Should the school board adopt the IHRA definition & examples of antisemitism?

HIGH SCHOOL LESSON PLAN 

IHRA DEFINITION & EXAMPLES OF ANTISEMITISM

STUDENTS PREPARE TESTIMONY FOR OR AGAINST SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTION OF THE IHRA DEFINITION & EXAMPLES OF ANTISEMITISM

Lesson prepared by Marcy Winograd, retired English & social studies teacher

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1

Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

Essay Prompt: 

You will testify before your local school board as it considers adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition and examples of antisemitism to guide instruction. You must write testimony (at least 1500 words) for or against adoption of the IHRA. Address the readers’ concerns by refuting opposing arguments. Include a conclusion that explains why your position is important. 

Criteria for assessment: -clear thesis/position, strong textual support (at least two examples), convincing argument, specific call to action. 4, 3, 2, 1

Instructional Time: (5) 50-minute class periods

1st session: introductory video, maps
2nd session: vocabulary & background reading 
3rd session: writing prompt-pro/con arguments
4th session: guided writing
5th session: presentation of testimony

Materials Needed: copies of the essay prompt and rubric.

Steps in Procedure

1. Hook: Project a picture of the local school board. Who are these people? What sorts of decisions can they make? (approve budgets, hire superintendent, adopt curriculum, increase hiring of teachers or ordering teacher lay-offs).
2. Share copy of essay prompt and rubric.
3. Build background knowledge through videos & maps.
4. Introduce vocabulary words.
5. Share pro & con arguments.
6. Guided writing (individual or group)  for testimony for or against adoption.
7. Optional presentation of testimony.

Vocabulary: antisemitism; Zionism; anti-Zionism; Israel; Palestine; 1st Amendment/protected speech; conflation, IHRA

Antisemitism: hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Zionism: 

1)political support for the creation and development of a Jewish homeland in Israel.(Encyclopedia Britannica) 

2) A settler-colonial ideology aimed at establishing a Jewish state in historic Palestine by eliminating the indigenous Palestinian people.(Palestine Policy Network–a network of Palestinian scholars)

Anti-Zionism: opposition to the establishment or support of the state of Israel :

1st Amendment: the right to express information, ideas, and opinions free of government restrictions based on content and subject only to reasonable limitations. (Merriam Webster)

Conflation: the act or process of combining two or more separate things into one whole, especially pieces of text or ideas. (Cambridge Dictionary)

IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance): An intergovernmental organization with 35 member countries, founded in 1998 to address issues related to the Holocaust and genocide of the Roma. (HolocaustRemembrance.com) 

Build Background Knowledge (Watch video/fill out T-chart for I learned/I think)

Suggested Videos

Crash Course: Conflict in Israel and Palestine through 2015: Crash Course World History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wo2TLlMhiw  (John Green)

The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history (Vox, a brief and simple history. 2016))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYZjOuUnlU

Gaza, explained  (Vox, 2024)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv1SpwwJEW8

Brief Animated History on the Question of Palestine (UN Palestinian Rights Committee. 2024) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBjMbe24Vu0

Maps
Guiding Question: What are the differences between some of these maps?

Middle East: (World Atlas)
https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/me.htm

Israel/Palestine (neither marked as such) 
(United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict#/media/File:Occupied_Palestinian_Territories.jpg

Israel and the Occupied Territories (United Nations)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-occupied_territories#/media/File:Israel_and_occupied_territories_map.png

Palestine (World Atlas: the word “Israel” is not on the map.)
https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/palestine

Israel/Palestine (Britannica: the word “Palestine” is not on the map)
https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-state-solution

TEXTS: 

Primary Document from the IHRA

(IHRA)  International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition
https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism

Supplemental Background Texts

On Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism and Dangerous Conflations (JVP)
https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2023/11/09/antisemitism-dangerous/

American Jewish Committee
What is Anti-Zionism?
https://www.ajc.org/news/anti-zionism-and-antisemitism

Pro/Con Arguments

Pro:

Oregon must adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/oregon-must-adopt-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism

Adopting the IHRA Definition to Combat Antisemitism: in Government, on Campus and Beyond. (Brandeis Center)

https://brandeiscenter.com/adopting-the-ihra-definition-to-combat-anti-semitism-in-government-on-campus-and-in-general/

Con:

Jewish Voice for Peace Opposes the IHRA
https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2021/02/08/ihra/

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Reject Definitions of Anti-Semitism that Encompass Protected Speech
https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Reject-Definitions-of-Anti-Semitism-that-Encompass-Protected-Speech.pdf

##

IHRA Lesson Plan