Connect with us

RSS

Feds to investigate Teaneck, NJ, school district where students held pro-Palestinian walkout

(JTA) – The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into a New Jersey school district that has come under fire for what Jewish parents allege is an antisemitic climate since Oct. 7.

The case at Teaneck Public Schools, a diverse district in a heavily Jewish suburb of New York City, adds to a growing slate of federal Title VI civil rights investigations involving alleged discrimination of Jewish or Arab students in the months since Hamas attacked Israel. Other investigations have been opened at universities and K-12 school districts across the country.

The education department does not say why it has opened an investigation, and the district superintendent’s office did not return Jewish Telegraphic Agency requests for comment.

Teaneck, which has significant Jewish and Muslim populations living in unusually close proximity, has been divided since Oct. 7. “I have been here for 35 years, and I have never seen this type of tension,” Noam Sokolow, the proprietor of a local kosher deli, told the Washington Post in November, shortly after debate over a resolution condemning Hamas divided the town’s governance committee, spurred skirmishes and and led to the resignation of most members of a municipal inclusion committee.

The tensions rippled through the local school district starting with the superintendent’s response to Hamas’ attack on Israel, continuing with a contentious board meeting at which Jewish speakers say they were unfairly silenced, and culminating in a pro-Palestinian student walkout that administrators sent mixed communications about.

“I think that the superintendent’s actions, the first letter that he wrote, and the fact that he allowed this walkout where there was hate speech on school grounds, it shows a complete lack of understanding about what antisemitism is,” Hillary Kessler-Godin, a Jewish parent who filed a Title VI complaint against the district, told JTA.

Local Jewish leaders, including rabbis and officials at the Jewish federation, encouraged parents to file the complaints with the federal education department’s Office of Civil Rights.

Naomi Knopf, chief impact officer at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, told JTA that she didn’t know which complaint the department took up in its investigation. But she said the federation was heartened that an inquiry had been opened.

“Jewish Federation is very pleased that the Department of Education is taking these incidents seriously,” Knopf said. “The rights of Jewish students matter just as much as everyone else’s, and it‘s our job and the federal government’s job to make sure that all students have access to a safe educational environment.”

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on criteria including “shared ancestry.” The department, which does not comment on active investigations, focuses its inquiries on whether the school should have done more to protect students. It has said that opening an investigation does not mean the complaint has merit.

Days after the Oct. 7 attack, Teaneck Superintendent Andre Spencer emailed out a message of support that did not include mention of Israel, Hamas or terrorism, instead employing phrases such as “unfortunate situation” that Jewish parents felt did not match the severity of the moment.

At a subsequent school board meeting, Jewish parents and community members who attempted to describe the barbarity of the Hamas attacks were shut down, with the school board informing them that there were children present. The same board did not stop speakers who used in some cases identical language to describe Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, prompting a complaint by the free-speech group FIRE.

Tensions came to a head in November, when the superintendent appeared to at first endorse a planned student “walkout for Palestine.”

“It is essential to recognize that our scholars have the First Amendment right to express themselves,” Spencer wrote in an initial communication about the walkout.

Local Orthodox rabbis, responding to the walkout organizers’ allegation that Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza, issued a statement opposing the demonstration, calling it “grotesque and overt antisemitism” and a “blood libel.” Hundreds of local Jews — including several Orthodox community leaders with no children in the district — organized a pro-Israel rally the night before the walkout. (Most local Jewish parents send their children to Jewish day schools.)

Following the criticism, Spencer issued a second statement condemning antisemitism and noting that any students who participated would be given zeros for the classes they missed. About 100 students ultimately walked out.

Another Title VI civil rights investigation was announced this week at Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District in Orange County, California. A district representative did not disclose details of the investigation to JTA, citing student privacy concerns, but said in a statement, “Unequivocally, our school district condemns all forms of discrimination and does not tolerate this kind of behavior on our school campuses.”


The post Feds to investigate Teaneck, NJ, school district where students held pro-Palestinian walkout appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Continue Reading

RSS

Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.

Continue Reading

RSS

Tens of thousands Join Pro-Palestinian March Over Sydney Harbour Bridge

Protesters gather to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the Palestine Action Group’s March for Humanity in Sydney, Australia August 3, 2025. Photo: AAP/Dean Lewins via REUTERS

Tens of thousands of demonstrators braved pouring rain to march across Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge on Sunday calling for peace and aid deliveries in the war-torn Gaza Strip, where a humanitarian crisis has been worsening.

Some of those attending the march, called by its organizers the “March for Humanity,” carried pots and pans as symbols of the hunger.

“Enough is enough,” said Doug, a man in his 60s with a shock of white hair. “When people from all over the world gather together and speak up, then evil can be overcome.”

Marchers ranged from the elderly to families with young children. Among them was Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Many carried umbrellas. Some waved Palestinian flags and chanted “We are all Palestinians.”

New South Wales police said up to 90,000 people had attended, far more than expected. The protest organizer, Palestine Action Group Sydney, said in a Facebook post as many as 300,000 people may have marched.

New South Wales police and the state’s premier last week tried to block the march from taking place on the bridge, a city landmark and transport thoroughfare, saying the route could cause safety hazards and transport disruption. The state’s Supreme Court ruled on Saturday that it could go ahead.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Peter McKenna said more than a thousand police were deployed and the size of the crowd had led to fears of a crush.

“No one was hurt,” he told a press conference. “But gee whiz, I wouldn’t like try and do this every Sunday at that short notice.”

Police were also present in Melbourne, where a similar protest march took place.

Diplomatic pressure ramped up on Israel in recent weeks. France and Canada have said they will recognize a Palestinian state, and Britain says it will follow suit unless Israel addresses the humanitarian crisis and reaches a ceasefire.

Israel has condemned these decisions as rewarding Hamas, the group that governs Gaza and whose attack on Israel in October 2023 began an Israeli offensive that has flattened much of the enclave. Israel has also denied pursuing a policy of starvation and accused Hamas of stealing aid.

Australia’s center-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he supports a two-state solution and Israel’s denial of aid and killing of civilians “cannot be defended or ignored,” but has not recognized a Palestinian state.

Therese Curtis, a marcher in her 80s, said she had the human right and privilege of good medical care in Australia.

“But the people in Palestine are having their hospitals bombed, they’re being denied a basic right of medical care and I’m marching specifically for that,” she said.

Continue Reading

RSS

UK Plans to Provide Medical Treatment for Children in Gaza

Displaced Palestinian children wait to receive free food at a tent camp, amid food shortages, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

i24 NewsThe United Kingdom is preparing to launch a new initiative aimed at offering urgent medical care to children from Gaza, with up to 300 expected to be transferred to the UK for specialized treatment through the National Health Service (NHS).

Each child will be accompanied by a parent or guardian, and in some cases, siblings. The Home Office will oversee biometric and security checks ahead of their arrival.

The plan is part of a broader humanitarian effort and will be formally announced in the coming weeks.

A government spokesperson said, “We are moving forward with our plans to evacuate more children in need of urgent care, including welcoming them to the UK for specialized treatment, when it is in their best interest.”

The initiative complements the work of the NGO Project Pure Hope, which has already helped three Gaza children receive private medical care in the UK. So far, about 5,000 children have been evacuated from Gaza to Egypt and Gulf states.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News