The nature and the extent of the intimidating, anti-Jewish atmosphere in Ontario’s public schools have been studied and well chronicled by experts. The most recent report on the subject was released last summer by Deborah Lyons, then Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.
Prof. Robert Brym, the author of the report commissioned by the Special Envoy, attested the following in court about his findings.
“In my view… antisemitism is widespread in Ontario’s K-12 public and Catholic schools, especially English public schools; the data demonstrate that school authorities have failed to address the problem in any meaningful way….. [T]he antisemitism faced by [Jewish] children in public schools has worsened substantially since 2000, with the most dramatic change being the period post-October 7, 2023. Based on the data, I characterize the situation as a crisis of antisemitism in which Jewish schoolchildren are being put at significant emotional and physical risk when attending non-Jewish publicly funded schools.”
Policy-makers in the Ministry of Education may be not be aware of the situation for Jewish children in Ontario’s public schools. Or perhaps they do not much care. But the Jewish community is indeed aware of and cares greatly about the situation. And we are very concerned.
Now, however, there is even more reason to be concerned for our children in the public schools.
An announcement last month by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) may have flown beneath the radar for many members of our community. As reported in The CJN, the union, which represents some 83,000 members, has decided to undertake training for its executive in how to recognize and deal with antisemitism. The announcement might have earned accolades. It should have been greeted with kudos and commendations but it was unworthy. For, the trainers whom the ETFO appointed were unworthy of the assignment. ETFO chose Independent Jewish Voices (IJV). It is a fringe group, representative of very few individuals within the wide and eclectic Jewish community, and without any known record or experience as educators and consultants on the subject for which it has been hired.
And there is worse. An argument can be reasonably made that IJV actually contributes to antisemitism.Iso Setel, a spokesperson for IJV, told The CJN that the IJV “take(s) antisemitism really seriously.” Setel attributed antisemitism to “this larger growth of the far right, of white supremacy, of authoritarian politics.” He absolved the haters of Jews on the far left of any responsibility for the spread of the hatred.
Worse still. Setel said IJV’s training addresses what the group views as the misidentification of antisemitism. He elaborated. “When political criticism of Israel and the ongoing genocide and occupation (our emphasis) is misrepresented that dilutes the meaning of antisemitism.”
The constant accusation by the IJC of “ongoing genocide” by Israel is an outright lie. It is a calumny of equal malignancy as the blood libels against Jews of medieval times. The frequency of its regurgitation generates and inspires the very hatred toward Jews that we thought had so bothered the ETFO to take steps to ostensibly deal with it.
And worse even more. With seeming, proud defiance, Setel told The CJN that IJV “firmly rejects the use of International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which distorts the definition of antisemitism to conflate political criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and perpetuates anti-Palestinian racism.”
Most readers of this update know that IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism has been adopted or endorsed by some 47 countries, including Canada. Setel’s description of the IHRA definition precisely fits the lies-as-truth propagations in the morally inverted world that IJV and like-minded haters of Israel inhabit.
The reference to “anti-Palestine racism” was a clever, but transparent shot across the bow of the ship carrying The CJN’s readers. It was intended to remind us that many people in Ontario’s educational teaching establishment hope to soon use “anti-Palestine racism” (APR), as an operational principle in establishing curriculum. In truth, it is an attempt by the haters of Israel to distort and then erase Jewish-Israeli history from the books and classrooms of our province. (More on this next week.) And yet this is the group that the ETFO hired to educate the union’s executive about antisemitism. The choice of IJV casts a revealing light on the ETFO’s true purpose.
Amir Epstein, executive director of Tafsik Organization, a Jewish advocacy group focused on combating antisemitism and defending Zionism, suggests what that purpose might be. “This is a calculated strategy … designed to legitimize hate. And it must be exposed and condemned without hesitation.”
GAJE agrees. We condemn the ETFO’s decision. And we are worried – again, and still -for our children in Ontario’s public schools.
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If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit to achieve fairness in educational funding, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com Thank you, in advance, for considering doing so.
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Shabbat shalom
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
March 13, 2026
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 