Jewish Educators Cancel Italy Trip After Being Asked to Condemn Israel
An international education organization reportedly demanded a statement against Israel before allowing Jewish teachers to attend a conference.
A group of approximately 100 Jewish educators from the U.S. and Israel canceled a planned study trip to Italy after being required to sign a statement condemning Israel and its military. The conference, focused on the Reggio Emilia Approach to early childhood education, was scheduled to take place in the Reggio Emilia region of Italy later this month.
The demand for the statement originated from protests by some parents associated with the host organization, Reggio Children. These parents reportedly objected to the participation of Jewish educators, citing alleged support for Israel and the Israel Defense Forces.
The required pledge stated: "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."
Pesha Kletenik, head of Manhattan Day School, stated that participants were allegedly profiled based on their perceived support for Israel, with their social media accounts being reviewed. "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.
Melissa Davis of Washington D.C.'s Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School described the pledge as a consequence of "the ripple effects of global antisemitism." She added that the canceled trip represented "a loss for our community in the near term — our teachers, and in turn, their students will not be enriched by this experience."
According to reports, the host group was also preparing a separate statement calling for "militarization out of schools" before the educators decided not to attend. The incident occurs amidst rising antisemitism in Italy, with a survey indicating that about 15% of Italians consider attacks on Jewish people justifiable.
Italian politician Ivan Scalfarotto criticized the requirement, stating that asking "Jews, as Jews, to distance themselves from the policies of the Israeli government is antisemitism."