In the United States, some labor unions, city governments and city councils have weighed in on the Israel-Hamas war, issuing statements in support of the cease-fire — often after strong objections from some of their members and constituents.
On Wednesday night, the school board in Ann Arbor, Mich., became one of the first public school districts in the country to vote in favor of such a declaration.
Supporters of the resolution, including Palestinian Americans and Jewish board members said the declaration was an urgent moral imperative amid a humanitarian crisis.
But the vote — 4 to 1, with two abstentions — was divisive in Ann Arbor, home to the University of Michigan and several Arab and Jewish populations.
In a meeting with cheers and jeers, some parents said they saw no role for the local school board in the conflict, despite their own wishes for an end to hostilities in Israel and Gaza. And they worried that singling out Israel for condemnation, in a world full of war and suffering, could fuel anti-Semitism in the region.
One father said he planned to remove his children from local schools.
And several parents asked the board to refocus on other issues, such as the district’s search for a new superintendent and academic recovery after the pandemic.
“You’re turning your attention back to the needs of our children,” said one parent.
The Israel-Gaza war has created huge rifts in education, both in universities and local school districts, especially in left-leaning enclaves like Ann Arbor.
In Oakland, California, some Jewish parents are withdrawing their children from public schools after teachers held an unauthorized, pro-Palestinian indoctrination last month.
And after a public outcry, a Brooklyn elementary school removed a classroom map depicting the Middle East without Israel, labeling the country “Palestine.”
Last week, the Ann Arbor City Council passed its own cease-fire resolution. But in December, the University of Michigan barred any future votes on two student government resolutions related to the war.
“The proposed resolutions have done more to incite fear, anger and hostility on our campus than they ever could as recommendations to the university,” university president Santa J. Ono wrote in a letter to the community.
Rima Mohammad, who had supported the declaration as president of the Ann Arbor school board, acknowledged that the cease-fire resolution was “symbolic.”
But the Israel-Gaza war “is definitely something we have to deal with, especially because I think the ongoing conflict abroad is leading to an increase in racism and discrimination at the local level,” she said in an interview before the vote. “Arabs, Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, Israelis are hurting.”
Ms. Mohammad is Palestinian American and immigrated to the United States at the age of 5.
On Wednesday night, the school board, as scheduled, elected a new president, Torchio Feaster, who abstained from voting on the resolution.
In addition to calling for a “bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and Israel,” the resolution condemned Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
He also encouraged teachers in the 17,000-student district to facilitate classroom discussions about the conflict.
This became one of the most divisive elements of the proposal. Many established curriculum resources on Israeli-Palestinian issues are created by advocacy groups and are themselves highly contested.
Marci Sukenic, a parent of three students in the district and a staff member at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, said she was “definitely opposed” to the resolution, in part because “our teachers are not equipped to have these conversations.”
“There’s a lot of prejudice out there,” he said. “There is misinformation.”
In the past, she said, her children were asked in class to “represent the Jewish point of view” on issues, a role she did not think was fair. “Our kids could stand out,” he said.
Jeff Gaynor, the Jewish school board member who sponsored the resolution, is a retired high school social studies teacher who once wrote his own curriculum on Israeli-Palestinian issues. He said he trusts teachers not to venture beyond their expertise.
Ernesto Querijero, the board administrator who sponsored the resolution, said he doesn’t think teachers should shy away from the issue, especially when students are exposed to so much discussion of the conflict on social media.
“We have to give students a space so they can talk about it,” said Mr. Querijero, an English teacher at a community college. “Can you create a space to allow students to express their own opinions?”
The resolution was introduced by Ann Arbor High School student Malek Farha, 16, who said he wrote the statement with his uncle. As a Palestinian American, he said, he advocated educating students about the conflict so his peers would understand that “the Palestinians have been oppressed for decades.”
He said most students were getting their information about the conflict from social media and the news. But he disputed the idea, put forward by many adults, that the war had divided his Jewish and Muslim peers, adding: “It never caused conflict between us.”
If so, the same could not be said for adults. Wednesday’s board meeting had to be adjourned several times to try to contain disturbances and personal attacks from the crowd.
Alain Delaquerière contributed to the research.
