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A Dallas School District Is Being Investigated for Antisemitism; Here’s How Other Schools Can Avoid That Fate
On July 15, 2024, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) informed my organization that it opened a civil rights investigation into the Dallas Independent School District (“DISD”) in response to our complaint that a student was subjected to years of “severe, pervasive and persistent harassment” solely because of his Jewish identity.
The team at StandWithUs argued that DISD violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in federally-funded programs such as public schools.
After months of witnessing the harassment, receiving reports of discrimination, and being offered educational training by StandWithUs, DISD is only just now (hopefully) taking antisemitism seriously — and that is only because of legal force.
Here’s what happened:
In September 2023, we sent a letter to the principal of Hillcrest High School in Dallas and the DISD Superintendent urging them to address antisemitism and ignorance at the school, and offering our support.
We described one student’s experience — being called a “dirty Jew” and a “filthy kike,” being told by classmates “Bye kike, hope the Nazis grab you tonight,” and “go back to Auschwitz, you don’t belong here.” School leadership consistently ignored or downplayed the seriousness of these incidents. One teacher told the student, “You shouldn’t let antisemitism bother you so much.” Swastikas discovered on school property were simply covered up.
Despite our letter and subsequent meetings with school leadership, DISD allowed the hostile environment to continue. After exhausting all other administrative options, we submitted our complaint to the US Department of Education. The student bravely returned to school and was barraged with mistreatment by teachers and administrators.
We recently contacted DISD to highlight this alarming retaliation, inquire about remedial steps, and again offer our support. We urged the district not to wait for an OCR investigation to do the right thing. But we never heard back.
Now that OCR is investigating, DISD is forced to utilize its resources to respond: the district’s attorneys are presumably reviewing hundreds of documents and social media posts, and its teachers and administrators are likely being contacted during their summer breaks to meet with the OCR investigator.
Our story didn’t have to be this complex and lengthy — and it shouldn’t take legal action for school districts to do the ring thing.
Here is how school districts can direct their resources to avoid the mess DISD is in now:
Teach staff about the definitions of antisemitism and procedures required to address all forms of harassment, intimidation, and bullying (“HIB”) and discrimination, and ensure that antisemitism is an explicit part of the discussion on these topics. Engage staff, bring up tough questions, and use real life examples, including those from the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Provide age-appropriate education to students about the dangers of antisemitism, including clear examples and consequences of discriminatory conduct. Teach about Jewish history and heritage the same way you teach about other ethnic and racial groups. To paraphrase Dara Horn, please don’t only teach kids about dead Jews.
If a student complains about HIB or discrimination, put it in writing and offer your immediate support. Validating feelings and showing empathy go a long way, and doing so does not mean you admit a violation of policies. Act immediately and consistently, with no double standards. Whether or not a formal complaint is submitted, check in after a few days. That is not an admission of a violation of your policies; it is simply showing concern for a student who was hurt.
If there is a larger pattern of discrimination in the district, address it head-on. Send a note to families about specific concerns of antisemitism — not just hate in general — and then immediately take concrete steps to address the problematic climate, not just the individual incidents.
Conduct investigations transparently and with urgency. Share the results in clear terms. If remedies are required, create a timeline for implementation. Follow up to review the impact of the remedies. If the issue remains unresolved, keep trying to fix it. If you hold a schoolwide assembly about antisemitism, and the next day, swastikas are drawn on desks, you have not fixed the problem.
Ensure that the group most impacted has a voice in the conversation.
If your district does not already have one, they should hire a Title VI Coordinator who will ensure meaningful and equal compliance.
There are a few weeks until school starts again. Let’s encourage our districts to use that time wisely, and to use their precious resources towards protecting all students, including those who are Jewish and/or Israeli.
Jenna Statfeld Harris is a Senior Staff Attorney, specializing in K-12 education, at the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department. She is the lead attorney in the DISD case.
The post A Dallas School District Is Being Investigated for Antisemitism; Here’s How Other Schools Can Avoid That Fate first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
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