October 7 and 9/11, As Taught In Classrooms

The connection between October 7th and September 11th are not just in the magnitude of the tragedy and their ongoing global impact, but in the messaging and paradigms introduced into the educational system, as it attempts to tackle this fateful event. The education system has a critical role to play in allowing society to deal constructively with the consequences of the current war.

As we reflect on these two painful tragedies, we must look to the education system to hold the difficult, age-appropriate discussions that will help Israeli youth consider different points of view, process the attack and build a common discourse—failing to do so may leave us with slogans of unity, but continued divisions.

The anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and Flight United 93 is observed in some form or other across the globe, as these attacks were a disaster on a global scale. Their consequences were felt both in the United States and worldwide, including the war that was launched in their wake, the changes to internal security policy, the impact on aviation, and more. Beyond this, the sense of shaken security—that a global superpower like the United States could be attacked on its own soil, reverberated around the world. Here in Israel, after the harrowing October 7, 2023 attacks, this 9/11 anniversary strikes a particular chord.

The day after the October 7 attack, opinions were already being voiced in the media describing the previous day’s events as “our own 9/11.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with President Biden, who visited Israel on October 19, 2023, said: “On October 7, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis, possibly more. This, in a state with fewer than ten million inhabitants. This is the equivalent of more than 50,000 Americans being murdered on a single day … This is 9/11 times 20, and thus October 7 is another day that will live in infamy.”

The link between these two events is rooted not only in the scale of the October 7 attack, but also in the feelings of many Israelis—echoing the feelings of many Americans in 2001—that the society in which they live will never return to what it was before. Almost a year later, Israel is still at war, and nobody knows how and when this war will end.  The severe disagreements over what the next steps should be reflect the deep divisions that were evident in Israeli society before the war even began.

The education system has a key role to play in the question of how such circumstances should be dealt with, in terms of the way in which it explains the war and the events of October 7 to students. What will be the collective memory of the October 7 massacre and war the followed? Will students leave their schools as divided as those who have long graduated, or will they have a common ground for discourse and a stronger shared future?

The central messages conveyed by the education system in the United Stated during the first months after 9/11 offer a comparative overview from which to learn about the current response of the Israeli education system to the events of October 7 and the ongoing war. This is particularly pertinent considering the perspective gained over the years since 2001, allowing us to understand the deeper social processes that have occurred—among other things, in terms of how 9/11 was presented and discussed in American education, particularly regarding the boundaries of discourse around the events.

Three main trends were evident in the American education system in the initial months after the attack, all of which can also be seen in the Israeli case.

The first was the demand to rally around the American flag—not only on a ceremonial level, in terms of the daily pledge of allegiance to the flag in US schools, but also on a more conscious level of calling for cohesion, for unity, and for the partnership of all Americans in their struggle against the axis of evil. The second was the presentation of the attacks as an event reflecting a struggle between absolute good and absolute evil, with little-to-no historical or political context. The third was the central role given to stories of heroism (of firefighters, for example) in textbooks, homeroom lessons, and ceremonies, alongside expressions of pain and sadness resulting from the disaster and the loss.

These three trends are visible in the educational content published by the Israeli Ministry of Education within the first few weeks of the war, and in the instructions recently issued to schools ahead of the new school year. These centered on messages of unity, such as “together we will win,” and on calls to set aside all disagreements in order to achieve “total victory” over the axis of evil comprising Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Particular attention is paid to the feelings and emotions of students in light of the ongoing war: giving room for expressions of sadness, mourning, and pain, while also highlighting stories of heroism of citizens and of IDF soldiers throughout the conflict. The struggle over the narrative of the war (why it broke out, who was responsible, what its goals are, and who we will be when it is over) is almost entirely absent from schools. It can be found on the streets, at demonstrations, in the struggle of the hostages’ families to secure their return, in the calls for elections, and in the arguments over what should happen in the Gaza Strip after the war. All these issues are almost entirely non-existent in schools. Moreover, teachers refrain from engaging in such discussions so as not to be seen as acting against the maxim “together we will win.”

This phenomenon of refraining from discussion and from conveying the complexity of the current situation, was evident after 9/11 as well. Many American teachers reported being afraid of engaging in such activities in the classroom due to the possible reaction of the surrounding community and to the lack of backing from policymakers. In many respects, the months following 9/11 became a significant turning point in the willingness and ability of American teachers to address issues considered contentious, such as discussions about the ongoing war in Iraq and its costs, and the harm to democratic rights inside the United States as a result of the need to defend against terrorism.

These developments are now being clearly seen in Israeli education. Teachers who raise—whether in the classroom or outside it—the issue of the cost of the ongoing war for the residents of Gaza, or who propose discussing the morality of demanding the immediate return of the hostages at any cost, tend to encounter opposition, or even removal from their posts. Examining these trends in the wake of 9/11 in the United States invites renewed thinking about the messages that the Ministry of Education is currently conveying within the education system.

A survey we conducted at the Israel Democracy Institute found that the Israeli public defined the message of unity and cohesion as the most important message that schools should put across, as indicated by 40% of the total sample, and around 45% of the Jewish sample. By contrast, messages concerning the importance of protecting human rights, or the concessions needed for peace and for ending the war, received almost no attention from the public.

Our ability to deal with the future and with the consequences of the current war cannot be detached from critical and comprehensive educational discussions, which need to be held by teachers in an age-appropriate manner for their classrooms, about the price of war and its impact on a society that is hurting, divided, and polarized. The students who have just begun the new school year should be exposed to the deeper questions that the war poses regarding the possibility for unity and cohesion, and the future of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. They must hold conversations about the different views that exist regarding these questions, in classrooms with educators and not just in social media.

In one of the textbooks written after 9/11, an educator stated that the attacks were “too important to be ignored. They present the ultimate teachable moment." Similarly, Israeli society is now not only at a crossroads facing critical decisions, but also at a crucial educational and teachable moment. Educators must rise to the occasion and discuss the current events with their students, and deliberate and consider the implications of different positions regarding the war and its long-term effects. Failing to do so might leave us with slogans of unity and patriotism, but without the possibility of an actual foundation for change.

 

This article was published in the Times of Israel.