Antisemitism in Irish schools has reached such an extent that traumatized Jewish students are switching schools to escape hostility, the Jewish Chonicle has learned.
A recent report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (Impact-se), an educational watchdog, reveals pervasive antisemitic stereotypes and anti-Israel bias in Irish school textbooks.
Examples include a textbook that describes Judaism as inherently more violent than other religions and another that depicts tallit-wearers as individuals who “do not like Jesus.”
One book uses an image of a young boy wearing a Palestinian scarf protesting Israel to illustrate the parable of the Good Samaritan, while others portray Israel as the "sole aggressor" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ireland’s Chief Rabbi told the JC that some Jewish students now feel "afraid because they are Jewish," and the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland (JRCI) added that Jewish youth feel "under siege" in classrooms, with some being forced to change schools due to the antisemitism they face.