Ari Brown, Education Analyst
Rebecca Schgallis, Director, K-12 Program
It was time for Yachatz — the part of the Passover seder where we break the middle matzah as a reminder that not everyone is free, that freedom is not yet whole. We spoke aloud about the people of Palestine, who are not yet free, and how this communal act could be both a reminder and a call to stand up and fight.
This quote in the Fall 2025 issue of Rethinking Schools magazine entitled, Don’t Stop Teaching about Gaza, is one of many examples of how the social justice organization appropriates Judaism to demonize the Jewish state and Jews. In their first magazine, Teaching Palestine, devoted to delegitimizing Israel published in February 2025, Rethinking Schools employed the usual colonial settler, apartheid charges against Israel. The latest magazine takes a different approach by highlighting authors claiming Jewish identity, and therefore authority in defining Jewish identity, allowing Rethinking Schools to reject charges of antisemitism. The magazine cover makes this clear: a young woman stands among activists, holding a sign that reads “Don’t Stop Teaching About Gaza” wearing a shirt that says, “Jews Say Let Gaza Live.” In appropriating Jewish identity, Rethinking Schools can feed the lie that antizionism is not the latest hate movement against Jews but, rather, a noble social justice cause.
