Educators at London conference explain that antisemitism is 'world’s oldest hatred,' not result of Israeli-Palestinian conflict

How does one react to getting a bad report card at school? Well, as it turns out, grown-up teachers and campus directors in the U.S. are handling criticism remarkably well.

In addition to serious academics at the Contemporary Antisemitism conference held in London last week, there were many presentations from groups and individuals making a difference.

Here are four of them:

• Masha Zemtsov spoke about action being taken by the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL), where dedicated advisors are making great strides in dealing with the post-Oct. 7 environment on American college campuses.

• Nir Kaplan is an Israeli lawyer and the co-founder of Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA), an NGO established in 2020 to hold social media networks to account.

• Maiken Umbach and Mark Rusling are part of the team at the UK’s National Holocaust Centre (NHC), bringing cutting-edge education to school-age children to target racism early on.

According to Zemtsov, American campuses have responded “very well” to a new ADL initiative that provides schools with an assessment of how well they are tackling antisemitism.

With grades ranging from A to F, ADL’s Report Card 2.0 assesses 135 schools based on 30 criteria separated into ‘Administrative Policies,’ ‘Jewish Life on Campus,’ and ‘Campus Conduct and Climate Concerns.’

Zemtsov explained that the ADL does not simply send a bad report card and leave the institution to repair itself.

“We are with them all the way,” she said, to mentor and offer advice on how to combat racism. “One school that we awarded a B even contacted us to find out how they could get an A!” 

A survey in the fall of 2024, conducted by the ADL, Hillel International and College Pulse, found that 83.2% of Jewish college students polled had “experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism since October 7, 2023.”

In addition, 66.2% of Jewish and 60.1% of non-Jewish students were “not confident in their university’s ability to prevent antisemitic incidents.”

“It is a systemic issue,” she said, explaining that the “trust erosion” that is the result of Jewish students not having their voices heard - evidenced by the low levels of reporting to university authorities - means that it is a “campus climate issue, not just a Jewish issue.”

Speaking on a panel entitled, ‘Antisemitism: a global phenomenon,’ Kaplan raised hopes that social media giants like 𝕏, Meta and Google have been listening to the concerns of the Jewish community worldwide.

Kaplan explained that social media can spread antisemitism through the dissemination of false or misleading information. He pointed to two images as examples: one from the 1982 massacre in Beirut and another from the 1988 massacre in Iraqi Kurdistan, both of which were shared online with misleading captions claiming to show "Israelis killing Gazans."

The London conference took place against the backdrop of British Jewish leaders requesting a ban on the inflammatory posts of disgraced academic, David Miller, calling on his 89,000 followers to “target” Zionists, which, he also posted, means “between 63%-80% of British Jews.”

Thanks to Kaplan and the FOA, some of Miller’s posts were removed by social media companies. “Online violence leads to real life violence,” Kaplan explained.

Kaplan said the FOA is interested in ring leaders who, under current legislation, can hide behind the power of anonymity. As a lawyer, one of his goals is to advocate for legislative changes that would require exposure of those behind a persistently abusive or violative profile.

Speaking on another panel entitled ‘How to teach about antisemitism,’ Prof. Maiken Umbach told delegates that antisemitism has become “trendy,” and has adopted causes like anti-colonialism to make it more attractive.

Umbach highlighted the sheer scale of the problem, noting that 90% of colleagues, students, and young people are completely unaware of it. She cited the Community Security Trust (CST) figures that revealed a 324% rise in anti-Jewish incidents after Oct. 7, 2023, with more than 25% of hate crimes being carried out by people under 18. 

Using a slide of an iceberg, Umbach illustrated that the larger issue lies beneath the surface, in the hidden attitudes of UK citizens who believe conspiracy theories about Jewish people.

Umbach was back in the UK in time to speak at the conference, having had a busy and successful tour around European cities, with her pop-up ‘Vicious Circle’ exhibit, illustrating the connection between anti-Jewish pogroms in the 1930s and 40s with the present day.

Mark Rusling is the NHC’s non-Jewish director of Learning, and has set up the ‘Racism Response Unit’ to teach children aged 9 to 18, as well as UK adults who have been identified as potential terrorists. 

He presented a slide with two dates: 1932, the last free election in Germany before the Holocaust, when nearly two-thirds of university students voted for the Nazi party; and 1942, the Wannsee Conference planning the murder of all European Jews, with most of the 15 participants having university degrees and eight holding doctorates.

Educators should describe antisemitism as “the world’s oldest hatred,” and, “the foundation for all racist thinking,” Rusling said, showing an image of the medieval blood libel adopted by Germany, juxtaposed with a current racist slur, the Star of David in red paint with the caption ‘9/11.’ 

Rusling makes extensive use of audiovisual materials to capture the children’s attention. One example is a video from a London street protest in November 2023, entitled ‘Far away, long ago?’ A screaming young girl rebukes police, saying, ‘You’ve lost your mind.’ Then, just 25 seconds later: ‘Death to all the Jews!’ 

The more sinister problem, Rusling revealed, was that social media algorithms ensured the video was the second highest in Twitter (pre-𝕏) news that evening, after the football news in first place.

“Never ever start with Israel-Palestine, but start with the trope of money and power because it runs through history,” he said.