ICAN Spearheads City of Beverly Hills Unanimous Condemnation of California Ethnic Studies Curriculum & Recall of State Appointees

For Immediate Release: August 20, 2019


The Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN) welcomed the decision of the Beverly Hills City Council to unanimously condemn the State of California’s proposed ethnic studies model curriculum after many officials, educators, parents, and students found the curriculum to be both anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. The council also urged government appointees involved in the crafting of the ethnic studies model curriculum to be recalled or otherwise removed from their positions.

The Mayor, John Mirisch, and Beverly Hills City Council took action following the submission of an ICAN report detailing the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel nature of the ethnic studies model curriculum. The effort, led by ICAN’s California Chairwoman, Vered Elkouby Nisim, drew concerned parents and students from schools and communities across Los Angeles.

Vered Elkouby Nisim, ICAN California Chairwoman, addresses the Beverly Hills City Council

“I am a proud Israeli-American. My father is Moroccan, and he left Morocco as a child to live on a kibbutz in Israel, the one country where he knew he would be safe as a Jew. Israel is the one Jewish state we have. While California is today our home, Israel is our heritage,” said Chairwoman Nisim. “The current draft of the model curriculum teaches students to hate my family’s heritage, that is not acceptable. I was touched by the great support we received from the Beverly Hills City Council tonight, and together, our voices will be heard.”

Councilmember Julian Gold stated, “We should take the strongest possible stance against this curriculum. This thing has to go back to the beginning, and we should start a campaign to recall the members of the commission involved in creating this mess.”

Mayor Mirisch added, “the City of Beverly Hills called upon the State to investigate and root out the cause of this anti-Israel bias before the next iteration,” of the curriculum is released.

Councilmember Lili Bosse said, “after losing most of my family to Jewish hate and anti-Semitic propaganda in World War Two, I was taught three lessons as a child, one, never give up, two, never again, and three, never forget. It is our duty to stop this now. Recall anyone who is spewing this hatred.”

ICAN joins the Beverly Hills City Council in its call for the removal of all appointees and the recall of any officials involved in drafting the anti-semitic and anti-Israel content found in the current version of the proposed ethnic studies model curriculum.

“We’ll be in Sacramento working to determine what happened with this curriculum,” said Dillon Hosier, ICAN’s Chief Advocacy Officer. “And, we agree with the Beverly Hills City Council that those who developed this version of the curriculum should not be involved in the revision process moving forward. We will do our best to make sure those changes in appointees or officials happen.”