Jewish students at both private and public schools in Greater Seattle have experienced antisemitism or anti-Zionism since October 7.
Many antisemitic incidents occur because teachers are either unprepared to teach about Israel and Gaza effectively or are contributing to the problem themselves with anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric. From January 2024, Since October 7, The Anti-Defamation League has recorded 3,291 total incidents, including 1,347 harassment, 554 vandalism, 56 assaults, and 1,307 rallies that featured antisemitic, anti-Zionist, or pro-terror content.
“A teacher … said to me last week ‘I sometimes forget that antisemitism even exists’,” said Seattle Academy senior Jordan Ross. Ross says she doesn’t feel supported by some of the teachers, and the reason why misinformation and ill-education are so prevalent in her school is that there is no formal Jewish or Holocaust education. Because of this, antisemitic microaggressions have become common in her school.
Ross believes Seattle Academy, a private school in Seattle, could better educate students on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict. She also thinks that even though microaggressions might not be as severe as hate crimes, they are just as impactful to the Jewish students. According to Ross, at Seattle Academy, students think of the microaggressions as jokes, or don’t notice them at all, and are therefore less likely to report them. “If people were learning their information from reliable sources, the hate Jewish students experience could be prevented,” said Ross. Another student at Seattle Academy, Eliana Newman, believes that “most non-Jewish students trying to learn about the Israel-Hamas conflict are left up to hearing it from other students, or what they see on social media.”
Ross continued, “Schools don’t want to be controversial by supporting Israel.” She explained how Seattle Academy had their Jewish Student Union host an informative assembly regarding the current events between Israel and Hamas, but didn’t make it mandatory, unlike other social justice events held at the school. “They’re totally fine holding other minority group assemblies, or talking about certain things that are pretty big,” said Ross.
Regina Friedland, the regional director of the American Jewish Committee, shared that a teacher in the North Shore district was pushing students to participate in a walkout for Palestine. There was no punishment for students who didn’t participate, but the teacher awarded extra credit to students who participated in the walkout.
According to Friedland, the racial and educational justice specialist at North Shore, Ranna Harb, co-founded Falastiniyat Seattle. Falastiniyat described on Facebook as “a grassroots collective of diasporic Palestinian feminists in Seattle living & organizing at the intersection of gender justice and anti-colonialism.” “It might be why some Jewish students are reluctant to get help in the North Shore District,” Friedland said.
Dasi Anderman Shahar, the assistant city prosecutor at the Seattle City Attorney’s office, shared that in the Lake Washington school district, walkouts and protests in support of Palestine are common. “I don’t think it falls under free speech when they use posters on school grounds using the word genocide… Scaring students whether Jewish or Israeli to be afraid to come to school on the day of the walkout.” Shahar said. “A Jewish student walked by the room where they were preparing the posters when she witnessed the words murder, and ‘Israel is committing genocide,’” she said. According to Shahar, the student reported this incident to the principal and told her that if she did not feel comfortable she could walk away.
“We have teachers teaching false, biased materials,” said Shahar. Shahar shares that in the Lake Washington school district, a teacher gave a lesson on the “situation in Gaza.” According to Shahar, the video shown was unrated violent footage, and it is unknown whether it was real. “The fact is that he [the teacher] is still there and still teaching,” Shahar said. “No district apology. No correcting the harm that was done to the students.”
The pro-Palestinian agenda promoted at high schools and middle schools extends to elementary schools as well. At Syree Elementary School, second-grade students were given “hard history lessons,” said Randy Kessler, the Northwest regional director at StandWithUs. According to Kessler, they were shown a three-minute video on how they can use their voice to advocate for Palestine. Additionally, the students made posters that read “Free Palestine” with graphics such as Palestinian flags and watermelons, which is a resistance symbol in the pro-Palestine movement. According to Kessler, the school did not make an effort to respond until after the press release.
“People like us experience antisemitism almost every single day,” said Ross. “My temple has been spray-painted and violated multiple times…We both know that antisemitic things happen all the time and people don’t even realize it.”
