Watchdog: French textbooks cover Israel, antisemitism, and the Holocaust, but gaps remain
Schoolchildren in France are taught about Jewish history and Zionism, but some areas are underrepresented, according to education watchdog IMPACT-se
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
French school textbooks contain informative material on Jewish history, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the State of Israel, but key areas remain underrepresented in school curricula, according to a new report by education watchdog IMPACT-se.
The report, presented in Paris this week to representatives of the French Ministry of Education and the National Publishing Union, examined textbooks for upper secondary students (Grades 10–12) as well as official curricula for younger grades (4–9), evaluating them against UNESCO-derived standards of peace and tolerance in education.
The report was released as part of IMPACT-se’s broader study of textbook content in eight European countries.
The French education system provides a “robust curriculum” that acknowledges significant aspects of Jewish history, but there remains room for improvement, said IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff.
“With France’s Jewish community dating back to antiquity and numbering nearly half a million today, the surge in antisemitism in recent years reminds us how essential it is that French schools present Jews, Jewish history, Israel and antisemitism in an accurate and detailed fashion,” Sheff said. “More content on the Holocaust in France and contemporary antisemitism would greatly enhance the curriculum and the values of the Republic.”
Antisemitism in France has reached historic levels since Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023. The country saw nearly 1,570 antisemitic acts in 2024 and a record 1,676 in 2023, according to the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), an umbrella body of French Jewish groups. French Jews increasingly feel the need to hide their identity, such as by removing mezuzahs from homes or changing their names online, a recent report by the J7 Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism found.
The report noted that French textbooks offer glimpses into Jewish history, often within units on monotheism or Mediterranean civilizations. However, broader Jewish contributions to Mediterranean culture and to France’s own national development are often absent.
One major omission cited by the report is the lack of content on Jewish figures in French public life, with scant mention of Jews as contributors to French society in fields like science, politics, or the arts. Textbooks do cover the Dreyfus Affair, and some link it to the rise of modern Zionism through the writings of Theodor Herzl. However, in at least one textbook, the affair is analyzed primarily as a matter of media and public opinion, with no mention of antisemitism.
The report found that French textbooks do address antisemitism, but often only as a subcategory of racism. A Grade 10 moral and civic education textbook, for instance, noted a rise in racist and antisemitic acts in France since 2015, but stops short of referencing antisemitic attacks such as the 2012 Toulouse school shooting or the 2015 Hypercacher supermarket attack.
“Without these examples, students may fail to grasp the urgency and the real-world consequences of antisemitism today,” the report warns.
French textbooks perform well in terms of Holocaust education, the report found. However, the Holocaust is often grouped with the persecution of other groups, like the Roma, without fully addressing the unique ideological and logistical machinery behind the Shoah. Moreover, the role of France in the Holocaust, including Vichy collaboration and the deportation of Jews during the 1942 Vel d’Hiv roundup of Jews, is mentioned only superficially, if at all.
When it comes to Israel, textbooks tend to frame its founding as a reaction to European antisemitism and the decolonization movement following World War II, the report said. The Jewish connection to the land of Israel, which predates 1948 by millennia, is seldom explored.
Textbooks cover the Arab-Israeli conflict and efforts to resolve it, including key moments such as the Camp David Accords and the Oslo process, the report said. However, biased phrasing appears in some cases, and there is a failure to identify Hamas as a terrorist organization when discussing peace negotiations.
The report recommended that textbook authors, educators, and policymakers include more content on Jewish contributions to French history and culture; expand Holocaust education to better reflect France’s own role; update content on contemporary antisemitism; and provide a fuller historical context for the State of Israel and Jewish ties to the land.
The Times of Israel Community.