The Fight Against Pro-Israel Censorship in Public Schools

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FEATURING MARIANNE DHENIN - In October 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 715 into law, a troubling piece of legislation aimed at public education in the state, primarily around criticism of Israel. 

The bill’s opponents say it is vague, rife with potential for abuse, and clearly violates the First Amendment of teachers and students. A growing coalition of educators and activists are hoping to beat it back. 

Marianne Dhenin is an award-winning journalist and historian whose recent story is called A Growing Coalition is Fighting Censorship in California’s Public Schools. Marianne spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about the story recently.

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:

Sonali Kolhatkar: This story is so interesting because one of the, I think, less-reported aspects of it that you really lift up in your piece is how there's this unholy alliance, or maybe even just such an overlap, between those people who have gone after anti-Israel criticism and those people who have attacked ethnic studies in public schools in California. The pro-Israel crowd meets the MAGA crowd, and of course, many of them are one in the same. So tell me about AB 715 , how it is that this intersection of people who attack ethnic studies and criticism of Israel came together to pass this bill. 

Marianne Dhenin: AB 715 comes after a couple of years of efforts in California's legislature. A series of bills have been introduced over the past couple of years since California enshrined an ethnic studies graduation requirement into law back in 2021 with AB101. AB 715 is the first in a series of bills that have attacked ethnic studies education in California to pass and to be signed into law. 

Several of these have come out of California's legislative Jewish caucus, which is a group of democratic lawmakers, but pro-Israel lawmakers. 

Not everyone in the caucus is Jewish, and the caucus doesn't represent the diversity of California's Jewish communities according to the sources that I spoke with, which include organizers with Jewish voice for peace. So, after a couple of years of efforts, AB 715 has passed.