on the ground.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a minute. Mr.
Chairman, when I was citing statistics that were related to OCR
cases, I recognize we were discussing hate crimes, but based on
the 2024 statistics from the Department of Justice, hate crimes
based on race, ethnicity and ancestry were the majority of the
cases, and religion totally was 23.5 percent.
Chairman Kiley. Thank you. Representative Fine of Florida
is recognized.
Mr. Fine. Well, thank you Mr. Chairman. I have a number of
thoughts. This is a deeply personal issue for me. I want to
talk about a couple constituents and issues that they have had.
I knew a kid who was in seventh grade who faced so much
antisemitism when he was in his public school that the
principal made an extra copy of his key, so that he could hide
in that principal's office. That happened to me when I was a
kid.
When I had children, I made the decision that I would fight
to make sure that my children did not have to go through what I
did as a kid. It is a promise, by the way, I have failed to
live up to because my son, after October 7th got into a fight
at school because he was a Jewish kid.
Now, fortunately, my son is 6'2'' and he is a varsity
athlete, it was--Jacob won, the other kid did not end up in
such great shape, but nonetheless, he never should have had to
go through that. I actually wear the kippah that I wear right
now. I did not wear it until May the 6th.
I wear it because my son asked me to in honor of all the
Jewish kids that do not feel safe to wear theirs, and so I
literally wear a target on my head these days because that is
what unfortunately, we live in the world today. When I sit in
these hearings I feel like I am in an alternative universe, and
here is why.
We have solved this problem in Florida. We do not have this
problem in Florida, and we do not have it because of some
Office of Civil Rights, and 280 million dollars of extra
funding, we have it because we passed bills that made sense.
For example, the State of Florida designated CARE a terrorist
organization, and said governments should not work with
organizations that say that October 7th made them happy.
Not only that, we passed a bill. This is my question. I
actually want to start with Ms. Neily. We passed a bill, it was
my bill, a bill did something very simple. It said as Rabbi
Jacobs implied, we should not discriminate in how we deal with
discrimination, and the bill was very simple.
It said Florida adopted the IHRA definition of
antisemitism, the most widespread definition of antisemitism
that is out there, and it said that you, if you are a K-12
institution, you simply must treat antisemitism the same way
you treat racism. If you have got a code of conduct, delete
black, put in Jew, delete racism, put in antisemitism, and
treat them the same.
When we did that the problems ended. My question to you Ms.
Neily, you talked about how things would not be the same if it
was other religious groups. Do you believe if we did something
like this federally, like we did in Florida, that we could
address the problem nationally?
Ms. Neily. It has been astonishing to watch across the
country, administrators turn a blind eye to this. We reached
out to about two dozen districts after October 7th, asking them
for statements, looking, comparing what they said after George
Floyd's murder with what happened after October 7th.
Many districts were silent. Some equivocated, and some just
pretended it did not happen at all. We actually also reached
out to a number of school districts that had used the Black
Lives Matter at school curriculum, because you remember that
BLM had posted that lovely graphic of the paraglider
afterwards.
He said well, in light of this, are you planning on using
this curriculum and having this event going forward? A school
board member in UpState New York, in Rochester, said well, let
us remember the role that the Jews played in the slave trade.
None of us have clean hands.
When you have failed leadership at the top of the district,
at the top of a State that will not do anything, as you said,
you can have all the laws in the books, but if people will not
get off their butts and do anything about it, it does not
matter. I do think it takes real leadership like we have seen
in Florida, and I think as we are seeing from this Committee,
to address an issue, to acknowledge an issue.
This is--I mean it is the first step of a 12 step program,
saying that there is a problem.
Mr. Fine. Sure.
Ms. Neily. To pretend that there is not a problem is
reprehensible.
Mr. Fine. Look, I came up with this idea because I believed
if a student in a school in Florida called a black student the
N word, they would be expelled, and by the way, they should be.
Somehow when it came to Jews, everyone discovered freedom of
speech. That is why we came up with this principle, which is
you cannot burn a cross if you are the KKK on the college
green, you should not be able to say from the river to the sea,
kill all the Jews, I mean they are the same thing.
Dr. Shufutinsky, and I apologize if I got your name wrong,
what is your view? Again, simply passing a law that says you
must treat anti--defining antisemitism, and you must treat it
the same way as you treat racism. Do you believe that would
help solve the problem?
Ms. Shufutinsky. I do, and I think it is the same thing as
racism. We are dealing with an upsurge in anti-Jewish bigotry.
Jews who are being attacked in classes and on campuses are not
being attacked because of the way they pray, they are being
attacked because they are Jewish, because they are of the
Jewish people.
Mr. Fine. I am going to come back to you with this
question. You know, we have the Philadelphia School District
that's working with CARE, an open front for Muslim terror.
Again, the head of CARE said October 7th made him happy. He did
not say it 5 minutes afterwards, to be clear, he said it like a
month later, not in the fog of war, and he still has that job
today.
Why do you think a local school district would choose to
work with an institution that said October 7th made them happy?
Ms. Shufutinsky. The leadership in that district must agree
with it, and October 7th likely made them happy as well.
Mr. Fine. It is not the issue. This is one of the biggest
problems we have in fighting antisemitism, it is not that they
are not uneducated, it is because they agree. We are going to
fight this in this Committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield
back.
Chairman Kiley. Thank you, and thank you to all our
witnesses for your testimony. I will now recognize Ms. Bonamici
for her closing remarks.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman, and thank
you to the witnesses for your testimony. As we heard multiple
times, this is the 11th hearing on antisemitism we have had in
the past few years, and what has happened? Are things better?
No. Antisemitism is on the rise, tensions and divisions have
increased.
My colleague just suggested that there is--they have solved
antisemitism in Florida, but just a quick check shows that
recent headlines say, ``A disturbing trend of Israel related
antisemitic incidents continues in Florida, and Palm Beach
County leads Florida in antisemitic instances for a second
year.''
They did not solve antisemitism in Florida. We know that
schools have a responsibility to provide all students with a
learning environment free from discrimination. It is the role
of the Federal Government to help schools live up to that
responsibility, traditionally that has been done by the Office
for Civil Rights, which investigates instances of
discrimination and harassment at schools.
After reviewing the facts of each claim of discrimination
then they provide a resolution agreement that is designed to
bring the school into compliance with the law. I also want to
clarify as the Rabbi did with the discussion about the National
Education Association, which did not adopt the resolution that
was proposed.
The same thing with Portland Teachers Association. There is
a mention that there was a problematic curriculum, but without
the clarification that it was withdrawn after community
conversation, so we need to have a clear record that these
community conversations are really critical to making changes.
Instead of strengthening the ability of the Office of Civil
Rights to serve students and schools, the Trump administration
is slashing its budget, trying to eliminate the Department of
Education, which houses the Office, and what is left of its
staff.
More importantly, instead of working in a constructive way
to actually prevent and curb antisemitism, the administration,
and some in this body are using antisemitism to undermine
public education and educators, and to further their effort to
attack higher education.
Sadly, these actions are likely to exacerbate antisemitism
the administration claims they want to eliminate, and
ultimately, all students will suffer, and so will society, the
economy and democracy. Again, if my Republican colleagues truly
care about the well-being of Jewish students, and wanted to
fight antisemitism, they should demand that all antisemites and
white nationalists in the Trump administration be fired
immediately, and that the Office of Civil Rights at the
Department of Education be fully funded.
We must use our full oversight authority to subpoena those
White House officials who have enabled the White House to
embrace bigots and antisemites. They are setting an example and
not a good one, and we should hold them accountable for their
actions. If my colleagues could muster the courage, we could
actually prevent and curb antisemitism, and I stand ready to
work with anyone on either side of the aisle to make that
happen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Kiley. Thanks very much. There are a couple
members of the minority who suggested that somehow we were
criticizing teachers with this hearing. Nothing could be
further from the truth. I have the highest degree of admiration
for teachers across this country.
What we have done is criticize specific actions of groups
like the NEA, and in fact, the Democrat witness herself, Rabbi
Jacobs, agreed that it was wrong for the NEA to decide to
boycott the Anti-Defamation League, and of course it is. I mean
how could anyone do that, say that we are going to boycott
using the materials of the Anti-Defamation League in our
classrooms.
You know, when it comes to the teachers themselves, I
actually want to read you a message that I received from a
teacher who was there when the NEA decided to boycott the Anti-
Defamation League. This is what this teacher said. ``I saw
people line up wearing shirts accusing Jews of genocide, eager
to speak against anything Jewish.
They weren't improvising, these were coordinated rehearsed
lies. While I felt safe in my small corner of the convention,
surrounded by respectful and inclusive delegates, many of my
Jewish friends did not. Educators from various states did not
feel safe in their assigned sections and had to find other
places to sit near friends and allies.
There were tears, panic attacks, silent breakdowns, but
also hugs, strength, unshakable solidarity.'' It is much worse
for the students who are encountering this in schools and
classrooms across the country. This ought to shock the
conscience of every decent American.
What have we heard today? Our friends here on the other
side of the dais come in with wild conspiracy theories about
members of the administration. You want to talk about January
6th. You want to subpoena Stephen Miller? We are hearing about
our friend, Mr. Fine, who is telling us about students who have
to go and hide in the principal's office in their school.
You guys come in here and want to subpoena Stephen Miller?
Unidentified Speaker: Yes.
Chairman Kiley. These are serious problems in our country,
and we need serious people and serious leadership to deal with
them, but that is what our Committee is going to continue to
provide. We will be investigating violations of Title VI where
they occur across the country. We will be working against the
poison of liberated ethnic studies.
We will be working to protect the civil rights of Jewish
students across America. That is the purpose of these hearings.
We have seen some progress, but we have a long way to go. With
that said, the Motion--I will move to the Motion.
Rabbi Jacobs. May I please clarify my comments?
Chairman Kiley. No, you may not. I want to move to the--we
will now return to the gentlelady's Motion to subpoena Mr.
Miller.
Mr. Owens. Chairman, I move to table the Motion.
Chairman Kiley. The Motion to table is an order, and not
debatable. The question is shall the Committee----
Mrs. Hayes. Mr. Chairman, I would like a roll call vote.
Chairman Kiley. Yes. We will take the vote first. The
question is shall the Committee table the Motion to authorize a
subpoena. All those in favor say aye.
[Chorus of ayes]
Chairman Kiley. All those opposed say no.
[Chorus of noes]
Chairman Kiley. In the opinion of the Chair the ayes have
it, and the Motion to table is agreed to.
Ms. Bonamici. Mr. Chairman, I request a roll call vote.
Chairman Kiley. A recorded vote has been requested. We will
now be voting on the Motion to table. We will suspend until the
Clerk is in place to call the vote. The Clerk will call the
roll.
The Clerk. Mr. Kiley.
Mr. Kiley. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Kiley votes aye.
Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Thompson. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Thompson votes aye.
Mr. Owens.
Mr. Owens. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Owens votes aye.
Ms. Miller.
Ms. Miller. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Miller votes aye.
Mr. Rulli.
Mr. Rulli. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Rulli votes aye.
Mr. Moylan.
Mr. Moylan: Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Moylan votes aye.
Mr. Mackenzie.
Mr. Mackenzie. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Mackenzie votes aye.
Mr. Harris.
Mr. Harris. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Harris votes aye.
Mr. Mesmer.
Mr. Mesmer. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Messmer votes aye.
Ms. Bonamici.
Ms. Bonamici. No.
The Clerk. Ms. Bonamici votes no.
Ms. Hayes.
Mrs. Hayes. No.
The Clerk. Ms. Hayes votes no.
Mr. Mannion.
Mr. Mannion. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Mannion votes no.
Ms. Wilson.
Ms. Wilson. No.
The Clerk. Ms. Wilson votes no.
Ms. Adams.
Ms. Adams. No.
The Clerk. Ms. Adams votes no. Mr. Chairman, on this vote
there are----
Chairman Kiley. The Clerk will call the role again for any
member who has not voted. The Clerk will call the role again
for any member who has not voted.
The Clerk. Ms. Lee? Ms. Ansari?
Chairman Kiley. Have all members voted? Does any member
wish to change their vote? Hearing none, the Clerk will report
the tally.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, on this vote there are 9 yeas and
5 nays.
Chairman Kiley. The ayes have it, the motion is agreed to,
this hearing stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:04 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[Motion to Table: Subpoena of Stephen Miller follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Additional submissions from Ranking Member Bonamici
follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Additional submissions from Representative Scott follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses submitted for the record by Rabbi
Jill Jacobs follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses submitted for the record by Ms.
Rachel Lerman follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses submitted for the record by Ms.
Nicole Neily follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Questions and responses submitted for the record by Dr.
Brandy Shufutinsky follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]