A book showcasing a widely disputed account of what anti-Israel activists call “Al Nakba” was discovered in a Toronto District School Board elementary school classroom. Members of the Jewish community are concerned that the “distorted” account of history is being used to indoctrinate kids.
Images of the book “We are Palestinian: a Celebration of Culture and Tradition,” which is being criticized as a “revision of history,” were sent to independent journalist, author and radio host Dahlia Kurtz, who told True North she is keeping her sources confidential out of fear for their safety.
The book explains how the word Nakba means “catastrophe.” It references a period following the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel, which caused “almost 750,000 Palestinians” to lose their homes, become displaced and “have to leave Palestine.”
A Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs spokesperson said they are concerned about the book’s presence in TDSB classrooms as it “presents a one-sided and misleading version of history.”
“By promoting a narrative that ignores the Israeli perspective on the “Nakba” this material risks indoctrinating students rather than fostering critical thinking,” Michelle Stock, the Vice President of Ontario, CIJA, told True North in an email. “It is essential that educational materials respect the diversity of perspectives, especially when dealing with complex and sensitive historical events.”
Stock said she is concerned that the book could cause Jewish students to question their own identity and heritage, undermining their sense of belonging in their schools.
“We have seen example after example of political bias in TDSB classrooms when schools should be places of support and understanding,” she said. “Personal views on geopolitical issues shouldn’t be pushed on students.”
Rich Robertson, the director of advocacy and research at B’nai Brith Canada shared CIJA’s concerns on the book. He said it’s incidents such as this which led B’nai Brith to launch a new policy for combatting antisemitism in schools on Thursday.
He noted that such literature is void of mentioning the indigeneity of Jewish people to the region, the history of Jewish exile from the land or the expulsion of Jewish people from Arab countries following the establishment of the state of Israel.
“Failing to provide the proper context to the current geopolitical issues in Israel and the Palestinian territories is dangerous,” Robertson said. “It can potentially enable students to develop misunderstandings about the region’s history. Such a misunderstanding, we’ve seen, can lead to incitement and the development of problematic views.”
Kurtz said the book revises history to delegitimize the Jewish state of Israel in the minds of kids. In an Op-Ed published by True North, Kurtz purported to debunk the “Nakba scam.”
“The ‘Nakba’ is basically a fairy tale,” Kurtz told True North in an interview. “It was not the catastrophe that the anti-West mob purported it to be.”
She said an accurate history of the period, which anti-Israel activists call the Nakba, started on May 14, 1948, when Israel declared independence.
“Immediately (after) Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia waged a genocidal war against this new Jewish state with the plan to annihilate Israel and the Jewish people completely,” she said.
Kurtz said the great “displacement” was the result of much of the Arab population of Israel obeying the orders of Arab leaders of the surrounding nations to leave Israel until the Jewish army and people were “exterminated.” She said this happened despite Israeli officials and media pleading for the Arab population to stay.
She said the Arabs who fled went to refugee camps where they were treated poorly, and the Arabs who stayed became part of the Israeli population. She said the only difference in citizenship is that Arab citizens do not have to join the Israeli Defence Force as Jewish citizens do, though some choose to fight for their country.
According to a 2023 census of Israel, 21%, nearly two million, of the population are Arab. Arabs have the same legal rights as Jewish citizens and are represented in the Knesset, Israeli parliament.
“This entire Nakba story was the Arab effort to colonize another country, genocide its people, lose a brutal war that they started, and then whine about it to the world forevermore,” Kurtz said. “Essentially, the Nakba is the biggest scam in the history of humankind.”
The TDSB did not provide comment before the deadline provided by True North.
