(Aug. 19, 2026 \/ JNS)\n <\/p>\n
Erin James, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, told JNS that the department is \u201creviewing all other materials\u201d after removing an educational equity and inclusion guide\u2014developed prior to Gov. Josh Shapiro taking office\u2014that contained the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.<\/p>\n
James told JNS that the department \u201chas heard from concerned individuals over the past several days about the definition of antisemitism included in the document and we take those concerns seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parents in the state told Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s working definition of antisemitism had been replaced in the guide with the Jerusalem Declaration, which states that \u201cas it relates to Israel\/Palestine, not all views or actions against Israel, such as supporting justice for Palestinians or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism, are, on the face of it, antisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have removed it from our website and are reviewing all other materials,\u201d James said. \u201cAll Pennsylvania students deserve to feel safe at school and learn in environments where their rights, identities and differences are respected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the document was dated 2023, and Shapiro took office in January 2023, James told JNS that the guide was developed under former governor Tom Wolf\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
James told JNS that Shapiro \u201chas made clear that antisemitism must be confronted and condemned with moral clarity wherever it occurs.\u201d The Jewish Democratic governor has been a target of antisemitic violence, when the governor\u2019s mansion was set on fire in April 2025.<\/p>\n
The department \u201cis committed to working with schools across Pennsylvania to ensure that all students learn in safe, inclusive environments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Aug. 19, 2026 \/ JNS) Erin James, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, told JNS that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-268605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}