REGGIO EMILIA, ITALY (VINnews) — A group of roughly 100 Jewish early childhood educators from the United States and Israel canceled a planned professional study trip to northern Italy after organizers required them to sign a statement condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza, according to reports from Jewish Insider and the Times of Israel.

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The educators, affiliated with the U.S.-based Paradigm Project, a professional learning network for early childhood teachers, had been scheduled to visit Reggio Emilia from Oct. 11 to 16. The goal was to observe and learn the Reggio Emilia Approach, a postwar educational philosophy developed in the region that emphasizes children’s curiosity, hands-on exploration, collaboration and classrooms designed around the interests of young learners. The approach has been widely adopted by Jewish preschools in the United States because educators see its focus on individual potential, relationships and community as consistent with Jewish values.

Before the trip, participants were told they must sign a declaration that read, in part: “I distance myself from the occupation of Gaza and the violation of children’s and human beings’ rights in the occupied territories as well as in every place in the world.” The requirement followed objections from some parents linked to Reggio Children, the Italian organization that oversees the educational approach and had been working with the Paradigm Project. Critics of the visit claimed that schools represented by the educators supported the Israel Defense Forces. Reggio Children was also reportedly preparing a separate document for visiting groups that called for keeping “militarization out of schools.”

Pesha Kletenik, head of Manhattan Day School and one of the educators who had planned to attend, said participants’ identities were made public and their personal and institutional social media profiles were reviewed and characterized as demonstrating support for Israel and the IDF. Melissa Davis of Washington, D.C.’s Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School described the demand as one of “the ripple effects of global antisemitism” and called the canceled trip “a loss for our community in the near term — our teachers, and in turn, their students will not be enriched by this experience.”

The Paradigm Project informed Reggio Children that the visit would not proceed, stating that meaningful professional learning requires “a calm, open setting” that the current climate did not provide. Organizers expressed hope that the relationship could be repaired and that future collaboration might still be possible.

Italian Senator Ivan Scalfarotto of the center-left Italia Viva party criticized the requirement on social media, writing: “Asking Jews, as Jews, to distance themselves from the policies of the Israeli government is antisemitism.” He added that the incident in Reggio Emilia, a city with a long democratic tradition, left him “appalled.”

The episode occurs against a backdrop of documented increases in antisemitic incidents in Italy. The Center of Contemporary Jewish Documentation has reported hundreds of such incidents in recent years, and surveys have indicated that a notable minority of Italians view attacks on Jews as justifiable.

The Reggio Emilia Approach remains influential in early childhood education worldwide. Many Jewish day schools and preschools have integrated its principles while adapting them to their own values and communities.