Massachusetts Issues Disgraceful Apology to Critics
A Massachusetts middle school principal apologized after some Arab, Lebanese, Muslim, and Palestinian students reportedly felt "unsafe" during a Holocaust and antisemitism lesson, sparking controversy.
Dr. Johnny Cole, principal of a middle school in the affluent town of Lexington, Massachusetts, sent a letter to families apologizing for a seventh-grade educational session on antisemitism that was connected to Holocaust curriculum, according to Washington Examiner.
While Cole acknowledged the lesson pursued an important educational goal, he proceeded to offer a groveling apology to certain students who allegedly felt offended by the material. The principal wrote that some students felt their history, identity, and community had been left out or erased during the session.
Cole admitted that some of these students departed the lesson feeling less safe rather than more protected. We believe you. We are sorry … we missed the mark, he wrote in the letter.
The identity of these supposedly wounded students was explicitly revealed in Cole’s statement: Arab students, Lebanese students, Muslim students, and Palestinian students. These groups apparently took offense at education focused on the systematic murder of six million Jews during World War II and the connection to modern anti-Jewish hatred.
The principal pledged that future lessons would be expanded to incorporate all communities and all histories, and promised that these newly aggrieved children would help shape future programming on the subject.
The episode represents a disturbing trend in which certain activist groups actively work to controversialize and dilute stand-alone condemnations of antisemitism. Some Muslim and anti-Israel students and families evidently view learning about the deliberate extermination of millions of Jews as somehow offensive to them personally.
Erasure Through Inclusion
Critics argue that by prostrating himself before complainants and effectively applying an “All Lives Matter” approach to antisemitism education, Cole and his colleagues are actually erasing or significantly diluting the unique evil of the Holocaust, which was an extermination project overwhelmingly targeting Jews.
The purpose of Holocaust instruction is not to make every demographic group feel seen or included. The curriculum exists to educate students about a specific, unprecedented evil inflicted upon the Jewish people. If that historical reality makes some individuals uncomfortable or triggers attempts at deflection, such reactions only underscore the vital and urgent need for these lessons.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Recent FBI hate crime statistics released in 2025 demonstrated that approximately seven out of ten religiously motivated hate crimes committed during the previous year targeted Jews. Despite comprising roughly two percent of the American population, Jews were subjected to almost seventy percent of religious hate crimes in the United States.
Data from the Anti-Defamation League showed that single-bias anti-Jewish hate crime incidents rose to 1,938 incidents that year. By comparison, incidents targeting Muslims numbered 228.
This troubling pattern was well established before the Hamas massacre of October 2023, and has only accelerated in the months since. The sickening maneuver to controversialize Holocaust education has become standard practice within certain progressive circles, as particular grievance groups intentionally and aggressively seek to stamp out focused condemnations of antisemitism.
Never Again Means Something Specific
The lessons of history remain the lessons of today, whether certain groups want to face that reality or not. The phrase “never again” carries specific meaning tied to specific events and a specific targeted people.
Students who object to learning about the Holocaust and modern antisemitism should be told to show respect, remain silent, and attempt to learn from the material. They should not be coddled, catered to, or empowered to reshape curriculum to suit their political sensibilities or comfort levels.
The Lexington incident represents yet another example of how progressive ideology increasingly demands that even the most well-documented historical atrocities be filtered through contemporary identity politics and grievance hierarchies, rather than taught as the objective historical horrors they represent.
With information from Washington Examiner
