OPINION:
Earlier this month, the House Education & Workforce subcommittee on early childhood, elementary and secondary education convened a hearing titled “From Playground to Classroom: The Spread of Antisemitism in K-12 Schools.” Witnesses included educators, scholars and advocates who described the ways in which antisemitism has seeped into American schools, from playground taunts to classroom materials.
The hearing underscored what many Jewish families have been saying for months: Antisemitism is not a marginal issue but rather a growing reality in the lives of students.
This should have been the moment for bipartisan seriousness. Instead, Democrats on the subcommittee downplayed and deflected.
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, began by acknowledging, in carefully chosen words, the threat that Jewish students face: “We can and must do more to protect Jewish students and Jewish Americans who are threatened, harassed and attacked because of who they are.” Yet she immediately dismissed the hearing as unproductive, claiming that it was being used to attack educators rather than to address the real problem of antisemitism on the right.
That reflex to change the subject has become a pattern. Again and again, Democrats refuse to confront the reality that powerful education institutions have enabled antisemitism. Teachers unions and activist administrators have pushed divisive frameworks that divide the world into “oppressor” and “oppressed,” often casting Jews in the former category and erasing their long history of vulnerability. By pretending these ideas are harmless, these Democrats allow them to fester under the guise of “progressive” pedagogy.
Rather than engage with the concrete evidence of antisemitism inside schools, Ms. Bonamici shifted attention to antisemitism among officials in the Trump administration. Whatever one thinks of the president, this pivot had the effect of changing the subject, as if to suggest that the real danger lay not in classrooms and teacher training, but somewhere else entirely.
It was a disappointing moment that reflected a larger pattern among Democrats: the refusal to acknowledge the role that certain politically charged institutions, especially teachers unions, have played in spreading antisemitic and anti-Western ideas. They are more interested in deflection and politicizing than in solutions.
The consequences aren’t abstract. Consider the Qatari-backed Choices Program, a social studies curriculum adopted in districts across the country. Once mainstream, it has been quietly rewritten under the influence of Qatar Foundation International. The result? Israel’s founding is erased, Hamas and Hezbollah are rebranded as “militant groups” instead of terrorists, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call to wipe Israel off the map is softened into mere “hostile language.”
Jews and Christians vanish from the region’s history, leaving only Muslims described as indigenous. This is not education. It is propaganda funded and shaped by a foreign regime.
That such a curriculum has found its way into American classrooms should be a national scandal. Yet Democrats have shown little interest in investigating. Instead, they rage against hearings that dare to examine schools or unions. By turning a blind eye, they protect propaganda while leaving Jewish children more vulnerable.
If Democrats wanted to show seriousness, they would call for the immediate removal of Choices and demand transparency about foreign influence in curriculum development.
Of course, antisemitism is not confined to one party. Both Republicans and Democrats must confront it. Yet Democrats hold a unique responsibility because of their dominance in public education, where unions and administrators shape what millions of children are taught every day. Their refusal to face this reality is not just cowardice; it is also complicity.
Democrats have an opportunity here to lead with integrity, but only if they are willing to stop protecting their political allies and start protecting Jewish students. They can begin by acknowledging the corrosive role of programs such as Choices and demanding their removal from schools.
Until that happens, hearings like the one earlier this month will serve as grim reminders: Antisemitism is spreading in schools, and too many Democratic leaders would rather deny the problem than confront it. Jewish families hear the platitudes. What they feel instead is abandonment.
• David Bernstein is the founder of the North American Values Institute.
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