Jewish Federation of Madison’s Post

🌟 As we embrace Arab American Heritage Month, I find myself reflecting on a pivotal moment from my early teaching days - a day marked by tragedy but also by a deepening commitment to understanding and advocacy within our educational spaces. 📚 In the midst of the turmoil of 9/11, my thoughts gravitated towards two of my Arab American students, underscoring the vital need for empathy and inclusivity in our classrooms. This experience became a cornerstone of my journey as an educator, emphasizing the power of listening and sharing diverse narratives. 🌍 📣 This month presents a unique chance to elevate Arab American voices and stories. Inspired by Queen Rania Al Abdullah's wisdom, "We are stronger when we listen and smarter when we share," I invite you to join me in celebrating the richness of Arab American culture and contributions. Let's embody the essence of education in our diverse society by embracing every student's story. ✨ Echoing Ahmed Zewail's words, we recognize the universal aspirations for liberty, justice, and quality education. By integrating Arab American narratives into our teaching, we can build a more inclusive and empathetic educational environment. 🏫 I've explored valuable resources, like the National Endowment for the Humanities Virtual Bookshelf and the University of Illinois Chicago Arab American Cultural Center (IG: @arabamcc), that highlight Arab-American heritage and promote unbiased understanding. The Arab American National Museum (AANM) also offers an array of educator resources to immerse students in Arab American history and culture. 🖼️ Through collective effort, we can shield our students from ignorance and bias, lighting their paths with knowledge and empathy. Join me in this endeavor, and let's use our platforms to advocate for a more inclusive educational landscape. 🤝 Read more about my reflections and the resources that can help us champion diversity in our schools in my latest blog post. Let's not let our silence be deafening. This Arab American History Month, let's engage, educate, and advocate, showing every student they are seen, heard, and valued. 💬✊ #HumanRights #Schools #Belonging #Xenophobia #AmericanHistory #ArabAmericans #ArabAmericanHistoryMonth #AfeefNessouli #Islamophobia #Othering #Education #DEI #Inclusion Check out the blog post here: https://lnkd.in/dkuyurTa

PART 1/2: The minds of Israeli citizens have been so poisoned by Zionist education that they can't see the truth as it is. You’ll know this intimately if you've ever met an adamant Zionist and couldn't agree on anything. Education has been used as a tool to achieve this type of mentality. Nurit Peled elhanan, Professor of Language and Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, describes how school books (textbooks) are being used in the current conflict. Her book 'Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education' is a very informative account of the role of textbooks and how they have been used by the State of Israel. This post provides a summary of this book. (https://lnkd.in/eFGbeGgq) Textbooks are very important tools for shaping societies. They shape how people perceive, categorise, interpret and remember the world; they determine personal and national identities. Israeli textbooks are governed by a regime akin to the Truth Police, which ensures that the collective memory of its citizens is shaped according to the state-approved version of the truth. The importance of textbooks is even more pronounced in Israel, because before the establishment of Israel, Jews didn't exist as a nation. They didn't have a common language, culture and history, which are essential to unite people. They didn't have a collective memory or identity. The modern Jewish-Israeli nation has been manufactured through education, literature and the media. The State of Israel has made a massive effort to create and control collective memory, primarily through the education system. Through the education system, Israel has 'manufactured' a new reality in order to create a common memory among its Jewish citizens. This new reality recreates, alters and rewrites both historical and religious narratives. Through education, the mentality of the Jewish people has been 'engineered' to fuse people's identities with the common memory. "...One fundamental role of education is to assure that the groups preferences be every individual’s preference, its enemies his or her enemies." Adherence to this 'reality' makes it very difficult for Jewish people to critically analyse new information that contradicts their mental constructs because it threatens their core identity. The main characteristic of this 'reality' is hostility towards the other. To shape perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, (i) the Zionist narrative is justified, (ii) Zionists are presented in a positive light, (iii) Palestinians are delegitimised, and (iv) Israeli society is presented as the victim of Arabs. PS. This post is split into two, due to its length. The text of the post is based on the book, so I suggest you listen to the video in its entirety. I apologise for the quality of the video, which I had to edit and subtitle with no prior experience. For the full interview: https://lnkd.in/e42z2rRE

PART 1/2: The minds of Israeli citizens have been so poisoned by Zionist education that they can't see the truth as it is. You’ll know this intimately if you've ever met an adamant Zionist and couldn't agree on anything. Education has been used as a tool to achieve this type of mentality. Nurit Peled elhanan, Professor of Language and Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, describes how school books (textbooks) are being used in the current conflict. Her book 'Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education' is a very informative account of the role of textbooks and how they have been used by the State of Israel. This post provides a summary of this book. (https://lnkd.in/eFGbeGgq) Textbooks are very important tools for shaping societies. They shape how people perceive, categorise, interpret and remember the world; they determine personal and national identities. Israeli textbooks are governed by a regime akin to the Truth Police, which ensures that the collective memory of its citizens is shaped according to the state-approved version of the truth. The importance of textbooks is even more pronounced in Israel, because before the establishment of Israel, Jews didn't exist as a nation. They didn't have a common language, culture and history, which are essential to unite people. They didn't have a collective memory or identity. The modern Jewish-Israeli nation has been manufactured through education, literature and the media. The State of Israel has made a massive effort to create and control collective memory, primarily through the education system. Through the education system, Israel has 'manufactured' a new reality in order to create a common memory among its Jewish citizens. This new reality recreates, alters and rewrites both historical and religious narratives. Through education, the mentality of the Jewish people has been 'engineered' to fuse people's identities with the common memory. "...One fundamental role of education is to assure that the groups preferences be every individual’s preference, its enemies his or her enemies." Adherence to this 'reality' makes it very difficult for Jewish people to critically analyse new information that contradicts their mental constructs because it threatens their core identity. The main characteristic of this 'reality' is hostility towards the other. To shape perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, (i) the Zionist narrative is justified, (ii) Zionists are presented in a positive light, (iii) Palestinians are delegitimised, and (iv) Israeli society is presented as the victim of Arabs. PS. This post is split into two, due to its length. The text of the post is based on the book, so I suggest you listen to the video in its entirety. I apologise for the quality of the video, which I had to edit and subtitle with no prior experience. For the full interview: https://lnkd.in/e42z2rRE