Education secretary Lucy Powell has announced a crackdown on the pro-Palestine speech and activism of teachers and pupils. Powell is a long-time member of the ‘Labour Friends of Israel’ (LFI) pressure group, voted for the terror banning of Palestine Action and did not vote for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Powell has announced that the Burnham government will implement all twenty-seven recommendations of David Bell’s Starmer-commissioned ‘report‘ that ‘confirms’ the supposed ‘vast scale‘ of antisemitism in UK schools and colleges. The seriousness of the report, commissioned by Keir Starmer to do precisely what it is doing, can be gauged from the fact that it claims 60% of Jewish pupils experience antisemitism in school – when only 30% of Jewish kids don’t go to Jewish schools.
Israel-first
But an examination of the report’s recommendations makes clear that – as always – the main aim is to protect Israel and its supporters from scrutiny by suppressing expressions of support for Palestine among pupils and school staff.
As usual, antisemitism will be privileged above other forms of racism and schools will be forced to teach a ‘balanced’ view of the ‘Israel-Palestine conflict’ and ensure ‘impartiality’. They will be strongly ‘encouraged’ to adopt the unfit ‘IHRA definition’ of antisemitism, which even its author condemns as specifically designed to suppress criticism of Israel and its crimes. And schools will be expected to crack down even on the wearing of pro-Palestine pins and other items expressing solidarity with the Palestinians.
There is no ‘conflict’ in Palestine. There is genocide. There is occupation. There is forced expulsion. There are myriad Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, and more committed every day. But no ‘conflict’ – and no right of ‘self-defence’ for the occupying colonists against resistance from those they occupy.
NEU teaching union head Daniel Kebede rejected the ‘report’ and the push to impose the ‘IHRA’ as unnecessary and counterproductive:
This report will not tackle antisemitism. It wrongly calls into question the professionalism of teachers. The existing rules on impartiality in the classroom are very clear and teachers take that responsibility very seriously.
For three years, teachers have been responding to concerned pupils’ questions about this conflict. These classroom discussions are familiar territory, not uncharted ground
The war on schools mirrors the government’s decision to implement the recommendations of Israel fanatic John Mann to ban the wearing of Palestine symbols in the NHS.
Israel is a terror state. The Burnham government is just as complicit in its genocide and terrorism as his predecessor – and the feelings of Zionists about criticism of the murderous colony they support could not be less relevant to what’s right.
Free Palestine.
Welcome to fascist Britain