Fighting Antisemitism at Berkeley

On October 17, 2023, Ezra Pearlman, a Jewish Belizean-American teenager, was sitting in ninth grade art class when he sent a text message to his mother that would change his life forever.

His art teacher, Eric Norberg, had come into class that day and said, “I’m going to show you some art that my resistance friends and I have made.”

The image depicted a fist punching through a Star of David. The sleeve of the fist was adorned by the Palestinian flag holding a weapon. The backdrop of the art was the land of Israel.

Ezra snapped a picture, and sent it to his mom.

The teacher then projected a flier for a student walkout which would be taking place the next day. The student walkout was planned to spread awareness about the “Palestinian genocide” taking place in Gaza and was organized by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) who “holds the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence we’ve witnessed across historic Palestine.”

Ezra was stunned and confused. This was art class, not history or sociology.

After seeing the photos, Ezra’s mother, Ilana, logged onto Facebook and was shocked by what she saw on the teacher’s page. He was a blatant antisemite.

Art teacher celebrating Hamas massacre on Oct 7

Norberg was celebrating the horrific events of October 7th. “You never really want to believe that people you know are antisemitic,” Ilana said in an exclusive Aish.com interview. “You want to give them the benefit of the doubt or assume they don’t really understand. But the blood of our people hadn’t even dried, and this was the choice this teacher made.”

This was not the first time in Ezra’s history that a school or a classroom in Berkeley, California had been so blatantly against Israel. When Ezra was five years old, his school had a giant map of the Middle East on a wall, and Israel was nowhere to be found.

Ezra, now 14, watched on in horror as his teacher informed the entire class that a hospital in Gaza was attacked by Israelis, killing 500 civilians. “It's important that you attend the rally.” (The hospital in Gaza had in fact been attacked by Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets, not by Israel.)

Ilana immediately emailed the principal. Walkouts like these tend to get physical, and she and other parents were livid that none of the parents had been informed or advised on how to keep their children safe.

When the time came, many students attended the walkout because kids were more concerned about being seen as oppressors.

Ezra explained, “If a kid doesn’t protest, they are seen as saying ‘I’m okay with killing babies.’ None of the students wanted their teachers to see them this way, so they attended, even if they didn’t agree with the premise.”

Ilana decided to pull her son out of the class but was told there was no other class to place him in. The school had him sit alone in the library for a week with no instruction. Upset that the school was denying her son an education, Ilana kept reaching out to understand what their plan was.

Finally, the administration placed him in a new art class with a different teacher. But his new teacher also promoted Hamas. She wore “Free Palestine” patches all over her clothing. Ezra chose to ignore it and focus on his school work. He didn’t want to be further ostracized.

Because Ezra is black and most people assume he isn’t Jewish, he is privy to an immense amount of antisemitism that is not targeted at him. But he hears everything. No one holds back in front of him, and he gets the inside scoop of what people really think about Jews. “It’s overwhelmingly pervasive.”

The teachers promote this hate-fueled atmosphere, placing posters on their walls calling for a ceasefire, with signs that state: Stop the killing. One poster showed a Palestinian Hello Kitty image, and another teacher recorded the daily report of the Palestinian death toll on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

There were Palestinian flags, apartheid signs, and intifada signs everywhere. “Of course, there was not a single hostage sign. Because you can’t share the narrative of the ‘oppressor’ in this crazy, upside-down world,” explained Ilana.

Ilana was not the only Jewish parent concerned with this atmosphere. Many others pulled their children from other classrooms. Parents formed a Jewish parents advocacy group specific to the Berkeley Unified School District, sending emails at all hours and holding late-night meetings.

Ezra at the Western Wall when he was two years old.

Ilana summarized the struggle they were facing. “It’s really hard because we are all working adults with multiple children and we are fighting 20-year old activists with no kids and plenty of time. We don’t have any free time, but this is something we must do to protect our children.”

The group built their own internal antisemitism tracker. They sent out forms to synagogues, other schools, and areas they trusted. Parents could list an incident, date, school, and teacher. They could even upload videos to corroborate what happened.

Ilana began to compile the data collectively. She analyzed the data and had pie charts for each school showing the percentage of antisemitism recorded.

Initially, they met with the principal of their school and the school board, but were told that without evidence no investigation could be made. Pearlman’s group sent in complaints to their local Title 6 coordinator, which were supposed to be investigated and dealt with within 30-60 days. There has still been no resolution to date, and 120 days have passed.

Ilana Pearlman has now retained the Brandeis Center for Human Rights to file an Office of Civil Rights Complaint with the federal Department of Education, against Berkeley Unified School District. “We did everything the right way, and it didn’t work. Meanwhile, things continued to escalate for kids on campus.”

Ilana explained that what has been going on at Berkeley is an educational reform that was put into motion years ago.

In 2019, California created an Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee, tasked with developing curriculum. Foreign entities, such as the government of Qatar, invested a lot of money into organizations like AROC (Arab Resource Organizing Center), The Middle East Children’s Alliance, and The Jewish Voice for Peace (a self-hating, antisemitic group). All of these groups originated in Berkeley.

This committee drafted a proposal for a new, biased curriculum to be taught in California schools. Governor Gavin Newsom rejected it, stating that it was antisemitic and would never see the light of day. The educators on the original committee were fired after the rejection, but then the same teachers formed a new committee called The Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium. They wanted to teach what they call “authentic” ethnic studies. Their mission statement claims they are anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Zionist.

I’m paying for them to teach my children to hate themselves. They are indoctrinating our children without us even realizing.

The Berkeley Unified School District contracted with the Consortium in 2023 over the summer break, with funding from property tax dollars, in order to fly under the radar of the community. This way, parents would have no idea what was going on behind the scenes.

Ilana lamented, “I own a home in California, so I’m paying for them to teach my children to hate themselves. They are indoctrinating our children without us even realizing.”

In this tense educational climate, Ezra has become apathetic. He no longer attends the BBYO events that he used to and has begun to resent his mother’s involvement in the issues he faces. He wishes things could go back to the way they were.

“He’s so sick of me talking about it,” Ilana explained. “He’s sick of hearing about it and of our lives being consumed by it. I would love to be able to go back to just hanging out with my kids at night. But I have the overwhelming sense that I am the right person and at the right time. Even if I can’t help my son, I could set the precedent for future children. This is what I have to do now. It’s not the fun part of parenting, but I have to.”

Ilana believes that Jewish people are held to a different standard at Berkeley, an attitude that is now bolstered by the Free Palestine movement.

“If the art teacher had projected an image of a noose, Berkeley would have been protesting. There is a double-standard when it comes to being Jewish. We are not marginalized, we are considered white colonizers. Anyone we put into the role of oppressors is justified, and anything that is done to them is resistance.”

As she looks back on her recent work in Jewish advocacy, Ilana reflected, “I always thought I would have been a weak person in World War II. I thought I would be too scared to speak out and keep my head down and keep my kids safe. As much as I’m a mother and love my children, I feel strongly that we must protect our people and prioritize this. I have a feeling in my gut that even if it meant me losing my life, I have to keep fighting this.”

Ilana urges everyone to sign her petition, and email their own sentiments to the Berkeley Unified School District.

“BSEP [the property tax program that funds ethnic studies curriculum] is up for renewal in about a week. The liberated ethnic studies program is up for renewal in June. It’s imperative that we band together to create change.”