Debunked! The Antisemitism in Schools Report Is Based on BS Numbers

Sir David Bell’s report is riddled with errors, distortions and contradictions. It weaponises antisemitism rather than tackles it, and yet the government has uncritically accepted its recommendations.

Children at a primary school in Hackney, London. Photo by Gideon Mendel/In Pictures/Corbis via Getty Images

Here are two truths. First, antisemitism is a real and growing problem which needs to be confronted. Second, this evil has also been abused and weaponised to shut down discussion of Israel’s Western-facilitated genocide of the Palestinian people.

The newly published government review into antisemitism in English schools and colleges needs to be seen in this context. Led by Sir David Bell, a former senior civil servant and now a university vice-chancellor, the report makes 27 recommendations – all accepted by the government.

But the report is a travesty. It is riddled with factual errors, contradictions and distortions of evidence and research.