Antisemitism is exploding because were teaching hate in public schools

Monday marks the first anniversary of the Hamas slaughter of 1,300 innocent civilians in Israel.Yet as shocking as that attack was to the human conscience, the subsequent reaction to the massacre may be a more widespread and terrifying legacy.The victim-blaming began almost immediately, as student groups at elite universities published florid diatribes downplaying the attack while the tortured bodies of women, children and the elderly were still being identified.Columbia University students trumpeted “a counter-offensive” against Israel, the Palestinians’ “settler-colonial oppressor.” At Harvard, a consortium of 31 student groups said they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”Campus protests metastasized rapidly nationwide, with pro-Hamas demonstrators regularly invoking blood libel, the Holocaust and the elimination of the Jewish state. But how did this prejudice go from zero to 60 seemingly overnight? Is there something about the American college experience that transforms students into antisemites when they move into their freshman dorms?Radical professors and social media have played a role in fomenting this hatred.

But in truth, the ideological seeds of extremism were planted long before freshman orientation — and usually paid for with public tax dollars.Bigotry is not innate; it is learned.And what has unfolded in higher education is the culmination of lessons taught during our students’ K-12 years, by elementary and high-school educators who have allowed antisemitism to flourish under the banner of progressive ideals. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and ethnic studies curricula bear much of the blame.

These programs teach children to categorize people as either “oppressed” or “oppressor,” assigning moral value based on characteristics like race, religion, immigration status and sexual preference.They have conditioned our students to view society through the lens of constant conflic...