Antisemitic Jihadi Education in America

“The internal enemy is usually more deadly and destructive than the external enemy.” – Sami Shawkat (1898-1984) Iraqi politician

That was the warning of Sami Shawkat, one of Iraq’s most influential education officials in the 1930s. He believed a nation needed to identify its enemies within and uproot them before it could prosper.

Shawkat served as director-general of education and later minister of education. He helped organize al-Futuwwa, a militarized nationalist youth movement influenced by European fascism and the Hitler Youth. His speeches circulated in government schools, promoting sacrifice, obedience and militant Arab nationalism.

Jews had lived in Mesopotamia for more than 2,500 years. Yet Iraq’s increasingly radical nationalist movement helped portray them as outsiders and enemies.

Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, supported Iraq’s pro-Axis government in 1941. He subsequently collaborated with Nazi Germany and broadcast antisemitic propaganda to Arab audiences. In June 1941, Baghdad erupted in the Farhud. Approximately 180 Jews were murdered, hundreds were injured, and Jewish homes and businesses were looted.

Schools had helped spread a militant nationalist ideology in a society where longtime Jewish neighbors were increasingly treated as enemies.

Eighty-five years later, the language of identifying Jewish enemies is being heard in America.

Know Your Enemies

In November 2021, Zahra Billoo, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), addressed an American Muslims for Palestine conference.

“Know your enemies,” she told the audience.

She named the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Federations, Hillel chapters and Zionist synagogues. Billoo warned against “polite Zionists,” including those seeking dialogue and cooperation. These were American Jewish institutions. Synagogues, campus organizations, community federations and civil rights advocates were being identified as enemies because of their association with the Jewish State.

CAIR has also sought to influence how American children learn about Israel, Zionism and antisemitism.

Entering American Schools

In October 2026, George Washington University’s Program on Extremism published The Long Game: CAIR’s Campaign to Influence K–12 Education, by researchers Asher Stern and David Collins. The researchers documented CAIR’s efforts to influence public schools through educator guides, curriculum proposals, teacher resources, district outreach and state education agencies.

In August 2026, CAIR expanded its Unhostile Campus Campaign to include elementary and secondary schools. Its educational resources addressed Palestine, Gaza, October 7, antisemitism and definitions of terrorism.

In Washington State, CAIR participated in months of exchanges with education officials before revised state guidance concerning antisemitism, Islamophobia and political expression was published. The report documented an organized effort to influence the people responsible for determining how politically sensitive subjects are taught.

Other organizations have sought influence through money.

Qatar’s Billions and American Classrooms

Qatar has become a major financial supporter of American educational institutions, with approximately $9 billion in cumulative gifts and contracts reported by U.S. universities, much of it supporting their campuses in Doha.

An October 2026 investigation by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies uncovered another channel: $10.6 million in Qatar Foundation International grants and allocations involving 24 American school districts across 19 states, along with charter schools and universities supporting K–12 programs. The figure represented only a partial accounting of Qatar’s K–12 educational funding. The money supported Arabic-language instruction, teachers, classroom materials and professional development.

In Houston, agreements permitted Qatar Foundation International representatives to observe classrooms. Correspondence showed representatives reviewing lesson plans and providing instructional feedback.

In Austin, Texas, investigators obtained materials from a Qatar-funded Arabic program that included a Saudi government textbook claiming that Western ignorance of Arabs allowed “Zionists to manipulate them.” The familiar antisemitic conspiracy theory of Zionists manipulating Western society had appeared in resources held by an American public school program.

Investigators also identified maps labeling Israel as Palestine.

At PS 261 in Brooklyn, a classroom displayed such a map. The school had received more than $600,000 from Qatar Foundation International between 2015 and 2024, primarily supporting teachers’ salaries. The map was subsequently removed.

Foreign money had reached American classrooms, and investigators were finding troubling materials within programs associated with that funding

Extremism in Religious Education

The investigation also uncovered more than $17 million in Islamic Development Bank funding to at least 50 private Islamic schools in America. One recipient was Brighter Horizons Academy in Texas, which received $995,000 for construction, technology and teacher training.

A separate investigation by Sam Westrop of the Middle East Forum examined textbooks developed by the school’s parent organization, the Islamic Services Foundation.

One presented a Quranic description of certain nonbelievers among the People of the Book and pagans as “the worst of creatures,” under the heading “Words of Wisdom.” Another attributed Muslim weakness to abandoning jihad and submitting to enemies. A third praised Jamal Badawi, who has described Hamas terrorists and suicide bombers as freedom fighters and martyrs. It also praised CAIR and its national leader, Nihad Awad.

One of the curriculum’s principal authors, Nabil Sadoun, was deported in 2010 after concealing Hamas connections on immigration paperwork, according to reporting cited by the Middle East Forum.

These were textbooks produced by the organization operating an American school, presenting religious outsiders in hostile terms and praising figures associated with Islamist extremism.

And Jewish students are already experiencing hostility in their schools.

When Jewish Students Become Outsiders

California’s Department of Education found instances of discrimination affecting Jewish and Israeli students in Oakland Unified School District. The findings involved school activities, instructional materials and the district’s response to complaints. When the district failed to complete required corrective measures, California sued in March 2026.

In September, an Alameda County judge ordered Oakland Unified to comply with state directives, including antisemitism training and improved procedures for addressing discrimination. The state had determined that Jewish students were being treated unfairly in their own public schools and had to turn to the courts to secure corrective action.

Teaching the Internal Enemy

Eighty-five years after the Farhud, American Jewish institutions are again being publicly identified as enemies, while researchers document troubling educational materials and state authorities intervene over discrimination against Jewish students, funded by foreign governments and promoted by CAIR.

The classroom is where children learn history, citizenship and their place in society. It is also where they can learn suspicion and hostility toward people sitting beside them. The latter is happening right now.