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‘Blatant Antisemitic Act’: High School Yearbook Erases Jewish Students’ Names, Replaces Photo With Muslim Students
The 2023-2024 yearbook for East Brunswick High School in New Jersey replaced a photo of the Jewish Student Union (JSU) with Muslim students and erased the names of the JSU members. Photo: Screenshot from StopAntisemitism on X/Twitter
A town in New Jersey has become the center of controversy after the local high school’s yearbook removed the names of Jewish students from a page and replaced their photo with one of Muslim students — an incident that the town’s mayor called a “blatant antisemitic act.”
The 2023-2024 yearbook for East Brunswick High School replaced a photo of the Jewish Student Union (JSU) with Muslim students and erased the names of the members of the JSU, leaving a large blank space on the page.
East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen expressed outrage over the incident and said new yearbooks will be ordered.
“At a minimum, I have … been assured that new yearbooks will be ordered and distributed with the correct pictures and names,” Cohen wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “Hate has no place in East Brunswick and antisemitism will not be tolerated.”
Cohen announced there would be an investigation into the incident.
“The administration will need to determine: 1. How did this happen? 2. What person or persons are responsible? 3. Who are the yearbook advisers and who signed off on this page? 4. Did this act occur at the publisher end? 5. How will perpetrators be held accountable? 6. Does this constitute a hate crime and how will this be prosecuted?” the mayor added.
Dr. Victor Valeski, superintendent of the East Brunswick Public School System, has also addressed the incident.
“We are aware of an error in the yearbook,” Valeskia said in an email on Tuesday. “We are working with the publisher to correct the yearbook. We are also investigating how the error occurred and will address that as appropriate at the conclusion of this investigation.”
Valeski also apologized for the “disappointment it has caused” and pledged to “rectify this situation.”
In an update to the community on Wednesday, the superintendent specifically apologized for “the hurt, pain, and anguish this event has caused our Jewish students, their families, and the impact this continues to have on the entire [East Brunswick] community,” according to local reports.
“We do not tolerate bias and we investigate all reported antisemitism,” he explained.
The incident comes at a time when antisemitism in both K-12 and higher education has been skyrocketing to record levels amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which began when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern on Israel on Oct. 7, murdered 1,200 people, and took more than 250 hostages.
In the US last year, antisemitic incidents at K-12 schools increased by 135 percent, while such outrages on university campuses soared by a staggering 321 percent, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
Overall, antisemitism in the US surged to catastrophic and unprecedented levels in 2023, rising a harrowing 140 percent. The majority of the incidents occurred in the aftermath of Oct. 7, when the ADL recorded a steep rise in antisemitic outrages.
Schools have been major hubs of the spike in antisemitism.
Last month, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation into the Berkeley Unified School District in California based on a complaint that it has allowed “severe and persistent” antisemitism since Oct. 7, with Jewish students experiencing bullying and harassment.
In January, OCR also opened an investigation into the Oakland Unified School District after it hosted a “teach-in” that gave educators guidance on how to address Israel and the Middle Eastern conflict in their classrooms. Resources included the website “Decolonize Palestine,” which claims Israel is not a democracy and does not have the right to exist. It also claims the creation of the state of Israel was a result of the “transference of Europe’s guilt onto the Palestinians.”
The teach-in also promoted the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement — which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination — and a documentary that falsely claims Israel wants to take over not only the West Bank and Gaza, but also parts of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
The post ‘Blatant Antisemitic Act’: High School Yearbook Erases Jewish Students’ Names, Replaces Photo With Muslim Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”
While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.
Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.
“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.
The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.
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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”
The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – After US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.
Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”
Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.