Why are teachers in Ontario afraid to talk about Palestinian rights and freedoms?

Abstract

Now that Canada has taken steps to recognize Palestinian statehood (Carney, 2025), it remains concerning that teachers in Ontario are afraid to talk about the issues affecting Israel-Palestine. This paper outlines why and how Palestinian identity and advocacy for Palestinian human rights and sovereignty have been repeatedly diminished in Ontario schools and why teachers therefore feel afraid to teach about Palestinian rights and freedoms. Ontario curriculum requirements do not mandate that students learn about Israel-Palestine in school. Furthermore, from my communications with teachers across the province, teachers often feel uncomfortable talking about the issues affecting Israel-Palestine out of fear of being labelled anti-Semitic. Language that is critical of Zionist ideology that promotes the establishment and expansion of the state of Israel is often misunderstood as anti-Semitic. Therefore, in this paper, I explain the importance of understanding the differences between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. I will examine how a conflation of the two definitions through the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s definition of anti-Semitism makes advocacy for Palestinian sovereignty and Palestinian identity much more difficult as well as Jewish people less safe through the false conflation of ideology with religious identity. I will also develop an understanding of how Canadian governments and schools privilege white comfort over racialized people’s safety. Furthermore, I will outline how educators feel surveilled in the classroom especially surrounding their advocacy for Palestinian human rights through experiences shared by teachers across Ontario. This impacts teachers’ feeling of safety and autonomy in teaching about or advocating for Palestine. Finally, we will examine the impact of anti-Palestinian racism on educators and consider next steps to make educators, students, and Palestinian families feel safer in schools.