Palestine Forum of New Zealand and Alternative Jewish
Voices are calling on the Government to immediately reject
any proposal to involve Israel in training New Zealand
teachers about genocide, including any programme that would
send New Zealand teachers to Israel for professional
development.
Palestine Forum chair Maher Nazzal says
the proposal is deeply inappropriate and raises serious
questions about the independence and integrity of New
Zealand’s education system.
“A state currently
facing proceedings alleging genocide cannot reasonably be
presented as an authority for teaching New Zealand educators
about genocide. The contradiction is
extraordinary.”
“We want to educate children about
genocide, including the Holocaust. But it must not become a
political exercise, nor should it be used to shield students
from confronting genocide, racism, dehumanisation and mass
atrocities when they are occurring in our own time. Genocide
studies must address the reality that students see on their
screens.”
Never again must mean never again for
everyone
The Forum says New Zealand students deserve
an education that examines how genocide becomes
possible including racism, racial supremacy,
dehumanisation, dispossession, propaganda and the denial of
another people’s humanity.
“The issue is not the
Holocaust; the issue is genocide,” says Marilyn Garson,
co-founder of Alternative Jewish Voices (AJV). “Genocide
is a category, not a single template. The Holocaust cannot
carry the message alone. A fuller presentation of historic
genocide must sit alongside the experience of Palestinians
and others who confront occupation, dispossession,
apartheid, persecution and mass violence today. History
gives context to the events that students see on their
screens. We inherited the vow, ‘Never Again’ and it is
deeply offensive to say that of the past, but not of the
actual annihilation in Gaza today.
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“It is not
helpful for the Jewish community to speak about its historic
grief in isolation. Do not place us outside of the
reciprocal obligations that come from recognising all of the
losses and standing up together to prevent more. We will
keep each other safe in this world, or none of us will be
safe. That is one lesson to draw from
genocide.”
Israel is not synonymous with Jewish
people
The NZ Holocaust Centre proposes to intensify
the educational exchange with Israel, by sending teachers to
Israel and bringing Israeli teacher trainers to New Zealand.
That choice bypasses the global community of genocide
scholars and the descendants of survivors.
“Israel
does not speak for Jews or Jewish experience. The Holocaust
didn’t happen in Israel, and Israel has absolutely no
mandate to present a history which it has weaponised for
political license,” Garson says.
Teachers and
students deserve independent education not political
advocacy
The Forum is particularly concerned about
any proposal for New Zealand teachers to travel to Israel as
part of their training.
“A teacher sent to Israel to
learn about genocide cannot be expected to receive a
complete and politically neutral account if the programme
excludes the lived reality of Palestinians,” Nazzal
says.
“If teachers are shown one side while being
shielded from the realities of occupation, displacement,
settlement expansion, restrictions on Palestinians and the
destruction in Gaza, that is not professional development.
It is political advocacy.”
The Forum notes that in
July 2024, the International Court of Justice concluded that
Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory is unlawful and that Israel is under an obligation
to bring that unlawful presence to an end as rapidly as
possible.
“Those findings cannot simply be ignored
when Israel is being presented to New Zealand educators as a
source of expertise on genocide.”
New Zealand can
do better
Palestine Forum says New Zealand has the
expertise to develop its own independent and academically
rigorous approach.
“We have outstanding historians,
educators, genocide scholars, Jewish scholars and
communities, Palestinian voices, descendants of other
genocide survivors, human-rights experts and
international-law specialists in New Zealand and
internationally.”
“We do not need to outsource the
teaching of genocide to a foreign government particularly
one whose own conduct is at the centre of allegations and
legal proceedings concerning mass
atrocities.”
Nazzal concludes:
“The
Holocaust belongs to humanity. Its lessons must never be
monopolised by any state or turned into a political shield.
If we are serious about ‘Never Again’, then we must
teach our children to recognise genocide wherever it occurs
including when it is happening before their
eyes.”
Palestine Forum of New Zealand and
Alternative Jewish Voices call on the Government
to:
- Reject any Israeli government role in
training New Zealand teachers about
genocide; - Abandon any proposal to send New Zealand
teachers to Israel as part of such training; - Ensure
Holocaust and genocide education is developed independently,
academically and free from state political
influence; - Include the study of contemporary mass
atrocities, including the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza
and the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and - Ensure
students understand that “Never Again” applies
universally to all peoples, without
exception.
