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Schoolchildren have a woeful education on contemporary forms of anti-Semitism, according to the Government’s independent advisor Lord Mann of Holbeck Moor. He cited a record-breaking rise in hate crimes and the prevelance of anti-Semitism in schools which he attributes to a lack of coordination within the curriculum in a report relased on Monday. He recommended that school children are taught about contemporary hatred aimed at Jewish people as well as the Holocaust.

The report went on to note that anit-Jewish racism is on the rise due to the proliferation of neo-Nazi groups and others on social media platforms who have been allowed to spread hate due to lax content moderation. Mann said that the Government’s Online Safety Act should be a crucial step used to block all forms of racial hate. “Social media companies should for example be forced to identify to the police or to the libeled individuals the users who promote hate crime anonymously,” he said.

“This year, Jewish girls and boys have been abused and threatened on public transport, at school and on the street because they are identified as being Jewish,” Mann wrote in the introduction to the report.

He continued: “Government, Parliament and society need to consider whether this is acceptable in our country and if not, what additional action is needed to stand up to the oldest hatred of all.

“In addition to the Holocaust, children should be learning about the problems that Jewish kids and the Jewish community face today.”

 A record 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents were registered by the Community Security Trust charity last year. 

The report argues that the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk has contributed to rising hate crime due to Musk’s “free speech absolutism”. It’s within this context that noe-Nazis are being given the airtime to raise a message of hate which has not been challenged in contemporary schooling systems.

Mann wrote: “This year, Jewish girls and boys have been abused and threatened on public transport, at school and on the street because they are identified as being Jewish.” He continued, “Government, Parliament and society need to consider whether this is acceptable in our country and if not, what additional action is needed to stand up to the oldest hatred of all.”

One of the 10 main recommendations in the report “Anti-Jewish Hatred: Tackling Antisemitism in the UK 2022 – Renewing the Commitment” is that the UK and Scottish governments should establish why so few prosecutions of anti-Semitic hate crimes apparently take place and should work with the prosecuting authorities to address the issue.

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The Holocaust is a compulsory part of the curriculum in secondary schools but learning about modern prejudice levelled at Jews is not.

“It is not enough to teach about the Holocaust,” Lord Mann said. He urged ministers to guarantee funding for schools to diversify the curriculum to “recognise that all forms of racism should be addressed”. 

The report cites a survey of 1,315 secondary schools in England, carried out by the Henry Jackson Society think tank in July, which found antisemitic incidents recorded rose from 60 in 2017 to 164 in 2022.

The Henry Jackson Society submitted Freedom of Information requests to more than 3,000 secondary schools in England which revealed more than 1,000 incidents of antisemitism 76 of which were reported to the police and 13 physical assaults.

The report also noted a lack of cohesion around the ways in which schools report anti-Semitic incidents.

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The National Education Union, which represents teachers, backed the report’s call for all secondaries to be required to teach about racial discrimination in schools.

Mary Bousted head of the union said: “Government should act on this recommendation.”

“But it must treat the fight against racism as indivisible. When ministers and MPs attack asylum seekers, they create a hospitable environment for xenophobia and actively obstruct the work of schools in teaching against race hate, including antisemitism.”

A government spokesperson said: “Anti-Semitism, as with all forms of bullying and hatred, is abhorrent and has no place in our education system.

“The atrocities of the Holocaust are a compulsory part of the national curriculum for history at key stage 3, and we support schools to construct a curriculum that enables the discussion of important issues such as antisemitism.

“The Online Safety Bill will mean that what is unacceptable offline is also unacceptable online. Where the abuse is illegal, social media companies will need to take robust action to tackle it.”

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