“But sir, how can the Jews do what they do in Palestine when they experienced this?” Asks this student of a college from Ille-et-Vilaine during a course on the history of the Shoah. The scene dates from last November. “This young girl was not at all in a form of contestation or provocation aimed at destabilizing me. It was a sincere and emotional question, undoubtedly due to the images of bombing of civilians by the Israeli army in Gaza”, reports François de Sauza, the professor of history of this third class. Like him, several teachers say they are now confronted with this type of dizzying questioning when tackling the chapter devoted to the Second World War. “The students who formulate these remarks bathe for some of them in informational saturation. Answering it is fully part of our teaching mission,” continues François de Sauza.
A mission all the more crucial as anti -Semitism continues to gain momentum in France since October 7, 2023. Study of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France and IFOPpublished on March 5, evokes the consequences of importing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into French schools: many Jewish students would be the subject of attacks and discrimination because of their supposed link with Israel, strengthening a “atmosphere Judeophobia” which feeds their exclusion and isolation. 44 % of the students interviewed think that “the Jews are more attached to Israel than in France” and 25 % of them consider that “the Jews are responsible for the war in the Gaza Strip”.
Difficult to counter the disinformation that invades social networks
“Since October 7, many colleagues have insisted on the need to do a job on the words of the conflict to the Middle East,” explains Joëlle Alazard, president of the Association of Teachers of History-Geography (APHG). “It is common for my students to talk about” Jews “when it comes to Israelis. At that time, I tell them ‘Stop, we take up’,” says this other teacher from a Parisian college. The qualifier of “Palestinian genocide”, regularly advanced by the students, also requires stopping there. “It is important to recall that the qualification of” genocide “is not recognized by international justice in this specific case. We can take advantage of it to return with them to other less known legal notions such as those of” war crimes “or” mass crimes “and study the nuances”, describes Joëlle Alazard. Difficult to counter the disinformation that invades social networks, over which young people spend a good part of their time. “Students are more and more delivered to those I call” ideology entrepreneurs “. If we do not take the time to take up what they hear, who will do it?”, Insists the aggregated professor.
Getting out of the emotional dimension to focus on the analysis of historical facts, such is the line of conduct of Pascal Zachary, which teaches history in a high school in downtown Nancy. Faced with students upset by the videos that turn in a loop, he recalls that “all the sufferings of the victims are equal, both on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side”. “Afterwards, I try to reason on the historical processes, which differ according to the nature of the events and periods that we are talking about,” continues the professor. A method that bears fruit. “Even the most committed say that it allows them to step back and better understand what is playing out,” he rejoices. For his colleague Thibaut Poirot, member of the National Bureau of APHG, the trap would be to want to release the word at all costs: “I am not an affect giant and any word is not good to say. It is essential that these times of exchanges are prepared and framed.”
Especially when current facts come to collide consciences and further complicate the task of teachers. After the recent outrageous video relayed by Donald Trump and evoking his dream of transforming Gaza into “Côte d’Azur”, many were preparing to face the questions of their students on the return from winter holidays. Some young people will undoubtedly have also been marked by the recent speech of Jonathan Glazer, director of the film The area of interest: “Today, the Holocaust and Jewish security are used to justify the massacres and ethnic cleaning in Gaza,” said the British filmmaker at the last César ceremony on February 28, by the voice of his spokesperson.
“An ideological blunder”
According to Iannis Roder, professor of history in Seine-Saint-Denis and responsible for training at the Shoah Memorial, there is an unprecedented paradigm change. “The idea infused in society, and in particular among young people, that the victims of yesterday, the Jews, would have become the executioners or even the Nazis of today, he insists. The term of ‘Palestinian genocide’ today used by certain far left activists is not innocent. The essential for them is to hit the spirits.” And Iannis break up to continue: “Even if it is only questioning of questions, I am absolutely convinced that this ideological skill will have more important consequences in the classes.” To teachers, once again, to counter the shortcuts.
You still have to feel strong enough to approach these highly flammable subjects. “We tend to scrutinize the reactions of the students but I wonder mainly about the attitude of teachers very often tempted by self-censorship,” says Pascal Vivier, secretary general of Snetaa-Fo. Since October 7, some would be content to broadcast videos at the time of the study of the chapter on the Shoah. Better way to dodge problems. “The shorter we are, the more we avoid trouble!” summarizes Pascal Vivier. Even if the phenomenon is difficult to quantify, it also happens that politicized teachers are slipping. “Recently, a teacher, during a discussion, argued that the massacres perpetrated on October 7, 2023 could not be qualified as” terrorist acts “and that it was a form of” resistance “, says this high school student from the Paris region. The tone rises. “As he did not want to come back to his words, I preferred to leave the class,” continues the young man. The teacher will eventually apologize to his parents.
One of the questions that often come back to the students being: “Are the members of Hamas not resistance fighters rather than terrorists? After all, during the Second World War, the resistance fighters were also qualified as terrorists by the Germans!”
François de Sauza regrets that the programs are so dense: “We lack time to face these new challenges. No doubt it will be necessary to accept to reduce the number of subjects dealt with in the future.” Many teachers would be asking for training, without daring to formulate it too much. On September 28, 2024, a day on the theme of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict organized by APHG to Sciences Po Lille attracted 350 participants. “Beforehand, a large university which is used to welcoming our events had refused to receive us by making us understand that the subject was too sensitive. But, in Lille, the debate turned out to be exciting and very respectful,” concluded Joëlle Alazard.
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