The end of the school year is approaching in giant strides. In fact, just over a month is missing at the end of a year among the most complicated and tortuous between face-to-face lessons and remote teaching, anti-Covid-19 protocols to follow, infections between teachers and students and various difficulties. Meanwhile, everything is silent. Parents, children and teachers have been left in limbo: will schools reopen before the end of June to children attending in person or will we have to wait until September? Perhaps. Ontario’s government is silent, Education Minister Lecce has disappeared from the radar. No conferences, no announcements in a long time. He’s been missing for some time. And parents and students interpret this taciturnity as an implicit “goodbye in September.” Ça va sans dire, in short.
But the controversy in the world of school is always present. An investigation is underway to shed light on the work of Toronto District School Board (TDSB) teacher Javier DaVila who allegedly sent teachers a 51-page manual – obtained by the Toronto Sun – violently anti-Israeli, which suggests a documentary and book about a terrorist, recommends children’s books that characterize Israelis as thieves and murderers, and gives advice on how to present students with the movement against Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).
DaVila, who calls himself a “Latin queer transformer” on Twitter, is part of the gender-based Board group, whose main function, according to the TDSB’s online site, is to prevent and address “gender-based violence, homophobia, sexual harassment, and inappropriate sexual behavior by students toward other students in schools.”
What DaVila does not mention is the commitment to combat alleged oppression in the West Bank and Gaza. There is no mention of this either in the manual just as DaVila makes no mention of the fact that, according to many sources, homosexual male activity is punishable by imprisonment in many countries of the Middle East, including the Gaza Strip, or that often “queer” Palestinian men flee to Israel to avoid repercussions.
The manual – which is shocking in its one-sidedness – includes book recommendations on contemporary Palestine to read for children, books said to highlight “the Israeli occupation.” A Child’s View of Gaza includes an illustration of an Israeli soldier pointing his gun at a five-year-old Palestinian boy. Another called Shepherds Grandaughter – written by a Canadian author – tells the story of “illegal Jewish settlers” who poison the sheep of a West Bank shepherd, destroying the family’s olive tree, fig and lemon, and threatening to death, if they don’t leave the land, the inhabitants of the West Bank. There is also a whole section on what BDS is – a movement calling for a boycott of Israeli authors, artists, academics and products – and why teachers should be interested in supporting the movement. And the list of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli arguments continues.
TDSB spokesman Ryan Bird said the material in question was not “checked, approved or authorized” by the TDSB and an investigation is underway. B’nai Brith CHIEF Executive Michael Mostyn accused the TDSB of “directly fueling the flames of hatred for Jews” in Canada by distributing such material. “The TDSB must unequivocally apologize to the Jewish community and fire Mr. DaVila – he said – anyone who distributes anti-Semitic propaganda in this way should not work for a school board in Canada.”
In the photo the Twitter profile of Javier DaVila
