A ‘divisive and partisan’ resource on the Israel/Palestine conflict which was being sold on the Times Educational Supplement website, has now been permanently removed following protests from the Board of Deputies and teachers.
The ‘educational’ resource was brought to the Board’s attention by the Jewish community in Cardiff, where it was being used in a local secondary school. The 19-slide presentation made false equivalences between the IDF and Hamas terrorists and selectively used sources that reinforced an anti-Israel narrative.
The Government requires state funded schools to remain politically impartial, so any school using this resource to impart ‘facts’ to their pupils without a balancing resource, would have been breaking the law, possibly unwittingly.
After receiving a letter from the Board of Deputies, the TES removed the resource from their website while it investigated. A member of the Jewish Teachers Network UK and a Jewish SACRE representative also wrote to the TES with their concerns. Two weeks later, TES staff confirmed that it was being permanently removed.
Board of Deputies Vice President Jeremy Michelson said: ‘We are relieved that the TES took this matter seriously and have removed this divisive and partisan resource speedily before it could do further damage by misleading children about this very complex conflict.’