Is ACHPER antisemitic?
November 24, 2019 by J-Wire Newsdesk
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The principal of Melbourne’s Mount Scopus Memorial College Rabbi James Kennard has called the report by ACHPER “a whitewash”.
Rabbi James Kennard
In July, the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation ACHPER was forced to withdraw a sample exam paper, which stated that “an example of an individual being persecuted for their religion could be the Arab families living in Israel who practise the Islam religion rather than the Jewish religion, including unlawful demolition of homes and forced displacement and detainment of these families.”
ACHPER is an organisation representing Victorian teachers,
After five months, the report which would “answer all questions” has been published.
Rabbi James Kennard said: “It does not “answer all the questions” because it does not even ask them.
It does not ask why the writer of the practise exam used extremist propaganda material as their source for the libel that Israel persecutes non-Jewish citizens because of their religion.
It does not ask why the review panel failed to question the material.
It does not ask why ACHPER took six weeks to issue an attempt at an apology and why the first version of that “apology” insisted that the material was not incorrect, but an “interpretation of a context” (as reiterated to me repeatedly by the CEO).
Therefore, the question as to whether ACHPER is institutionally antisemitic remains unanswered.
Education Minister James Merlino demanded this report before he reviewed ACHPER’s funding. I hope that he too does not consider this whitewash adequate.”
The Australian reports Council chairman Peter Wright apologised for the mistake and hurt caused to members of the Jewish community.
“The organisation takes full responsibility for this,” he said. “We cannot change what has happened; but we have taken a range of corrective actions so this does not happen again.”
‘practise’ is actually the American spelling of ‘practice’ and Australian publication follows the English spelling which differentiates between the verb (practise) and the noun (practice; the Americans do not bother with this.
The ACHPER report is a whitewash and the pertinent questions asked by Rabbi James Kennard need specific answers. Apologising to members of the Jewish community who might have been hurt by the ‘mistake’ is neither here nor there. Fix it ACHPER: i. by answering Rabbi Kennard’s questions and ii. by creating compulsory workshops for your members on the history of Israel and the Jewish people.
On what planet?
In an education story, it is even more important to get the spelling right.
It is “practice exam” not “practise exam”.
practise is OK as an adjective