An international education organization demanded a group of Jewish educators sign a statement condemning Israelbefore traveling to Italy to attend a study conference, according to a report.
Around 100 Jewish teachers from the US and Israel scrapped the study trip to the Reggio Emilia region planned for later this month to study the Reggio Emilia Approach — a style of education “long embraced” by Jewish preschools — after being told to denounce the Jewish state, the Times of Israel reported.
The shocking statement was the result of a protest by some parents associated with the host Italian organization, Reggio Children, who objected to the Jewish educators’ participation over alleged support for Israel and the Israel Defense Forces.
Teachers were told to sign a pledge saying: “I distance myself from the occupation of Gaza and the violation of children’s and human beings’ rights in the occupied territories as well as in every place [sic] in the world.”
Roughly 1,200 people, mostly Jews, were massacred by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza.
Manhattan Day School head Pesha Kletenik said participants were allegedly profiled over support for Israel before being asked to sign the statement.
“Our identities were made public, and our personal and institutional social media profiles were reviewed and characterized as demonstrating our support for Israel and the IDF,” Kletenik said in a statement.
Melissa Davis, of Washington DC’s Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School, said the pledge was the result of “the ripple effects of global antisemitism.”
Davis said the abandoned trip was “a loss for our community in the near term — our teachers, and in turn, their students will not be enriched by this experience,” in a statement.
The host group was also drafting another statement calling for “militarization out of schools” before the participants decided not to attend, the outlet reported.
The statement comes as antisemitism in Italy continues to rise, with social spaces where it is acceptable to be Jewish having shrunk, according to the Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation.
A survey last year found about 15% of Italians view attacks on Jews as “justifiable.”
Italian politician Ivan Scalfarotto ripped the requirement and said asking “Jews, as Jews, to distance themselves from the policies of the Israeli government is antisemitism.”
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