Haringey launches urgent probe as school ‘anti-racism’ expert is exposed as an anti-Zionist
EXCLUSIVE: Haringey Council confirm investigation into posts by educationalist Penny Rabiger, who trains teachers in the borough, including her support for conspiracy theorist Lowkey
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Haringey Council have launched an urgent review into posts written by an “anti-racism” educator who is training teachers in the borough after she denounced Zionism and claimed “the long story of Jewish suffering is being operationalised” to justify Israeli “brutality”.
Jewish News was alerted to inflammatory content written by Penny Rabiger, a member of the Haringey Education Partnership (HEP) Racial Equity Steering Group, after she led training sessions for primary school heads and governors in the north London borough on teaching children about diversity and inclusion.
The Jewish parents highlighted deeply concerning comments made by Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality PhD candidate Rabiger including the claim made in a blog post that Hamas had responded with “violence against violence” during the October 7th terror attack against the “settler-colonial formation which is the state of Israel.”
Further social media posts by the educator, who is also a member of the Haringey BAME achievement group and a co-founder of the BAMEed Network, included support for the work of the conspiracy theorist rapper Lowkey.
On January 5, Rabiger also expressed her support in a post for the hounding of customers buying food from McdDonalds by pro-Palestine campaigners, over claims the fast food chain is support of the Israeli military.
She was also open in her criticism of the Department for Education’s “impartiality rules” around the teaching of issues such as Israel/Palestine in schools.
Haringey confirmed to Jewish News they had launched a probe into Rabiger on Tuesday, adding there was “no place for any kind of hate in Haringey and the council put out a statement to all schools emphasising the importance of political neutrality and inclusiveness. ”
Rabiger, a governor at a Haringey primary school who confirms she is “secular Jewish” herself, is quite open about her opposition to Zionism in multiple posts made on X/Twitter, on her Linkedin page and on a blog she writes and frequently updates, stating at one stage that in her view “Zionism is contemporary settler-colonialism and should be resisted as part of any anti-racist activism.”
In one tweet posted last month Rabiger even argued: “The long story of Jewish suffering is operationalised to justify brutality in the name of self-defence and ‘never again’. It is used to elevate our persecution above that of others.
“What if we were to reject these hegemonic interpretations of the Holocaust and instead were to emphatically connect our own experience of suffering to highlight the common experience of suffering that we must protect ourselves and others from enduring.”
Confirming Rabiger’s role on the Haringey Educational Partnership, the official website states: “In recent years, the urgent need for inclusive education and anti-racist practices within schools has gained considerable attention. Acknowledging the systemic racism that persists within educational institutions is an essential step toward tackling the inequalities that are deeply entrenched.”
The organisation, founded in 2018 to “deliver the best school improvement support available anywhere” adds on the website: “Penny is also a member of HEP’s Racial Equity Steering Group as well as a school governor in a Haringey primary school. ”
A message posted on on the official website of one primary school in Haringey, which has a sizeable number of Jewish pupils, confirmed that last month, Rabiger had led a four session anti-racism training course which had been attended by the school’s head, along with other senior staff members.
Leeds Beckett University, where Rabiger is a PhD candidate, also confirms on its website that she is a lead “Anti-Racist Award Coach.”
But in controversial admissions, the anti-racism educator, who taught for several years in schools in Jerusalem, where she had Hebrew speaking children with her partner, openly praises the work of the conspiracy theorist rapper Lowkey, whose work she said she “keeps coming back to” on November 24th.
Deeper exploration of this post on X reveals Rabiger is actually directed her followers to the track Skit 5 on Lowkey’s Soundtrack To The Struggle album, which features an excerpt of an inflammatory speech made by the divisive commentator Norman Finklestein who accused a Jewish woman of playing the “Holocaust card” in relation to Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.
In the aftermath of October 7th Hamas terror attack, Haringey has, like many boroughs across London and the country, experienced a dramatic rise in antisemitic hate crimes.
Council leader Peray Ahmet has been quick to intervene when conflict over Israel and its response to Hamas has erupted inside schools in the borough.
But after learning that educationalist Rabiger had leading training sessions with school heads last month at one local primary school in the borough a Jewish parent told Jewish News: “It is concerning that teachers of Jewish pupils are being potentially radicalised by someone with such hateful and unbalanced views of Israel as part of what should be an important initiative to ensure teachers are equipped to tackle racism and achieve racial equity in schools.
“Further it appears Penny’s work has no room for Jews within her work to achieve equity in schools which is astonishing given the increased level of hate crime against our community at this time.”
A probe into social media posts by Rabiger shows her openly expressing her admiration for anti-Zionist academics such as Ilan Pappe, and praising an American documentary named “Israelism” which she says exposes the “Zionist brainwashing machine in the USA.”
While Rabiger had initially expressed shock and anger over the Hamas terror attacks, her response quickly changed after Israel launched its fightback against the terror group in Gaza.
On her own tenpencemore blog she wrote on December 10th of the “settler-colonial formation which is the state of Israel” and added “Hamas sees itself using violence against violence to resist.”
Rabiger argued this was a”dynamic and speciality” which “we can and must absolutely deploy our racial literacy to understand.”
The same blog, titled “G is for George, Gaza and Genocide” was an attempt to connect “the brutal public murder of American citizen, George Floyd, at the hands of police in May 2020” with the actions of Hamas on October 7th 2023.
She added:”In amongst all of this, some teachers and educators are trying to find a way to position themselves and do right by their students.
“Despite perhaps feeling that the three years since ‘the George Floyd moment’ might have supported the sector in prioritising and addressing huge deficits in racial literacy, the Israel-Palestine situation in general has been written off as too charged, too complicated and even somehow divorced from previous commitments to antiracist and decolonial practice.”
Elsewhere, both on her blog, and on social media Rabiger openly questions the suitability of the Department for Education’s “impartiality guidance” in relation to teaching of issues such as Israel/Palestine.
She claims the government “has deployed divide-and-conquer colonialist strategies to suggest or reinforce select messages at this time.”
A further blog post sees Rabinger question calls by schools for pupils to take part in international dress days.
“As a secular Jewish, Iraqi-Israeli-English family we were a bit baffled by the ‘traditional’ dress bit. What should we wear?” she writes.
Later she adds:”Maybe an army uniform and a gun to embody the settler colonial aspect of being Israeli?”
After Jewish News contacted Haringey Council a spokesperson said:” “As a borough we do not condone any expression by an individual that is perceived to be intolerant or prejudiced.
“As a matter of urgency, we will be working with Haringey Education Partnership to look into the social media posts made by Penny Rabiger and consider any further action.
“We have made it clear from the very start of the Israel-Gaza conflict that there is no place for any kind of hate in Haringey and the council put out a statement to all schools emphasising the importance of political neutrality and inclusiveness.
“Penny is a member of the racial equity steering group which is an informal network with members from a wide range of backgrounds focusing on closing the attainment gap.
“She has not been commissioned by Haringey Council, HEP or the steering group to go into schools. However, she is providing training to school leaders and governors on their approach to racial equity and this will also be reviewed.”
Jewish News also contacted Rabiger for comment. While not responding directly she posted on X:”Just to be clear I am a dual Israeli-British citizen.
“I am Jewish, I am not antisemitic. What Hamas did on 7th Oct is horrific.
“I want the hostages returned home. I oppose the killing of innocent people in Gaza, including children.
“Settler colonialism is defined as ‘when colonizers invade and occupy territory to permanently replace the existing society with the society of the colonizers. “
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