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June 10th, 2021 
Awake Goy “Facing History and Ourselves“, an educational and professional development organization that uses the “lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate,” is an incredibly rich resource for educators as long as they’re not looking for teaching materials on Palestine, and are not questioning Zionism.
The global non-profit organization, founded in 1976 to empower students to learn lessons from the Holocaust and other historical events and connect them to their own lives, has no general educational materials about Palestinian history. Rather, it provides a one-sided narrative of Israel as a pluralistic and just society.
The need for quality curricular materials that fully address issues of power in Israel and Palestine is more important than ever given the recent Israeli war in Gaza, the violence at the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the possible evictions in the Jerusalem neighborhood Sheikh Jarrah. Instead of addressing these power dynamics, however, “Facing History” perpetuates a liberal Zionist ethos that limits the very historical breadth it claims to foster, and uses the Holocaust and anti-Semitism to talk to students about systemic oppression.
“Facing History” is at heart a “Progressive Except Palestine” organization. Its ethos is permeating schools, upholding and normalizing the erasure of Palestine, and ultimately taking advantage of overworked teachers and their students who already have been educated to think Palestinians are invisible–even when the recent Israeli attacks in Gaza and ongoing occupation have been condemned all over the world.
The organization’s goal is to help educators “foster empathy and reflection,” according to its mission statement, and has “[e]verything you need to get started teaching your students about racism, antisemitism and prejudice”:
At Facing History and Ourselves, we believe the bigotry and hate that we witness today are the legacy of brutal injustices of the past. Facing our collective history and how it informs our attitudes and behaviors allows us to choose a world of equity and justice. Facing History’s resources address racism, antisemitism, and prejudice at pivotal moments in history; we help students connect choices made in the past to those they will confront in their own lives.
This assertion makes it seem that all histories have a place in “Facing History”’s curriculum–indeed, that history itself is about relationships and power rather than just facts. However, a deeper look at the organization shows that some relationships are more important than others, and a few, like Palestinians, not important at all.
Over 700,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by Israel when the Jewish State was founded in 1948-49 and they have never been allowed to return to their homes. In the context of “Facing History” where social justice is supposedly a key curricular component, this historically documented injustice of Palestine isn’t mentioned anywhere in the organization’s curriculum. Instead, Israel is valorized in “Facing History”’s materials as a democracy and homeland of the Jews, a safe-haven from anti-Semitism after the Holocaust, never mentioning Palestinians in its heroic nation-state narrative.
For example, one of the many videos available to educators at Facing History is The Long Way Home, a documentary produced by Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance (built on top of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem). The film, narrated by Morgan Freeman, describes Palestinians as violent and arrogant, and Israelis as civilized and rational. Film footage of Holocaust survivors approaching the shores of Palestine while HaTikvah (“The Hope,” Israel’s national anthem) plays in the background is moving, of course, but only presents one side of Palestine’s history. The truth of how Israel became a nation-state is far more dependent upon the history of colonialism and ethnic cleansing than “Facing History” would have educators believe.
“Facing History” is financially backed by prominent liberal philanthropists like Seth Klarman, the hedge-fund billionaire who also serves the program as Emeritus Chair of the Leadership Council and Chair of the Board of Trustees. “Facing History”’s 2020 annual report reveals that The Klarman Family Foundation donated one million dollars to the organization. Klarman is also a huge supporter of Israel. He’s on the board of the Israel Project, and gives money to the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces and the David Project, the group that has targeted Arab and Muslim intellectuals on U.S. college campuses. He is a major donor to Birthright, the indoctrination program that sends young Jews on a free trip to Israel.
Klarman is also the co-founder of The Times of Israel, an online English-language newspaper. In a 2012 blog post announcing his investment in The Times of Israel, Klarman conflates anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism:
As a long-time student of the history of anti-Semitism, I know that this blind hatred is never the fault of Jews; moreover, it is clear to me that anti-Zionism is simply the newest form of anti-Semitism. When the Jewish State is singled out above all others for criticism, such as it is at the United Nations, this is anti-Semitism.
The Klarman Family Foundation also states its steadfast support of Israel, its “unwavering commitment to demonstrating Jewish values and supporting the Jewish people and Israel”:
We believe Israel is essential to the Jewish experience and even to Jewish survival. In an environment of growing anti-Semitism, Israel is the one Jewish state–a historic homeland where every Jew is welcome.
In addition to supporting Israel, Klarman’s liberal philanthropy in the U.S. also includes donations to arts organizations, educational institutions, hospitals, and Planned Parenthood, among others.
Another major donor to Facing History is the pro-Israel lobby organization, The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation (they donated between $250,000-499,000 dollars to “Facing History,” according to the organization’s 2019 annual report). The Schusterman Foundation also gives millions of dollars to Birthright (Klarman, $1.75 million in 2016 alone; Schusterman $2.5 million in 2019).
Like the Klarman Foundation, Schusterman maintains a right-wing silence on injustices in Palestine while supporting liberal causes in the U.S. For example, the Schusterman Foundation issued a statement condemning racism on their website on May 25, 2021, “Remembering George Floyd: Pursuing Racial Justice.” “We have seen a growing national recognition of the need to address racial inequity across nearly every facet of our society,” the announcement reads. “May we honor the memories of George Floyd and all Black lives taken unjustly before and since by working toward a world free from hate and with dignity and justice for all people.” Given the ongoing history of racism in the U.S., it’s important that the organization made this statement, but it’s problematic when the “dignity and justice for all people” doesn’t actually extend to all victims of oppression, certainly not Palestinians, and ignores the growing understanding in progressive circles that Zionism is racist.
But it’s no surprise that Democrats like Klarman and Schusterman–at once deep-pocketed liberal philanthropists and serious Israel lobbyists–are major supporters of “Facing History” because the organization’s philosophy is similar to theirs, Progressive Except Palestine.
To any outside observer, “Facing History”’s curricula are current and relevant, tackling issues of systemic oppression. Given the extent to which teachers are overworked in underfunded public schools, getting support from an organization like “Facing History” is an educator’s dream. A teacher can find teaching strategies, daily-lesson and unit plans aligned to state and national standards, learning objectives, essential and guiding questions for each lesson, primary source documents, streaming videos, downloadable PDFs, and slide shows. These resources “will support your students’ learning,” the website states on its “Educator Resources” page, “whether you are teaching a complex moment in history or addressing today’s breaking news.”
But the “complex moments” that “Facing History” claims to teach omit issues of power that remain outside the mainstream.
The “Current Events” page also has a section called, “Support for Teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a lifesaver for many educators this past year and a half who had to instantly adapt curricula to remote and hybrid teaching. “In the News Now” provides lesson plans for the timely events it chooses to highlight.
For instance, just hours after the verdict was announced April 20 in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white Minneapolis police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd, “Facing History” pushed out a lesson plan to educators all over the U.S.
The lesson plan was sent by Abby Weiss, Chief Officer of the Program & Thought Leadership wing of “Facing History.” “The [lesson] activities prompt students to process the news of the verdict,” Weiss wrote in her email, “and then explore the complicated concepts of justice, accountability, and healing.” The pre-packaged lesson plan included journal prompts, readings, and teaching strategies about the Chauvin trial specifically, and about the larger systemic issue of police violence towards Black people in America. Included was a statement by Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison after the verdict and an article from The Conversation, “The racist roots of American policing: From slave patrols to traffic stops,” that digs into structural racism in the U.S.
To be sure, it is challenging to talk with students about institutional and structural racism in America. I look for ways to grow in this area, especially as a white Jewish woman working in a large public school system where almost 40 percent of the student body is Black. But “Facing History”, like the Schusterman Foundation, loses credibility for this anti-racist, anti-Zionist educator (who also lost family in the Holocaust and has been a victim of anti-Semitism many times) when it decides what topics are “complicated” and which remain invisible. You simply cannot oppose white nationalism in the U.S. while supporting Jewish nationalism in Israel, but “Facing History” functions as though it is possible to be both anti-racist and Zionist.
It’s an obvious omission, given the connections between Black liberation and Palestine solidarity movements, emphasized by the work of activists like Angela Davis. This link was also recently highlighted by Haidar Eid, Professor of Postcolonial and Postmodern Literature at Gaza’s al-Aqsa University. “Isn’t it time to include Palestinian literature into the body of research that became known as critical race theory,” Eid asks, “since most of it has been ideologically committed to the struggle against institutionalized racism?”
The Black Lives Matter movement also put out a statement denouncing the recent violence in Palestine on its official Twitter page on May 17, 2021:
We are a movement committed to ending settler colonialism in all forms and will continue to advocate for Palestinian liberation (always have. And always will be). #freepalestine.
“Facing History” is ignoring this connection. When I did a search for Black Lives Matter, 1704 results appeared with tons of materials on systemic racism: Lesson plans on the murder of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, racial bias and white nationalism, videos on race in the U.S., and reading lists that center Black lives and support the Black Lives Matter Movement. Not one resource mentioned the Black Lives Matter recent Twitter statement on Palestine.
“Facing History” also has a lot of materials about police brutality towards people of color in the U.S.–a search showed 399 results. But nowhere does the organization state that many police departments in the U.S. work closely with Israel, sending police to Israel to work with Israeli military in joint trainings. “Facing History” criticizes police brutality, turns tragic U.S. current events into teachable moments, but then ignores the police and military brutality currently happening in Palestine.
Not until May 26, five days after the May 21 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, did “Facing History” put out an announcement–not a lesson plan–with generalized ideas for teaching about the recent violence in Israel and Palestine.
The statement, “A Message for Educators on the Crisis in Israel and Palestine,” was a sanitized gesture, saying all students should confront “difficult histories” and “navigate challenging conversations”:
The complexity of this conflict demands thoughtful, fact-based historical inquiry and nuanced ethical reflection. Too often people engage through quick sound bites, which lend fuel to oversimplifications rather than deep understanding. Instead, we encourage informed and respectful dialogue that references primary sources and multiple perspectives and that inspires empathy for all who are suffering.
The vague and elusive statement presented a “both sides” approach that used the word “complexity” to describe the conflict–a common trope used by liberal Zionists when they talk about Israel. The statement focused on personal reflection, avoiding any discussion of systemic power and oppression. Links to The Council on Foreign Relations and The U.S. Institute of Peace, both establishment organizations, were offered as resources.
The piece de resistance for me in “Facing History”’s statement was its link to All Sides, a news site that decides which news outlets are considered “left,” “center,” and “right.” According to its website, All Sides exposes “people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world–and each other.” The link to All Sides that “Facing History” provided was from May 21, to a page titled, “Perspectives: Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Begins.” This page provides a list of media outlets allegedly representing “all sides” of reporting on the conflict. However, the media analysis provided by All Sides is characterized by a misreading of the range of political viewpoints represented by major media outlets. All Sides decided that the “center” was an article from the Associated Press. On the “right,” an article from The Wall Street Journal, and the “left” was The New York Times–a mainstream liberal newspaper. All Sides claims to provide “balanced news and civil discourse,” yet when I searched for Electronic Intifada, Institute for Middle East Understanding, and Mondoweiss, nothing came up. All Sides is popular in schools and has an entire section with lesson plans with these supposed “balanced perspectives” that simply perpetuate the mainstream liberal Zionist stance on Israel.
A few days before “Facing History” put out their May 26 statement, I had emailed them, asking if they had materials on the recent humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Tracy O’Brien, Director of Library Services, replied within a few hours with an evasive response. “With current events still unfolding and the complexity and sensitivity of the conflict in mind,” O’Brien wrote, “our focus is, as always, on supporting educators by helping them navigate any challenging conversations they may have in their classrooms.” O’Brien reminded me that “Facing History”’s “approach encourages respectful listening, informed civic dialogue, and multiple perspective taking.” She then suggested I use Facing History for guidance “on how to utilize this approach in your classroom” and recommended I use the “Checklist” on the website. (But I hadn’t asked for help with facilitating sensitive discussions. I have twenty years’ experience as a facilitator and educator; I had asked specifically for materials on Gaza.) O’Brien avoided the entire topic, rerouting me back to in-house “Facing History” materials.
“Facing History”’s website is so glossy, its language so empowering, it could be easy for some, particularly newer teachers, to get swept up in its “critical thinking” ethos, especially with its focus on systemic issues:
Teaching current events can be challenging: the news cycle moves quickly, the issues can spark strong feelings, and classroom time is tight. Yet engaging with current events is an essential part of educating young people to be informed and humane participants in a democracy.
Many liberal educators–even those who consider themselves “activist-teachers”–may not even notice Palestine missing from the website unless they specifically look for it. Most teachers in the U.S. are not encouraged or required to teach Palestinian history. Instead, “Facing History” focuses on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism to teach about other injustices.
“Facing History” has cleverly aligned itself with public law, which states that a unit on the Holocaust must be taught in public schools. Illinois was the first state to mandate this instruction in 1990, and it was expanded in 2005 to include several other genocides without mentioning Palestine:
Every public elementary and high school must provide a unit of instruction studying the events of the Nazi atrocities of 1933-1945, a period in world history known as the Holocaust. To reinforce that lesson, such curriculum shall include an additional unit of instruction studying other acts of genocide across the globe. This unit shall include, but not be limited to, the Armenian Genocide, the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, and more recent atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan.
It’s understandable, of course, why it became law for the Holocaust to be taught in public schools. There’s a need to discuss the Holocaust in the 21st century, especially after the Trump years. But the language surrounding the law is problematic because other genocides become less important, and Palestine not at all. The Holocaust is centered as an almost archetypal genocide at the intersection of both the private organization “Facing History” and in public law.
What happens to students when one genocide is highlighted in the classroom over others, one student’s life experiences more important than his classmate’s? How long will Palestinian students have to see their homeland intentionally left off of maps when they’re in school, supposedly learning “both sides?” And what would it be like for students to openly study power dynamics and settler colonialism in Israel/Palestine with teachers who are supported to talk about it in class as part of the curriculum–alongside the Holocaust–rather than as a subversive act that can get them fired? (I’m writing this under a pseudonym after receiving death threats years ago for writing about being anti-Zionist).
Privileging the Holocaust over other genocides isn’t only occurring in state law and in “Facing History”’s materials for teachers–it’s also in the professional development seminars for educators the organization provides. The classes are taught by “Facing History” staff members, many who are former teachers. Educators can earn credit hours towards recertification by taking the classes–which are also approved by the state. Similar to the teacher resources, the courses also sound progressive and timely. A few of the classes offered include: Teaching With and Through Women’s Calls for Justice; Teaching Race and Membership; Teaching To Kill a Mockingbird; Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Residential Schools; Teaching Identity; Membership and Belonging: Teaching Immigration; and Teaching Holocaust and Human Behavior.
While it’s great for teachers to have the opportunities to grapple with the issues raised in these courses, the continued omission of Palestinian history is intentional–especially when systemic racism and indigeneity are the subjects of entire “Facing History” courses.
About fifteen years ago, I took the “Facing History” Holocaust and Human Behavior five-day class. The first four days we studied the Holocaust, and then on the fifth we learned about the Armenian and Rwandan genocides. I remember the facilitator telling our class that because we had now studied the Holocaust so extensively, we could apply it to other atrocities in history. The “Facing History” course did exactly what public policy dictates it do–use other genocides to “reinforce” what we learned about the Holocaust while omitting any discussion of Palestine.
(Resources do exist to the left of “Facing History.” Teach Palestine provides timely and historically relevant curricular materials for educators, focusing “on bringing Palestine into our classrooms and schools,” and makes connections between the Black Lives Matter movement and Palestinian solidarity–not to suggest they’re the same, of course, but to help students identify similar modes of oppression.)
The connection between Black Lives Matter and Palestine is nowhere to be found in “Facing History.” The organization does a bait-and switch on the well-intentioned teachers it appeals to while continuing to privilege the Holocaust. No resources exist about anti-Zionism, either.
Prior to my earlier email exchange, I contacted “Facing History” on April 26 asking if they had materials on anti-Zionism. I received another quick reply (they are prompt!) from O’Brien, recommending the book, A Convenient Hatred, by Phyllis Goldstein, published by “Facing History” in 2012. “Facing History has published a comprehensive overview of antisemitism,” O’Brien wrote in her email. “There is a chapter devoted to anti-Zionism, along with a lot of other important historical context.” The only reference to anti-Zionism–I found the book online–was in the context of the Soviet Union in 1952 when promoting Zionism was considered a crime.
A description of the last chapter of the book, “Antisemitism Today: A Convenient Hatred,” on the “Facing History” website, conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism:
That chapter considers the newest justifications for antisemitism–including Holocaust denial and the use of traditional antisemitic libels to demonize both the state of Israel and Jews in general.
My inquiry resulted in being insularly redirected in a circular loop to in-house materials that reinforce the Zionist ethos of “Facing History.” This deliberate strategy protects Zionism from ever being criticized.
A few weeks ago I was talking with a trusted colleague about the ways we teach and talk about power with our students. We joked about the limitations of pre-packaged materials, how so much of teaching consists of putting together our own resources, and that we prefer it this way: news articles here, school board approved literature there, book chapters, video clips, whatever we can find to help students understand their own lived experiences better and find their place in the world.
Teaching is an art form. Ultimately, the best materials are the resources we find and put together ourselves. Two years ago I visited friends in Bethlehem, and one of them, a high school English teacher, gave me two books she uses with her 12th grade students, English for Palestine, and English for Palestine: Reading Plus, both published by Macmillan in conjunction with Palestine’s Ministry of Education.
In Unit 6 of the Reading Plus book, students are asked to write a short biography about how their family was affected by the Nakba. The text asks them if they “come from a family that used to live in one of the villages depopulated and/or destroyed by the Israelis in 1948.” Questions for students to consider for their biography include: “Where was the village? What was life there like before 1948? Where did your family go when they were forced to leave? What was their life like in the new place?” Students are given guidelines for writing their biography: “Include details of life before the Nakba, either from imagination or from what your family has told you”; “Say what effect the Nakba had on you and your family”; “Add a conclusion about how people kept the memory alive and their hope for a Right of Return.”
“Facing History and Ourselves” could include materials like this about Palestine if it was truly committed to do what it claims, to equip “teachers with the tools and strategies they need to help students become thoughtful, responsible citizens.” But to do so would require criticizing, and ultimately acknowledging that Zionism is racism.
The educators who use Facing History’s materials, and the students they teach, don’t learn about the power imbalance between the Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jewish Israelis, or about the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. They don’t hear about the Palestinian villages that Israel destroyed in 1948, or the ongoing Israeli military occupation. They aren’t taught about settler colonialism or ethnic cleansing in Palestine. Their lesson plans say nothing of keeping memory and hope alive for a Right of Return for Palestinian refugees.
“Facing History and Ourselves” is not facing history or ourselves. Instead, it’s facing, authenticating, and propagandizing the dominant ideologies that govern how we talk and teach about power and oppression in schools–stopping short, especially now, at the shores of Palestine.
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