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Jewish groups slam ‘pathetic, anti-Zionist propaganda’ on NY state test

Standardized test for New York students frames creation of Israel as a European endeavor, uses term “stateless Zionists” rather than Israelis.

By World Israel News Staff

A Jewish advocacy group is raising the alarm after a standardized educational test for students in New York state included “anti-Zionist” questions that appear to delegitimize the State of Israel.

The Global History and Geography Regents II exam contains two questions about the history of Israel.

The first asks which historical event most influenced the 1947 partition plan, with the Holocaust being the correct answer. The second asks which group benefited most from the plan, with the correct response being “Zionists and Jewish immigrants.”

Jewish leaders, including former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov and the Americans Against Antisemitism group, noted that the questions framed the creation of Israel as a European endeavor, ignoring thousands of years of Jewish history in the region.

“It’s unconscionable and shameful that at a time of heightened violent antisemitism our state’s educational materials would include what amounts to anti-Zionist propaganda—a truly pathetic attempt at surreptitiously harming Israel,” Hikind said in a media statement.

“We’re calling on NYS Education Department commissioner Betty A. Rosa to swiftly remove the disingenuous questions and conduct a thorough audit to ensure such egregious distortions of history that invariably lead to animosity for the sole Jewish state aren’t being inadvertently fed to our children.”

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Hikind questioned why possible answers for the second question referred to “Jordanian, Lebanese, and Palestinian nationalities” but used the term “stateless ‘Zionists and Jewish immigrants’ instead of ‘Israelis’?”

He stressed that “these are highly biased questions” and “total distortions of history, neither of which ought to have any place in education.”

Vernikov said in a press statement that the questions are “preposterous, biased and lacking context.”

She added that the questions “are on par with the woke agenda and brainwashing of our young adult generation to make them think the way the biased officials want them to think.”

“It’s unacceptable and must be corrected immediately,” she stated.