RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — A Brazilian federal university released a public notice saying it wants to hire a teacher who must teach that Zionism is a racist concept.
The ABC Federal University, in the Sao Paulo metro area, is seeking a teacher of “racial-ethnic relations” who must include in the curricula the subject “connections of whiteness and racist regimes: apartheid, Nazism, Zionism.” The job pays $2,500 per month.
The president of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, Fernando Lottenberg, met with the nation’s minister of education on Tuesday to discuss the notice. In addition, Lottenberg spoke to the minister, Mendonca Filho, about adding Jewish history to the national school curricula.
Filho was “surprised and upset” by the ABC Federal notice, adding the case was “absurd,” according to a statement from the confederation.
“A course intended to fight racism seeks a teacher to look at a part of Jews with … racist eyes,” wrote Reinaldo Azevedo, a columnist for the influential Veja magazine.
Azevedo added: “The true catastrophe, which sometimes seems to be unsolvable, is education. At all levels. An ABC university notice exposes the depth of our tragedy.”
Founded in 2005, ABC is the only federal university in Brazil with all its professors holding doctorates.
