Three committee members tasked writing California high school curriculum have expressed sympathy or full support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Movement against Israel, reported the Washington Free Beacon in a recent expose.
The BDS movement has been deemed at its core anti-Semitic, according to the definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the U.S. State Department and 31 other countries worldwide.
In addition, one of the teachers on the 18-member committee is a Palestinian activist, who currently uses teaching materials that utilize state-owned media outlets from Iran and Qatar as source material.
Members of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, as well as various Jewish groups have raised concern over the proposed curriculum for high schools, which is being described as “blatantly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.”
The three members of the committee with a history of anti-Israel bias are Gaye Theresa Johnson, Theresa Montano, and Samia Shoman.
Johnson and Montano have either expressed sympathy or full support to the discriminatory and terror-tied BDS Movement.
Shoman, a Palestinian activist and California high school teacher, authored a history curriculum on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Her five-week course and supplemental materials can be found at the KARAMA Arab and Islamic World Information Project.
The teaching materials from Shoman are absurdly slanted to the point of propaganda. Some of the curricula documents utilize state-owned media outlets from Iran and Qatar as source material.
Other documents attempt to draw equivalencies between George W. Bush and Osama Bin Laden.
The Qatar Foundation International (QFI), a US-based member of the Qatar Foundation (QF), promotes Shoman’s anti-Israel curricula through their teaching web portal Al-Masdar.
QF is an arm of the Qatari government, founded and led by top Qatari officials. QF is also committed to promoting the Islamic teachings of Muhammad al-Wahhab, the founder of “Wahhabism,” a radical form of Islam.
QF is also linked to the International Institute of Islamic Thought, a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood front group linked to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Qatar has come under criticism for their funding of U.S. schools. Based on figures provided by the Department of Education, Clarion Project recently reported that, since 2012, Qatari entities have given close to $1.5 billion to U.S. universities in the form of monetary gifts and contracts.
QFI currently provides Arabic language program grants to 22 primary and secondary schools throughout the United States.
The California high school new anti-Israel curriculum is currently going through public comment before board approval next year. Passage of this curriculum could mean an increase in Qatar’s involvement with primary and secondary schools throughout America as well as American children being taught blatant anti-Semitism.
You can contact the California Department of Education to voice your opinion on this issue by clicking here.