Arizona's State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, has launched an effort to bar Amnesty International's operations on two high school campuses, branding their material as antisemitic propaganda. In an uncompromising missive, Horne called for the immediate removal of the international human rights organization from Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek and Hamilton High School in Chandler. Citing the distribution of pro-Hamas material that he alleges falsifies historical atrocity by ignoring a specific terrorist incident.

The initiative follows the distribution of Amnesty International content at Scottsdale’s Desert Mountain High School last year, which Horne says portrayed Palestinians as victims of killings, torture, rape, abuse, and more for over 75 years. Horne, in his address, likened this narrative to the medieval blood libel used to incite violence against Jews, demanding a standard similar to that which would expel anti-black groups from educational premises. "No one would hesitate to remove an anti-black Ku Klux Klan club from a high school campus and the same standard should be applied here," Horne stated. Despite his swift call to action, there is evidence indicating the complexity of the context surrounding the materials and the representation of the conflict.

Horne's contention zeroes in on the omission of an October 7 attack by Hamas, which he describes in stark detail, accusing Hamas of employing "Nazi technique" and alleging that their actions echo the atrocities of World War II. The Superintendent's office paints an unequivocal picture of horror, stating that "1,400 civilians were murdered" by Hamas militants who "went house to house in the neighborhoods, machine-gunning entire families, and sometimes killing fathers in front of their children and children in front of their fathers."

These incidents, according to Horne's narrative, should have been spotlighted in Amnesty International's materials, thereby his outcry and the subsequent push on the school districts. He even goes as far as to suggest a "repetition of what happened during World War II" by the Hamas operatives. The materials in question yet fail to mention the severity of these allegations or the specified incident. He posits that the presence of such organizations and the dissemination of their materials on high school campuses could engender an undesirable climate, especially for Jewish students.

The reaction from the districts remains to be seen as the debate over freedom of speech and the portrayal of international conflicts in educational settings heats up. With Horne's letters now public, the dialogue encompasses questions of censorship, historical narrative, and the fine line between educational content and propaganda. Both the Cave Creek and Chandler Unified School Districts are reviewing the matter and will likely be compelled to respond as this issue gains more visibility.