Texas schools to teach Israel was founded in ‘ancestral homeland of the Jews’

Pro-Israel advocacy group Proclaiming Justice to the Nations said Wednesday that the Texas State Board of Education had accepted several of its curriculum recommendations, following testimony in which its president, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, challenged the participation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The organization, known as PJTN, said its proposals addressed civics, history, social studies and Holocaust education, with an emphasis on the influence of Judeo-Christian traditions on the United States. Its September 16 statement did not identify which recommendations had been incorporated into the adopted standards.

The Republican-controlled board approved revised high school social studies standards on September 4 by an 8-4 vote. The changes, scheduled for implementation in 2030, included teaching Christianity’s influence on American history and identifying 1948 as the year Israel was established “in the ancestral homeland of the Jews,” the Houston Chronicle reported.

“For decades I have fought to keep anti-American and anti-Semitic content out of our classrooms,” Cardoza-Moore said in remarks released by PJTN. “How can we let terrorists decide our children’s curriculum?”

CAIR representatives addressed board, despite terror designation

During her testimony, according to the transcript provided by the organization, she questioned why CAIR representatives had been allowed to address the board, citing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s designation of the group as a foreign terrorist organization.

Abbott issued that designation in November 2025. It was a state action, distinct from designation under the federal government’s foreign terrorist organization process.

Cardoza-Moore also cited CAIR’s inclusion as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing case. CAIR was never indicted in that case and denied the allegations. The group filed a federal lawsuit challenging Abbott’s designation as unconstitutional and defamatory.

CAIR has rejected allegations that it is affiliated with Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood. In its published response to such accusations, the organization described itself as independent of foreign movements and said it condemned terrorism, including attacks carried out by Hamas.

Cardoza-Moore argued that understanding America’s religious and intellectual foundations should be central to the revised standards, formally known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS.

“I am here to advocate for the incorporation of Judeo-Christian history and values within our standards,” she told the board. “It was upon Judeo-Christian values that this great nation was built.”

The curriculum overhaul drew opposition from Muslim advocates. In a separate statement Wednesday, CAIR’s Austin office called for the board to reconsider the standards, arguing that their treatment of Islam would encourage prejudice against Muslim students.

PJTN projected that the Texas changes could eventually influence instruction for as many as 25 million students nationwide, citing the state’s influence on educational materials. The statement provided no calculation or supporting evidence for that estimate.

Cardoza-Moore traced her textbook advocacy to 2012, when she challenged a passage in a Pearson human geography textbook used in Tennessee that she said legitimized the 2001 Hamas suicide bombing at Jerusalem’s Sbarro restaurant. PJTN said the disputed reference was subsequently removed.

“Students cannot fully understand America if they do not know and understand the laws, history, ideas, and traditions which shaped America,” she told the Texas board.