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By: Anonymous
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I would like to clarify that this piece is not intended to take sides, but is exclusively a response to the statement released by the school regarding the October 7th massacre. This is my own reaction to the statement and this article doesn’t attempt to account for the history of the conflict, nor to the events that took place since then in the Middle East.
This piece will explain how Mr. Alchin’s response affected myself and the broader Jewish community, why I feel it was wrong, why it matters, and what could have been done instead. As a Jewish-Israeli student who has been a part of this community for over a decade, I can say that by brushing off the killing-spree that occurred - with us already dealing with all the emotions of the actual attack, including the immense fear for our own families, the statement caused more hurt and pain than it did anything to relieve it, and as such I believe it was wrong.
What happened on October 7th?
On 7th October 2023, a Saturday morning which was also a religious holiday in Israel, approximately 3,000 Gazan Hamas terrorists crossed the Gaza-Israel border and stormed into towns, farms and villages in Southern Israel, indiscriminately murdering, mutilating and raping more than 1,200 innocent civilians who were dancing in holiday parties, sleeping in their beds or otherwise minding their business, before kidnapping 240 other innocent civilians and carrying them back into Gaza. 240 infants, children, teenagers, adults, elderly, holocaust survivors, pregnant women, carried into Gaza to be used as negotiation cards and human shields against the Israeli counter-attack which was bound to take place soon after.
A blatant, cruel, inexcusable, racist terror attack against innocent civilians, whose only “crime” was the fact that they were physically in Israel, 40 of them not even being Israeli or Jewish.
The Middle East's centuries-old conflict has multiple sides, and it always will. However, what transpired in Israel on October 7th was an obscene act that cannot be justified by a dispute territorial in nature or otherwise as it was a deliberate attack on civilians.
World leaders mostly rushed to condemn this horrific attack, in an act of solidarity that Israel hasn’t seen in decades. For instance, the leaders of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and Britain denounced the attacks carried out by Hamas, labelling them "acts of terrorism" with "no justification," in a united statement. There was an almost uniform, immediate consensus that this was an outrageous act against humanity, which cannot be explained or justified in any way whatsoever.
Our school, however, took more than 4 days to issue its first response, and I am sorry to share my view that it was a hurtful and very disappointing response. Rather than to condemn the attack or support Jewish members of the community, it seemed to be a political or diplomatic response. Reading this statement, I felt hurt and dismissed.
I understand the school may not wish to express any political opinions in their statement as we’re a community full of different opinions. However, calling the events of October 7th by what it was (a horrific act of terror against human beings) is not an opinion. It’s a fact, as there would be no other reason an inhumane act like this would happen other than to create terror. If the school wants to reference these events (which I agree it should), it ought to do it accurately, and call things as they are, rather than trying to neutralise them to a point where they no longer mean much. It’s extremely important to call things as they are because when we neutralise them, it not only normalises, but makes the world desensitised to them.
Where did the statement go wrong?
The message had a complete disregard for the massacre itself. Not once did Mr. Alchin refer to these acts as the horrible crimes that they were, and not once did he condemn them. The statement included a lot of ‘fluffy language’ and an overly general reference to conflicts, which somehow leaves the real truth about this event untouched.
The statement was plainly titled “Conflict in the Middle-East” which doesn’t even specify the country, what conflict and completely undermines the event and the deep effect it had. The statement also almost seemed to be used to promote the school and how it supposedly brings people together through education, as stated in the school’s mission statement. It was positioning the school as a “solution” for international conflict with the use of phrases like “These are very challenging times, but through them we are reminded of the great importance to use education as a force to unite people”, casually inserting the school’s mission statement and brand into their statement on a terror attack. I find this to be very problematic as positioning our school to be a solution for international conflict makes the problem seem more simple than it is, completely disregarding the long history of this conflict.
Mr. Nick Alchin then proceeds to mention the upcoming UN Night dance performances. He writes about how they are taking place soon and how they are a “celebration of our diversity”. Mr. Alchin uses this idea to move on to the fact that “our diversity creates valuable opportunities for us to learn about one another and to celebrate and appreciate each other”. By equating the massacre with ‘diversity,’ Mr. Alchin seems to be suggesting we embrace diverse views, yet with an inhumane act like this, there is no room for a debate on whether or not it was valid. When Mr. Alchin brings up UN Night in a statement on a terrorist attack, the focus is shifted from the crisis to the school, when in fact, we should be focused on assisting our community members and recognising the intense feelings that some of them are going through.
I understand that the school has a mission statement and wants to show commitment to it, but it would be much better to use it in a different context and centre the tragedy first and foremost. An effective statement would have called October 7th for what it was, had a tone of sympathy, and mentioned the Jewish students of our community and how it might affect them. It would also be beneficial to reach out to the Israeli/Jewish community to check into our wellbeing and what the school can do to support us.
In this next section, I would like to address Mr. Alchin’s email in reference to UWC’s values, because I feel it conflicts with what I have learned the mission means whilst I have been at the school. I have been a student here at UWCSEA since K1, and I’m now in high school. During my years growing up as a UWC student, I’ve been taught about standing up for what is right - about empathy, about being compassionate, and being kind. Giving the students a sense of belonging and being part of this community was also a big part of my UWC journey. Reading this email, I did not feel any sense of compassion or kindness coming through. I didn’t feel a sense of belonging. In fact, as I mentioned before, I feel that the UWC community has been overlooking the small Israeli/Jewish community for a very long time and the email just magnified that feeling.
It is disheartening to me that the school did not think it was appropriate to publicly denounce the horrific acts of terrorism committed by Hamas, an acknowledged terrorist group. The fact that these horrible acts were totally ignored is just wrong and I was disappointed to find the use of ‘fluffy language’ in a statement about a terrorist attack with thousands dead and 240 hostages. I acknowledge that since that point, more lives have been lost and more damage has been done, but this piece is solely about Mr. Alchin’s response.
Why does it matter, publicly and educationally?
Bodies in education as well as schools need to lead by example and teach students that it’s an obligation and a privilege to speak their thoughts and views. They need to teach kids to clearly distinguish between right and wrong, especially when the “wrong” is undeniably, uniformly atrocious. They need to especially avoid the mistakes of the past when good people remained silent in view of horrible events, almost branding those events as legitimate through their lack of response (just like during the Holocaust, when large educational bodies didn’t do anything to denounce it). The school had an opportunity to not repeat these mistakes. Although the school has taught us, the students, to stand for what we think is right, the school leadership, in this case, did not.
This article refers to Mr. Alchin's initial statement, and I know he's since made another, but I wanted to publish this as the second statement only seemed to reflect him standing by his first one.
In the weeks that have passed from 7th of October until now, countless more lives have been lost on both sides. The attacks on both Palestinian and Israeli civilians are atrocious - and I would like to clarify that this piece is not taking sides, but is exclusively about the statement released by the school regarding October 7th, based on the facts and situation that was known at that time. I want people to hear this because the school I have attended all my life has always taught me to stand up for what is right. In this case, I felt that the school’s response to this attack on humanity was not aligned with the values of kindness and compassion that we are supposed to show.
Sources:
Thank you for this excellent post. You, and others of very different views (on this and sometimes other issues), would understandably seek to have as many people/organisations as possible align as closely as possible with your views. That's fine, and I recognise this. But I think reasonable people can differ on many (not all) of the points you make. It's clear that's the case here, and I would be happy to meet with you to discuss and debate. It would also be interesting for us both to consider the differences between personal and institutional responses, and to be informed about the thinking that has informed other educational institutions in their positions (as referenced in my blog, for example).
If such…
You dont speak for me.