Resources to Help Students Understand the Hamas Terrorist Attack and the Ensuing War

In the aftermath of the antisemitic terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, emotions of outrage, anguish, and concern have dominated hearts, minds, and headlines. Intended to murder Jewish people, these coordinated acts of terror resulted in the death of more Jewish people that day than on any other day since the Holocaust. As a result of this horrific violence, the region has now plunged into a war that will continue to cause the loss of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives. 

Amid these events, we know both students and educators have questions about what is happening, why it is happening, and what can be done. In the face of global turmoil, it is critical that classrooms provide safe, responsive spaces for their students to explore current events, gain deeper understanding, and ask questions about what happened and what might come next.

For classrooms to engage in shared learning and discussion of antisemitic terrorism and the associated war, we encourage educators to lean on Facing History’s pedagogical approach. Helping students to process the intellectual, emotional, and ethical dimensions of these events will help them to recognize their own emotions while making space for others’ feelings, as they grapple with the information they are reading in the news and on social media.

Here we offer a range of resources and activities and recommend you use those best suited to your students’ needs, including our mini-lessons: Centering Humanity While Following News of the Israel-Hamas War and Processing Antisemitism, Terror, and War.

Resources for Teaching about Antisemitism

• Explainer: Antisemitism and Its Impacts
• Collection: Confronting Online Antisemitism
• Mini-Lesson: Responding to Rising Antisemitism
• Collection: Antisemitism Today

Resources for Teaching about Islamophobia

• Unit: Discussing Contemporary Islamophobia in the Classroom
• Mini-Lesson: Stereotypes, Media, and Islamophobia
• Lesson: Standing Up Against Contemporary Islamophobia

Fostering Civil Discourse in the Classroom

• Guide: Fostering Civil Discourse: How Do We Talk About Issues That Matter?
• Ideas This Week: How Do We Talk About Issues That Matter

Combatting Stereotypes and ‘Single Stories’

• Lesson: Stereotypes and "Single Stories"
• Video: The Danger of a Single Story

Teaching in the Wake of Violence

• Mini-Lesson: Teaching in the Wake of Violence
• Teaching Strategy: Toolbox for Care

Teaching about Current Events

• Guide: Teaching Current Events: Educator Guide
• Toolkit: Current Events Toolkit

Additional Classroom Strategies

• Teaching Strategy: Head, Heart, Conscience
• Teaching Strategy: Journals in a Facing History Classroom