Jewish leaders blasted a Regents exam which was administered last week as “unconscionable and shameful” for asking questions biased against Israel and the Jews.
Dov Hikind and others condemned the Global History and Geography Regents II which asked two egregious questions, and gave a distorted version of the Jewish nation’s right to dwell in Israel.
“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,” said Dov Hikind. “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.”
One of the questions asked “Which historical event most directly influenced the development of the 1947 plan shown on map A (and showed a map of Israel from 1947).” The possible answers were 1) Russian pogroms, 2) the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire 3) Paris Peace Conference 4) the Holocaust, with 4 being the right answer.
The other asked “Which group benefited most from the changes shown on the maps?” The right answer, according to the test, was “Zionists and Jewish Immigrants.”
Test transparency can raise legitimate issues of questions’ appropriateness and wording,” said David Bloomfield, education professor at Brooklyn College. “It’s not a matter of ‘wokeness’ to civilly debate these matters.”
“Preposterous, biased and lacking context, these 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,” said Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov. “It’s unacceptable and must be corrected immediately.”
Hikind said that reducing the creation of Israel to the Holocaust ignores all historical, ancestral and Biblical connections of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. “That connection goes back thousands of years.”
“One proctor was so angry, she was beside herself,” Hikind told The NY Post.
He also said that the test included the trope that the Holocaust was the prevailing reason for the state of Israel and that “Zionists and Jewish immigrants” benefited most from the “changing borders.”
“The maps lack all context,” added Hikind, “Specifically that border changes were the result of successive wars started by Arab states to annihilate Israel. Second, the questions, at best, lend themselves to debate, not to singular answers from among false choices.”
“When you show these maps, and ask why the state of Israel was created, it just attributes it to the Holocaust.” The former assemblyman added that the Zionist movement actually began in the 19th century under Theodor Herzl.
In addition, he objected that the test referred to the Golan Heights region, recognized by President Trump in 2019, as being “annexed” by Israel.
According to the Post, the Board of Regents said the two questions on Israel were “designed to test students’ knowledge of geography as it relates to historical events.”
