Major concern has been raised over the perceived spreading of blatant propaganda against Israel in Irish schools.

Advert urging a discussion on ‘Palestine’ in Irish schools

An organisation called Teachers for Palestine is running a campaign asking educators to fly the Palestinian flag in their classrooms and even petition for their school to be declared an ‘Apartheid Free Zone.’ Let’s Talk about Palestine has been endorsed by teachers’ unions and promoted on social media.

But Jackie Goodall of the Ireland Israel Alliance has called on parents to object to what is seen as a discriminatory and divisive message aiming to impose “a wholly one-sided political narrative on the tragic, ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” adding: “Our children’s teachers have a moral responsibility to ensure that children are not taught an unbalanced and inaccurate narrative, or selectively told of events surrounding the tragedy of the current Israel-Hamas war, or to cause Jewish and/or Israeli children attending our schools to be unfairly targeted.”

Calling on Education Minister Norma Foley to intervene, Paddy and Anne Monaghan, of Glenageary, County Dublin, referred to an accompanying video recommended for showing to pupils as “blatant propaganda and, in our opinion, antisemitic” – certainly inappropriate for vulnerable minds, adding: “Our Jewish friends in Dublin are horrified by this campaign and fear that their children and grandchildren have no future in Ireland.”

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; To the Jew First, A Nation Reborn, and King of the Jews, all available from Christian Publications International.