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that one of VCHR’s core values is that Israel/Palestine issues are an ongoing human rights concern. That demands an informed debate. In order to even have that debate, factual, unbiased knowledge about what’s actually happened since 1948 is critical. But Israel affinity organizations don’t want that debate. In a series of slides, Trabulsi recounted how in 2018 VCHR became aware of the actions by the innocuously named Institute for Curriculum Services. ICS’s efforts were promoted heavily by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), an umbrella group for the hundred or so Jewish Community Relations Councils (JCRCs). The director of the California-based ICS, Aliza Craimer Elias, explained how the ICS had quietly taken “considerable efforts” to change textbooks in public school systems across the U.S. She further claimed that ICS had proposed 11,000 edits to textbooks with an 80 percent acceptance rate by publishers. ICS itself is housed within the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco. It is therefore impossible to know much about its finances, staffing or budget. That JCPA and JCRCs advocate for Israel is not in doubt. The JCPA’s second mission statement goal is “to dedicate ourselves to the safety and security of the state of Israel.” Individual JCRC mission statements echo their mission “to maintain strong support for Israel and its right to exist in peace and security.” Many JCRC websites state openly and unabashedly, “we advocate for Israel.” Virginia’s are no different. Trabulsi provided digital images of letters revealing how in 2018 a group of powerful JCRCs and federations in Virginia secretly lobbied the common wealth’s Department of Education to accept ICS changes and forward a list of ICS changes to major textbook publishers during AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020
a 2018 textbook review process. Their filing occurred right before the public review period ended. An examination of ICS edits led to VCHR quickly determining that ICS was an Israel partisan public affairs operation, as opposed to merely an outside party somehow interested in improving education in Virginia. ICS’s list of edits—obtained from the Virginia Department of Education via the state sunshine law— proposed sanitizing Israel’s history of pre-and post-1948 ethnic cleansing and military occupations, while laying blame on Arabs for all conflict initiation in the region. According to ICS, all textbooks must refer to “settlements” as “neighborhoods” and never use the word “Palestine.” VCHR carefully documented, summarized and categorized the many inaccuracies and false claims appearing in ICS edits and filed its own demand that the Department of Education and publishers not allow false ICS information into textbooks. In addition, VCHR demanded that the Department of Education begin involving bona fide Middle East scholars in its highly flawed textbook review process in order to prevent such misinformation from entering textbooks. VCHR even signed on a number of high profile state educators to publicly support its call for textbook (Advertisement)
reviews that would result in accurate educational materials. The outcome of VCHR’s multi-pronged effort was successful, according to Trabulsi. Nevertheless, the well-funded ICS—boosted by its network of backers—continues to host deceptive workshops at major U.S. social studies conferences. ICS is even allowed to offer continuing education credits to attract unsuspecting educators to its “training sessions.” ICS continues to work with Israel affinity pressure groups nationwide to channel its demands for highly suspect changes in states whenever textbooks come up for review. Trabulsi’s presentation was a stunning example of how dedicated, but mostly under-resourced, efforts can temporarily staunch the flow of disinformation entering textbooks at the state level. The overarching question is how long it will last in Virginia and whether other states can act to “stop the spread” of Israel lobby disinformation in their own education systems. For more information about the VCHR textbook program, see <https://vchr.org/vatextbooks.html>. To view Kathy Drinkard’s VCHR’s presentation “Preventing Israel Affinity Organizations from Politicizing K-12 Textbooks” at the 2019 Israel Lobby and American Policy conference see <https:// youtube.com/watch?v=ZqAJBzkzh0>. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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