September 13, 2024 — San Diego
The following column originally appeared in Times of San Diego.
For the San Diego Jewish community, the anguish over the Hamas massacre in Israel has not ebbed since terrorists slaughtered 1,200 men, women, children, and babies on Oct. 7.
So, when word came on Aug. 31 that six hostages - Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Alex Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American born and raised in the Bay Area - were executed at point blank range by Hamas, it was a gut punch from which many of us are still reeling.
In this moment of intense pain for the Jewish community, one would hope that the San Diego Unified School District would make decisions with heightened sensitivity and empathy.
However, empathy is nowhere to be found in the district’s Equity and Belonging and ethnic studies departments. In its latest newsletter to educators, ethnic studies promotes an upcoming screening of “The Teacher,” a film from Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi, which essentially glorifies hostage-taking.
The film touts that it was “inspired by true events.” It tells the story of a man in the West Bank who lives the life of a teacher but whose past is revealed to be tied to a Palestinian resistance group holding an American soldier hostage.
It is not the screening of “The Teacher”—which received middling reviews when it was released last year—that is the issue. It is the prerogative of the San Diego Arab Film Festival to show the film, even if the timing of the screening is dubious at best. But why is it being promoted by SDUSD? That its ethnic studies team would promote this film at any time is offensive, but it is especially galling to do so mere days after six hostages were executed and with 101 remaining captive in Gaza.
They are among the more than 250 people snatched from their homes, their beds, and their communities on October 7, 2023 and include mothers, fathers, grandfathers, children, and young people celebrating peace at a music festival.
For the last 11 months, we have been consumed by the fate of the hostages being held in unimaginable conditions in Gaza by Hamas and other terror groups. We know from those who have been rescued and returned home that many are held - with little food or water - underground in the labyrinth of dark, airless tunnels built by Hamas using the billions of dollars in international humanitarian aid that was intended to help the people of Gaza.
The call to “Bring Them Home” has only grown louder and more urgent with each passing day.
There are too many in the ethnic studies field who want to indoctrinate rather than educate. They want to bifurcate the world into either “oppressors” or “oppressed” and want to teach children what to think instead of how to think.
Within this framework, Israel is far too often painted as “the oppressor” – twisting millennia of history and ignoring the current complex reality. These types of lessons, along with promoting this film, leave the department giving a stamp of approval to those who chant “by any means necessary” – giving justification to the torture, rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israelis and Americans.
At SDUSD, the ethnic studies department points to the field’s “potential to enhance understanding, awareness, and appreciation for multiple, situated identities.” Yet, when it comes to Israel, it ignores the nearly 1,500 Christians, Muslims, and Jews from 35 nations, including more than 40 American citizens, who were injured, kidnapped, and murdered on October 7 by the depraved terrorists of Hamas.
Instead of glorifying hostage-taking and furthering division, the department needs to realign with its stated goals and work to create a safe space for all students and families – including Jews – in America’s finest city.
Sara E. Brown, PhD is Director of AJC San Diego.
