Antisemitic Conflation: What Is the Impact of Conflating All Jews with the Actions and Policies of the Israeli Government?

About This Lesson

In this lesson, students will start with themselves, considering their own experience with the concept of conflation and its impacts. Next, students will view and respond to an educational video that explores the concept of antisemitic conflation—holding all Jews accountable for the Israeli government’s actions and policies. Finally, students will closely read about recent examples of antisemitic conflation and consider how these examples contribute to their understanding of this form of antisemitism.

Guiding Questions

• What is conflation?
• How can conflation lead to antisemitic behavior and speech? 
• What antisemitic tropes and conspiracy narratives are often embedded in antisemitic conflation?

Learning Objectives

• Define the concepts of conflation and antisemitic conflation.
• Identify examples of antisemitic conflation, and articulate why each is an example of antisemitism.
• Identify the tropes and conspiracy theories that often fuel antisemitic conflation.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Start with Ourselves: What Does It Feel Like to Be Judged for One’s Association with a Group?

Explain to students that conflation is the act or process of confusing two separate things as part of one whole or assuming that two separate things are connected, whether they are or not. Internal bias can lead to the conflation of individuals with perceived ideas and assumptions about a group. Additionally, conflation can mean associating a whole group of people with an action or belief. Stereotyping is a form of conflation. Consider providing a few examples of conflation that your students would be aware of or might even have experienced themselves. For example, a teenager who does not participate in bullying but who is part of a friend group with members known to bully others may be considered “guilty by association” by those who conflate the non-bullying teen with the group that bullies. When a teenager is closely monitored or followed in a store because the shopkeeper has caught teenagers shoplifting before, the shopkeeper is conflating this teen with other teenagers involved in a previous incident. 

In this first activity, students will reflect on a time when someone has conflated them with a group, or they have conflated another person with a group, assuming the individual and the group are one and the same (in ideas, actions, behavior, personality traits, physical traits, etc.). 

Have students respond to one or more of the following prompts in their journals. Make sure students understand that they do not need to respond to all four prompts.

• Has anyone ever assumed that you were part of an identity group that you do not identify with? What happened?
• Has anyone ever assumed that you agree with another person just because you belong to the same group as them (or were assumed to belong to the same group)?
• Have you ever been held responsible for the actions of a group (or the perceived actions of a group) just because you belong to that group (or were assumed to belong to that group)?
  • What happened?
  • How did the situation make you feel? 
  • What were the consequences? 
• Have you ever held someone responsible for the actions of a group (or the perceived actions of a group) just because they belong (or you thought they belonged) to that group? 
  • What happened? 
  • What prompted you to respond in this way? 
  • What were the consequences?

Using the Wraparound strategy, give each student the chance to share one word that captures how people might feel when others make assumptions about them because of their group membership or identity. 

Now that students have considered how conflation can impact them, they will learn about how conflation can perpetuate bigotry and racism. Conflating an individual with an entire ethnic or racialized group is a form of bigoted conflation, as is assuming that all individuals who share an identity engage in the same actions or hold the same beliefs. Below are two examples you can share with your students. 

• A grocery store customer overhears two fellow shoppers speaking in Spanish. He tells them that they should learn to speak English or go back to their country. The customer knows nothing about the citizenship status or country of origin of the other shoppers, but he conflates all Spanish speakers with immigrants. 
• When racial profiling motivates a police officer to pull over Black drivers with greater frequency than white drivers, the officer is making assumptions about an individual Black person based on their assumptions about Black people in general—in this case, that Black people are likely to engage in criminal activity and warrant a higher degree of suspicion and interrogation than others require.

Activity 2: Conflation as a Manifestation of Antisemitism

Antisemitic conflation is the act of making assumptions about the beliefs or accountability of individual Jews, or Jews collectively, based on one’s understanding or experience of actions or beliefs held by some Jews or some groups of Jews. This form of antisemitism most commonly manifests in the conflation of Jews anywhere in the world with the actions and policies of the State of Israel. This type of conflation might take the form of making assumptions about Jewish people’s beliefs or opinions about Israel; holding individual Jews accountable for what takes place in Israel; or invoking the “dual loyalty” trope, which accuses non-Israeli Jews of being more loyal to Israel than to their own country. 

Students will examine the Antisemitic Tropes Chart and watch a short educational video clip on antisemitic conflation.

First, place graffiti boards around the room that are divided into three sections, each displaying one of the following prompts: 

• What did you learn? 
• What questions do you have? 
• What is something you found particularly striking, upsetting, or challenging?

Before showing the video clip, project the Antisemitic Tropes Chart and go over it with students. Please do not print out and distribute this chart or give students unmonitored access to it, as it contains images and language that could cause harm outside of this context. 

As students watch the Antisemitism Disguised video on antisemitic conflation, ask them to take notes using the 3-2-1 strategy, writing down the following:

• Three things they have learned from the video clip (and the tropes chart)
• Two questions they still have
• One thing they found particularly striking, upsetting, or challenging

After viewing the video clip, ask students to transfer their notes to the graffiti boards, starting with the one nearest to them. Once they have finished, instruct students to silently walk around and read their peers’ responses.

Activity 3: Examine Examples of Antisemitic Conflation

Arrange students in small groups and assign each group an article from the Contemporary Examples of Antisemitic Conflation handout, which contains excerpts from news articles. After reading the article, have each group use the Connect, Extend, Challenge strategy to discuss the following questions: 

• Connect: How do the ideas and information in this reading connect to what you already know about antisemitic conflation?
• Extend: How does this reading extend or broaden your thinking about antisemitic conflation?
• Challenge: Does this reading challenge or complicate your understanding of antisemitic conflation? What new questions does it raise for you?

Make sure to circulate as the small groups discuss the articles so that you are able to assess how students are responding to the readings and making connections to the lesson’s central concepts. Either using the graffiti boards again or in a whole-class discussion, have groups report out, providing a brief summary of the act of antisemitic conflation discussed in their reading along with their responses to the Connect, Extend, Challenge exercise. 

Activity 4: Closure

Use the Exit Tickets strategy to find out what students are taking away from this lesson when they leave the classroom. Possible prompts for today’s exit ticket include: 

• List three things you learned in class today.
• What questions, ideas, or feelings did this lesson raise for you?
• What do you need?
  • What is something I can do as your teacher to support you in this class? 
  • What is something other students can do to support you in this class?