US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Photo: Mike Jourdan/Flickr.

The campaign of US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has denied any connection to a woman accused of making violent, antisemitic threats against a Brooklyn public high school with a large population of Jewish students.

Iman Abdul, 27, faces charges of making a terroristic threat, aggravated harassment, and endangering the welfare of a child, according to New York City police. Authorities allege Abdul posted a series of alarming social media messages last week that targeted the school community, using language that law enforcement officials described as “explicitly antisemitic” and “calling for violence.” The threats triggered heightened security protocols at the school and prompted swift condemnation from Jewish advocacy groups, who said the safety of students was at stake.

“If anyone needs a public school in NYC to attack for whatever reason … Lexus driving Israhell [sic] loving Zionisits [sic] all attend here,” read the since-deleted post, which included a screenshot from Google Maps of the high school’s location.

The New York Post, which first reported on the case, also said that Abdul had once worked as a youth organizer on Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018 congressional campaign.

Ocasio-Cortez’s office and campaign did not immediately respond to an Algemeiner request for comment for this story. However, her campaign refuted the claim in a statement to Fox News, saying Abdul never worked or volunteered for them and denouncing her alleged statements as “appalling.”

“This person was never staff on the campaign and any representation of such is false,” the campaign said in a statement. “Their comments are appalling, and we condemn threats of violence without hesitation.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), 2024 saw a record-high number of antisemitic incidents in the United States, including harassment, vandalism, and violent attacks.

The FBI similarly recorded a record number of anti-Jewish hate crimes last year, with 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the federal bureau in 2024 targeting Jews

Experts have warned that threats to Jewish institutions, especially schools, carry an added layer of urgency due to the vulnerability of the population and the need for rapid law enforcement intervention.

Ocasio-Cortez has established herself as one of the most strident critics of Israel in Congress. Following Hamas’s Oct, 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the progressive firebrand has accused the Jewish state of committing a “genocide” against Palestinians and practicing “apartheid.” She has also repeatedly called for the implementation of a full “arms embargo” against Israel, which would deprive the Jewish state of weapons needed to complete its military objectives in Gaza.

Nonetheless, Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire from progressive organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for supporting a House resolution which affirmed Israel’s “right to exist.”

US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) promptly opened an investigation into allegations of antisemitism in Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) following the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) filing a complaint regarding the matter.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Jewish students allegedly experienced relentless bullying in BCPS, where students pantomimed Nazi salutes, treated campuses as a canvas for Nazi-inspired and antisemitic graffiti, and sent text messages threatening that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas will be summoned to kill Jewish students the bullies do not like. Teachers behaved even worse than students, the ADL complaint said. At Bard High School, an English teacher performed the Nazi salute three times and later admitted to administrative officials that he did so intentionally to harm “the sole Jewish student” enrolled in his class. Following the incident, he suggested that the student unregister for his class because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be discussed in it.

In every case, according to the complaint, BCPS officials “slow-walked” investigations, deflecting parents’ inquiries into their status with bureaucratic spin even as they denied Jewish students justice. Moreover, the ADL continued, BCPS was first notified of an antisemitism problem on its campuses over a year before Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel stoked anti-Jewish hatred. The ADL alleged that the school system’s refusing to take action constituted a textbook example of a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids public schools receiving federal funding to treat students unfairly on the basis of race, ethnicity, or shared ancestry.

“The allegations that Baltimore City Public Schools tolerate virulent Nazi-inspired antisemitic harassment of its Jewish students is at once appalling and infuriating. When a teacher allegedly directs a Nazi salute toward a Jewish student, or non-Jewish students harass their Jewish contemporaries by saying ‘all Jews should die,’ we are not simply talking about contemptible bullying; we are talking about a shocking abdication of educator responsibility that constitutes unlawful antisemitic harassment under Title VI,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement announcing the action.

He added, “If true, these allegations confirm a disturbing trend: too many of our nation’s educational institutions are failing American students by inculcating in them a loathing for their own country and fellow citizens and a tolerance and acceptance for a deeply destructive ancient hatred. The Trump-McMahon Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights will vigorously investigate this matter and ensure American Jewish students can learn and flourish in an environment free from unlawful discrimination.”

Antisemitism in K-12 schools is receiving increased attention, notably in California, after years of falling under the radar.

Earlier this month, the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) which stands accused of refusing to address antisemitism, ruled that a teacher who allegedly showed her students antisemitic, discriminatory, and biased content violated policy when she screened an offensive video about the Holocaust in her classroom.

The move came without the prompting of the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, with which two Jewish civil rights groups, StandWithUs (SWU) and the Bay Area Jewish Coalition (BAJC), filed a complaint against the district in April.

Among other things, SWU and BAJC alleged that an SCUSD employee, Wilcox High School teacher Kauser Adenwala, screened a documentary produced in Turkey which compared the war in Gaza to the Holocaust. The graphic film at one point “displays a picture of a young Jewish child who was branded with a number by the Nazis during World War II and then suddenly shows an untraceable image of children with Arabic writing on their arms,” according to the complaint, which alleged the teacher’s conduct violated numerous district policies and potentially state law. However, she remains employed by the district to this day.

The district subsequently investigated the incident and said in an official letter that was just sent to BAJC on July 25 and obtained by The Algemeiner that Adenwala breached the Governing Board’s policies.

In April, a civil rights complaint filed by StandWithUs and the Bay Area Jewish Coalition alleged that the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) in California allows Jewish students to be subjected to unconscionable levels of antisemitic bullying in and outside of the classroom.

The 27-page complaint, filed with OCR, described a slew of incidents that allegedly fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students after Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities set off a wave of anti-Jewish hatred across the US. SCUSD students, the complaint said, graffitied antisemitic hate speech in the bathrooms, vandalized Jewish-themed posters displayed in schools, and distributed stickers which said, “F—k Zionism.” All the while, district officials enabled the behavior by refusing to investigate it and blaming victims who came forward to report their experiences, according to the complaint.

“SCUSD has allowed an egregiously hostile environment to fester for its Jewish and Israeli students in violation of its federal obligations and ethical responsibility to create a safe educational space for all students,” Jenna Statfeld Harris, senior counsel and K-12 specialist at StandWithUs Saidoff Legal, said in a statement at the time. “SCUSD leadership repeatedly disregards the rights of their Jewish and Israeli students. We implore the Office for Civil Rights to step in and uphold the right of these students to an inclusive education free from hostility toward their protected identity.”

In March, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a civil rights complaint which recounted the experience of a 12-year-old Jewish girl who was allegedly assaulted on the grounds of the Etiwanda School District in San Bernardino, California — being beaten with a stick, told to “shut your Jewish ass up,” and teased with jokes about Hitler. According to the court filings, one student admitted that the behavior was motivated by the victim’s being Jewish. Despite receiving several complaints about the treatment, a substantial amount of which occurred in the classroom, school officials allegedly declined to punish her tormentors.

“While an increasing number of schools recognize that their Jewish students are being targeted both for their religious beliefs and due to their ancestral connection to Israel, and are taking necessary steps to address both classic and contemporary forms of antisemitism, some shamefully continue to turn a blind eye,” Brandeis Center founder and chairman Kenneth Marcus said in a statement at the time of the filing.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

Hateful graffiti (censored) spray-painted on the grounds of the Israeli-American Council (IAC) national headquarters in Los Angeles. Photo: Screenshot.

An unknown person or group graffitied swastikas and other hateful messages on the grounds of the Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) national headquarters in Los Angeles, California, over the weekend, underscoring the severity of the antisemitism crisis in the US.

“F—k Jews,” one cluster of graffiti said.

“BDS,” the message added, referring to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel.

Elsewhere, the vandal defaced the property with a symbol representing the Nazi paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) group, several more swastikas, and, scrawled in capital letters, the word, “BURN.”

Local law enforcement is on the case, numerous outlets have reported since the incident.

“We are appalled by this vile act of antisemitism at the doorstep of our own community and offices,” Elan Carr, chief executive officer of IAC, said in a statement to the media. “Around the world and across our country, we have seen an alarming and historic rise in antisemitism. We are working tirelessly to fight it and to ensure that history does not repeat itself. This incident will not intimidate or deter us — on the contrary, it fuels our determination to stand even stronger against antisemitism and to protect and strengthen our community for generations to come.”

The disturbing incident is one of many to have occurred in 2025. Only last week, law enforcement officials charged a Florida State University (FSU) graduate student who allegedly assaulted a Jewish classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center with misdemeanor battery.

“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” Eden Deckerhoff, the alleged assailant, said before shoving the Jewish man, according to video taken by the victim. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Deckerhoff, a student at the FSU College of Social Work, allegedly accosted the victim after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). FSU reportedly employs her mother, Rosalyn Deckerhoff, as a teaching professor in its College of Social Work.

The Jewish FSU student was not the first victim of violence or harassment motivated by anti-Zionism in the US. In some cases, such incidents have been fatal.

In June, a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by a national Jewish organization. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”

Less than two weeks later, a man firebombed a crowd of people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. A victim of the attack, Karen Diamond, 82, later died, having sustained severe, fatal injuries.

Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where an assailant identified by law enforcement as Juan Diaz-Rivas and others allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and his friends approached the victim while shouting “F—k the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to local prosecutors.

“[O]ne of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness,” the San Francisco district attorney’s office said in a statement. “Allegedly, Mr. Diaz-Rivas and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.”

The wave of hate continues a pattern of year-on-year surges in acts of anti-Jewish bigotry.

In 2024, according to newly released FBI statistics, hate crimes perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.

A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.

“Leaders of every kind — teachers, law enforcement officers, government officials, business owners, university presidents — must confront antisemitism head-on,” Ted Deutch, chief executive officer of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), said earlier this month, commenting on the data. “Jews are being targeted not just out of hate, but because some wrongly believe that violence or intimidation is justified by global events.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.