The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) today condemned the response of William Diamond Middle School leadership after the school principal apologized to students who said a mandatory lesson on the Holocaust left them feeling excluded or unsafe.
The school introduced Holocaust education as part of its response to a string of reported antisemitic incidents at the Lexington, Massachusetts school, including neo-Nazi graffiti discovered on campus in December 2025. In another incident, school leadership reportedly told a Jewish student not to wear a shirt reading “Save the bees. Plant more trees. Clean the seas. Punch Nazis.” The student, who reportedly wore the shirt often over a several-year period, was prohibited from wearing it after another student complained.
Rather than defend the necessity of teaching students about the systematic murder of six million Jews, Principal Johnny Cole apologized to students who said the Holocaust-focused lesson made them feel “unseen,” excluded, or less safe because it did not sufficiently address other histories and identities. He indicated that the school would work with families to develop a different approach going forward.
“It should be common sense that Holocaust education is not an affront to any student’s identity, and it is not something for which a school should apologize,” said Kurt Schwartz, CEO of CAMERA. “At a school where Jewish students have reportedly confronted neo-Nazi imagery and where an anti-Nazi message has apparently been treated as objectionable, leadership should be responding with moral clarity—not suggesting that the act of teaching about the Holocaust has somehow ‘missed the mark.’”
Schwartz added: “This episode reflects profoundly poor judgment by school leadership, an inadequate understanding of antisemitism, and a failure by the community to stand with its Jewish children and families. Lexington deserves far better.”
CAMERA urges Lexington Public Schools to take concrete action, including establishing a clear and unified process for reporting and responding to hate and bias incidents; strengthening instruction on Jewish history, culture and identity; and providing staff with substantive professional development on recognizing and confronting contemporary antisemitism.
“Jewish history cannot be watered down, softened, and qualified because it causes discomfort,” Schwartz said. “Schools have an obligation to teach the Holocaust accurately, confront today’s antisemitism decisively, and ensure Jewish students can express their identity and history without being made to feel like a problem to be managed.”
“A school cannot claim to care about truth and education, and confronting antisemitism while apologizing for teaching about one of the most devastating acts in world history, or accommodating hostility to Jewish history,” Schwartz concluded. “It is time for Lexington to demonstrate, through action, that it will protect and support its Jewish students.”
Rebecca Schgallis, Director of the K-12 Program at CAMERA, said: “We have reached a dangerous turning point in the weaponization of Holocaust education when schools surrender to the complaints of some students and families and reframe and soften Holocaust education. When schools apologize and backtrack instead of standing by Holocaust education, we have lost our way.”
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What is CAMERA? CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, is the leading organization exposing and countering anti-Israel narratives in the media, online, and in schools.
Founded in 1982 to monitor bias in print and network media, CAMERA has since broadened its expertise to confront misinformation directed at Israel and its supporters, wherever it exists. We correct falsehoods and distortions in the legacy media, expose disinformation on social media and other digital platforms, tackle antisemitism in K-12 education, support pro-Israel students on college campuses, and challenge anti-Israel campaigns targeting Evangelical Christian churches and communities.
With offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Jerusalem, Israel, and staff working virtually across the United States and United Kingdom, we operate at the forefront of the information battlefield to expose bias and promote truth, in turn strengthening support for Israel worldwide. CAMERA’s mission and work have never been more important.
For further information on the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, please visit camera.org
For further information on our Campus programs, please visit cameraoncampus.org