NY schools pull anti-Semitic videos after outcry

NEW YORK — A New York state legislator is calling on all state districts to avoid using an educational publisher whose videos inaccurately depict Judaism.

On Wednesday, New York State Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski spoke out against the California-based Study.com, after the Jewish Federation of Rockland County raised concerns about two of its videos shown at public schools at two separate districts in the suburbs north of New York City recently, The Journal News reported.

In one video, Jews were described as being “aloof,” whereas in another, about first-century Palestine under Roman rule, Jews are depicted as aggressors and having “got what they deserved,” according to The Journal News.

In a letter to the company, Zebrowski urged it to review its videos to ensure its materials are “accurate and appropriate, especially when the materials are being used to introduce young, impressionable students to complex topics such as religion, race and ethnicity.”

The superintendent of Rockland County’s Nyack district told The Journal News that district officials had removed the two videos from use because they contain “historically inaccurate information and misrepresentation of the nature of Judaism.”

Jennifer McHam, a spokeswoman for Study.com, told The Journal News that the company is modifying at least one of the videos and that it “was not intended to offend or be anti-Semitic.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report