Page 75 - THE JEWISH PRESS - Friday, February 18, 2000

Can New Jersey High School Students Help Encourage Middle East Peace?

"Yes!" says Mrs. Molly Resnick, founder of Mothers Against Teaching Children to Kill and Hate (M.A.T.C.K.H.). an alliance of American mothers who are trying to encourage peace in the Middle East by eliminating bigotry and hatred from text-books used in that region of the world.

In a program that took place on Monday, February at in the Lecture Hall of Teaneck High School, four school clubs - Black Youth Organization, the Young Politician Club, the Speech & Debate Club, and the Israel Club sponsored a lecture by Mrs. Resnick titled "Teaching Children to Kill & Hate". In her remarks, Mrs. Resnick discussed the role of children in promoting social justice throughout the ages. "Children and youth have been social activists since the beginning of civilization, from being the guarantors of the Torah, to influencing the course of civil rights history in our country."

Mrs. Resnick also discussed the dangerous ramifications of bigotry - including the murders of two young women from New Jersey, Sara Duker of Teaneck an Alisa Flatow of West Orange, who were killed by Palestinian terrorists who had been educated by textbooks that encourage hatred and violence. "There can only be true ad lasting peace if the Arabs stop teaching the children the same vile rhetoric that the Nazis taught their youth before the Holocaust," Mrs. Resnick said.

Among some of the responses, one senior thought that the program was so valuable that it should be folded into the Social Studies curriculum. Another senior found the information so newsworthy that he plans to bring it to the Young Judean Club of the community.

M.A.T.C.K.H.. which was founded in Michigan in 1998, has just relocated its headquarters to New York City and is available to address schools, youth groups, social clubs or synagogue groups. Their E-mail address is: mollymres@aol.com. Their website is http://www.matckh.org.