With rising antisemitism, Jewish students need our help

Walk into most California public school classrooms and you’ll see educators striving to create warm, welcoming spaces for students. Alongside posters promoting mutual respect and personal responsibility, you might notice a pride flag or a sign reading “Immigrants Welcome Here.”

At a time when so many of our students receive messages that they do not belong, educators like me believe that these commitments to inclusion must be backed by policy—especially when Jewish students, teachers, and families face a rising tide of antisemitism at school.

A few years ago, a teacher at my school displayed inflammatory posters in the classroom, including one that read, “Make Israel Palestine Again.” More recently, students posted expletive-laden content on social media branding our administrators — and the school itself—as “Zionist,” using the term as a slur, alongside slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” rhetoric widely recognized as calling for the destruction of Israel. These attitudes are learned—at home, online, and sometimes even in our classrooms.

Without clear standards or accountability, these incidents go unchecked, and the message to Jewish students is clear: your identity is a target. I’ve even seen this happen in my own classroom. Last semester, a student asked whether my Starbucks cup meant I “supported genocide.”

The fallacious claim stemmed from the company distancing itself from its workers’ union after the organizing body posted “Solidarity with Palestine” on its social media account just weeks after the brutal October 7th attacks on Israeli citizens. Although Starbucks denied any political motivation, it quickly became the focus of online campaigns accusing it — wrongly — of endorsing genocide.

I sidestepped the comment to move the lesson forward, but it stuck with me. That night, I thought of Sarah, a quiet student whose mother is Mexican and father is Israeli. The next day, I noticed she wasn’t wearing her necklace with her name written in Hebrew script. When I asked how she was feeling, she shrugged and said: “My dad tells me to ignore them.”

According to the California Department of Justice’s 2024 Hate Crime in California Report, anti-Jewish prejudice is the leading form of religious hate. In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations found that anti‑Jewish hate crimes increased by 91%, rising from 127 incidents in 2022 to 242 in 2023.

In schools across California, we’re seeing Jewish students bullied, misrepresented, and singled out because of who they are or what others assume they believe. We’ve seen swastikas etched on school property, students threatening to kill their Jewish peers, conspiracy theories circulating about Jewish global control, and claims that believing in Israel’s right to exist makes you “pro-genocide.” Many families have even withdrawn their children from public schools altogether, uncertain whether their safety and dignity will be protected.

The stories we tell about “The Other” matter, and we must tell them with care. From the Crusades to the Spanish Inquisition, to the Holocaust, the Jewish people have long been vilified and reduced to objects of suspicion and hate. As the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once said: “The hate that begins with the Jews never ends there.” No community is immune to the danger of a false story repeated until it becomes an accepted truth.    

AB 715 is a direct, common-sense response to this crisis. It strengthens anti-discrimination protections in schools for all students while ensuring that antisemitism is addressed with the seriousness it demands.

It ensures that instructional content and materials are free from antisemitism and bias, and establishes teacher training centered on the six communities facing the highest levels of discrimination in California. The bill also increases accountability for school districts and establishes a State Antisemitism Coordinator to lead statewide prevention, response, and education efforts.

Some critics have tried to mischaracterize AB 715 as a threat to academic freedom and critical thinking. They are wrong. As a longtime member and leader in my teachers’ union, I would never support legislation that stifles open discussion in favor of unchallenged singular viewpoints. We can and must allow educators to address complex and sensitive topics in their classrooms without allowing antisemitic hate to infringe on Jewish students’ rights to a safe learning environment and a high-quality education.

AB 715 follows the long tradition of California lawmakers protecting vulnerable students from discrimination, bullying, and harassment — whether based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability — while preserving robust protections for free expression.

That’s why AB 715 has earned broad, bipartisan support — including from the chairs of the California Legislative Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American Pacific Islander, and Jewish caucuses.

It passed with zero votes against it through key Assembly committees and on the Assembly floor. This remarkable unity underscores the growing recognition that hate, left unaddressed, has real consequences, and that our schools must be equipped to confront it.

AB 715 affirms that our public schools can, and must, be places where every student is protected, respected, and included. If we’re serious about building inclusive learning environments, then passing this bill is not optional — it’s essential.

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Larry Shoham is a 25-year veteran English and Business teacher at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. He is an active member of his teachers’ union and co-chair of the union’s Jewish Affairs Caucus.

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