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Jewish groups and leaders are up in arms after a New York State Regents exam included two questions about Israel that they believe oversimplifies and distorts history.
According to the New York Post, the questions on the Global History and Geography Regents II exam were preceded by images of maps of the land showing the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for dividing the land into separate states for Jews and Arabs, how the land was divided in 1949 in the aftermath of the war between Israel and Arab nations, and how areas of the land were controlled as of 2017.
One question, referencing the 1947 map, asked which event most influenced the development of the UN Partition Plan, offering the choices of Russian pogroms, the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Paris Peace Plan, and the Holocaust. According to the Post, the intended answer was the Holocaust.
The next question asks who benefited the most from the maps' changes over time, with the correct answer reportedly being intended as "Zionists and Jewish Immigrants." among choices that also included the government of Jordan, Palestinian nationalists, and citizens of Lebanon.
New York education officials are under fire after a standardized test included controversial questions about Israeli history (John Paraskevas/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
"The maps lack all context," Democratic former state Assemblyman Dov Hikind told the Post. "Specifically that border changes were the result of successive wars started by Arab states to annihilate Israel. Second, the questions, at best, lend themselves to debate, not to singular answers from among false choices."
Hikind also pointed out the problem with attributing the creation of the state of Israel to the Holocaust, noting that the modern Zionist movement had been pushing for a Jewish home in that land since the 19th century.
Even those administering the test were upset by the questions, Hikind told the Post.
"One proctor was so angry, she was beside herself," he said.
The Department of Education told the Post in a statement that the exam questions had been "designed to test students’ knowledge of geography as it relates to historical events."
New York Education Commissioner Betty Rosa is facing a push to remove questions from a standardized test that critics say distort Israeli and Jewish history.
The department's statement, rather than address the distress the questions caused, appeared to defend the reasoning behind them, making clear that there were no unintentional acts on their part.
"New York State social studies teachers prepared, selected, and reviewed the excerpt and questions on the Global History Regents Exam prior to their inclusion," the statement said. "All exam questions are reviewed multiple times by NYS-certified teachers and State Education Department subject matter and testing specialists to ensure they are not biased, accurately measure the learning standards, and contain no errors.
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According to the Post, Hikind, City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, and the group Americans Against Antisemitism are urging Commissioner of Education Betty Rosa "to swiftly remove the disingenuous questions and conduct a thorough audit to ensure such egregious distortions of history that invariably lead to animosity for the sole Jewish state aren’t being inadvertently fed to our children."
Fox News Digital reached out to Vernikov's office for comment they did not immediately respond.
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