I have met people from all around the world. When I tell them I’m American, most automatically assume that means I’m obnoxious, cold-shouldered, and arrogant. This, of course, isn’t true. These people have no right to judge me. They have no idea what kind of person I am until they get to know me. Not only have I felt this bias, but I’ve seen people from other cultures feel it as well. It’s a horrible thing. When I think about why there are so many stereotypes in the world, it all comes down to education. The idea that everyone from a certain society acts the same way and believes in the same values is fed into our minds through education. When feelings of hatred are passed down, it can lead to horrible incidents. One such incident happened to a 17-year-old boy in Jerusalem.


Tamer Jbarah was a Palestinian student attending an Arab-Jewish bilingual school in Jerusalem. He blended in perfectly with his “flawless Hebrew,” yet he was almost beaten to death in Zion Square by a group of Jewish students simply because he was Arabic. Take a moment to imagine being the victim of hatred and violence without having done anything to deserve it. Imagine a group of people ganging up on you just because you come from a different country, culture, or ethnicity. It’s difficult to conceive that this happened to a teenage boy by his peers. If children can’t realize that everyone is a human being with thoughts and emotions, no matter where they come from, how can we expect anyone else to?


“People are taught to hate, so they hate,” says Tamer. The school he attends is supposed to unify the Arab and Jewish students, but this isn’t easy for teachers. They have their own opinions that they feel strongly about. On the first day of classes after the attack, one teacher who brought up the happenings in Zion Square spoke about it with “smoldering anger” and “mistrust.”


Tamer said from age five children chant “Death to the Arabs.” Similarly, a film presented in class showed Palestinian children chanting “Death to Israel, death to the Jews.” Brainwashing children by forcing them to repeat these words is what promotes racism!


Students from ages 13-19 are believed to have been involved with the attack on Tamer Jbarah. A 14-year-old boy was accused of hitting Jbarah so hard that his heart stopped. He said the following: “For my part he can die; he’s an Arab.”


A 14 year old boy who doesn’t feel guilt for almost ending the life of a fellow student has obviously been taught that this behavior is acceptable. Children should be taught that racism is never acceptable. Mr. Rivlin, a leader of the right-leaning Likud party agrees. He stated: “This evil comes from insufficient education. Unfortunately, more and more youth think that hate and racial violence are permissible.”


The students don’t only feel racism among themselves, but in other areas of their society. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) "Over two-thirds Israeli teens believe Arabs to be less intelligent, uncultured and violent.” The ACRI also took polls that said 50% of Israelis didn’t want to live in the same building as Arabs. Over half of the Jewish population thought that marrying an Arab should be considered “national treason”, and 40% think that Arabs should not be able to vote in Israel. It’s hard not to be shocked when looking at these statistics. No wonder children and teenagers of both cultures feel a bias against each other; the hatred surrounds them everywhere they go!


Kevin Kahkedjian said that when he and his Jewish friend were traveling by plane and had to go through airport security, Kahkedjian was forced to “strip to his underwear” whereas his friend passed through easily. Jbarah gave an example of how a group of Tel Aviv kids he was hanging out with were shocked to find out he was Arabic, because he “didn’t look like a terrorist or rapist.”
Rasha Masalha once had a 4-year-old tell her she wanted to learn “Hebrew because it’s the language of the bible and English because the Americans saved us from the Arabs.” The prejudice the children are taught taints their minds before they have the opportunity to form their own opinions.


Yael was one of the students who realize there is too much separation in the school’s community. She was too scared to say anything about the attack when it was being discussed in class. “You want to say a lot of stuff, but you can’t because people here don’t want to change their minds,” she commented afterwards.


The cause of all of the violence, racism, and generalizations is poor education. Having lived in multiple locations as both a minority and majority, I understand the difficulty of overcoming differences. I believe the best way to solve these problems would be to develop schools that teach kids from an early age that everyone is equal no matter their gender or race. The students would grow up to believe in equality, the same way students from the school in Jerusalem learned to believe in hatred. With new generations of young adults who believe that everyone is equal, the world could become a more peaceful place.