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What’s Happening in North Carolina’s High Schools About Israel?
An antisemitic banner hung over the US 1 highway in Cameron, North Carolina in December 2022. Photo: Screenshot
In May, the Zine club at North Carolina’s Carrboro High School made a post on social media celebrating their display in the school’s library that included the Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide, which reads as a training manual for criminality and domestic terrorism.
The guide provides advice on how to disable alarm systems, break into buildings, and barricade doors. It calls for “organized looting” and “the seizing of buildings.” With accompanying pictures, the guide explains how to use tools such as an angle grinder, bolt cutters, and a crowbar to break into buildings. It advises, “A group may decide it is better to destroy or vandalize a space than to return it to its usual role in good condition.” In its first paragraph, the guide accuses Israel of “genocide” against the Palestinians.
The guide was removed from the library.
Andy Jenks, Chief Communications Officer for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, told me via email: “The material that appeared on what seems to be a student’s Instagram account was neither allowed nor featured by the school or district, and it was addressed quickly once it was brought to the attention of the administrative team.”
This is at least the second time this school year that the Carrboro High School library has had hateful and disturbing materials on display and then removed.
Two months earlier, in March, I reported that the Zine Club and the Student Socialist Alliance at Carrboro High School were responsible for an anti-Israel display in the library that — to many people — appeared to condone Hamas’ use of terrorism, hostage taking, and murder with the slogan: “RESISTANCE IS JUSTIFIED WHEN PEOPLE ARE OCCUPIED.”
A student created zine (or magazine) that was included with the display referred to Israel as “racist,” “colonial,” and an “apartheid” state, and accused Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.”
Parents and community members are frustrated by how long it took to have the anti-Israel display removed, and that just a few months after this incident, the occupation guide was then briefly on display in the library. In addition, after the anti-Israel display was removed, anti-Israel flyers were posted in the school and these were also removed.
Public records now shed more light on this situation. In February, a Jewish parent visiting the school took photos of the anti-Israel display. A school staff member emailed the principal, “I was uncomfortable with her [the parent] taking photos considering the questions she was asking and her visible irritation with the display.”
Shouldn’t the staff member have expressed concerns with the hate speech on display in a public school library rather than that a parent was documenting hate speech?
On Feb. 8, students at Carrboro High School and nearby Chapel Hill High School held a well-advertised protest, “For A Free Palestine: WALK-OUT AGAINST GENOCIDE” that took place during the school day.
Two days before the walkout, public records reveal that a person who appears to be a member of Chapel High School’s School Improvement Team (SIT) emailed fellow SIT members, which included the school’s principal and other school administrators.
She voiced concerns about both the planned walkout and a related anti-Israel social media account: “The site is causing concerns for Jewish students, who are being called white supremacists in comments of posts, and seeing posts advocating for the destruction of all Jews.”
Referring to the upcoming walkout, she wrote, “This is a huge safety issue” and the school needs “to have a plan for our Jewish students who are feeling very unsafe at school right now.” She added that on the day of the planned walkout, “We may need a safety presence at school.”
“These are complicated questions concerning no tolerance for hate speech but also of protection for protesting,” she wrote. “I am hoping that we can pay attention to this and figure out what is right for our campus.”
The schools received many concerns about this walkout from parents and some staff. For example, the night before the protest, a parent wrote to one of the principals: “I do not feel safe having my children in a school district that allows this … There is no way that this walkout is not going to negatively affect Jewish students … I am sickened, hurt, and appalled.”
A staff member sent an email to the principal of Chapel Hill High School, to other school administrators, and to security officers the morning of the protest: “It has been brought to me by several students and some parents that if a student did not actively participate in the protest today, they might possibly be ‘singled out’ for not engaging or be accused of complicity.” He added, “I would like to offer my room as an added option for those students who feel uncomfortable or unsafe during that time period.”
While I appreciate the staff member advocating for students, children should not need a safe room to attend school.
The night before the protest, a parent emailed one of the principals: “While I respect free speech for all, school should foremost be a safe place for all students. The permitted ‘walkout’ is compromising student safety.”
In the end, the administration met with student organizers and allowed the protest. And as a result, many Jewish parents — concerned for their children’s safety and well-being — kept their children home that day.
It is outrageous that a protest was allowed to occur during the school day after it was acknowledged that it may be “a huge safety issue” for Jewish students.
Would the district ever allow protests to occur that posed a huge safety issue for Black, Muslim, Asian, or LGBTQ+ students? I highly doubt it.
There are some additional challenging aspects of this situation. In an email sent the day before the walkout, a teacher at Chapel Hill High School shared with the principal, “Some of the protest organizers are Jewish” and the larger group of protestors “relies on those Jewish students for guidance.” I do not envy administrators and staff who have to navigate this.
Going through the public record emails, it is clear that administration and staff are struggling to understand some of the issues. For example, the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has been an issue. The night before the walkout, a Jewish parent explained to one of the principals, “If the slogan of this walkout is ‘from the river to the sea,’ which I understand from my son that it is, then your students are chanting for the genocide of Jews.”
In late May, Jenks told me via email: “Our district vehemently rejects any hint of antisemitic behavior, as we do all forms of hate speech. Schools must always be places of joy and kindness, where we value the diverse backgrounds that make us a community.”
When students are kept home from school out of fear or need a safe room to get through the school day, school is no longer joyous or kind.
In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, the safety of Jewish students appears to be treated as less important than the safety of other students. This is unacceptable. Jewish parents — and all parents — should never have to keep their children home from school or have them in a secure room at school to keep them safe.
Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.
The post What’s Happening in North Carolina’s High Schools About Israel? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the Chabad rabbi murdered in the UAE, remembered by close friend with roots in Montreal
Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the Chabad rabbi who was murdered in the United Arab Emirates last week, was a gregarious and kind person who had an infectious smile, recalled Rabbi Yehuda […]
The post Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the Chabad rabbi murdered in the UAE, remembered by close friend with roots in Montreal appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Israel Will Show ‘Zero Tolerance’ for Lebanon Ceasefire Violations, Defense Chief Tells UN Envoy
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Israel will have “zero tolerance” for any breach of a ceasefire deal in Lebanon and is prepared to act “with great force” in response to any such violations, Israel’s defense chief said on Tuesday.
“We will act against any threat, anytime, and anywhere,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN’s special envoy for Lebanon, when meeting her in Tel Aviv, according a statement from his office.
Katz also demanded “effective enforcement” from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the international peacekeeping organization in the country.
“If you don’t do it, we will, and with great force,” he said, according to the Israeli readout.
“Every house in southern Lebanon that is rebuilt and in which a terrorist base is established will be demolished, every rearming and regrouping by terrorists will be attacked, every attempt to smuggle weapons will be thwarted, and every threat to our forces or Israeli citizens will be immediately destroyed,” the Israeli defense chief added in his meeting.
Katz’s comments came hours before Israel’s security cabinet was expected to approve a ceasefire after nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Islamist group that wields significant influence across Lebanon.
Hezbollah has been launching barrages of rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel from neighboring Lebanon almost daily since Oct. 8 of last year, one day after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of the Jewish state from Gaza to the south.
The relentless attacks from Hezbollah have forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes in the north, and Israel has pledged to ensure their safe return.
Israel had been exchanging fire with Hezbollah but drastically escalated its military operations over the last two months, seeking to push the terrorist army further away from the border with Lebanon.
The US and France have been seeking to broker a ceasefire for months.
Diplomacy has largely focused on restoring and enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for Hezbollah’s withdrawal to north of the Litani River (around 30 km, or 19 miles, from the Israeli border) and the disarmament of its forces in southern Lebanon, with the buffer zone under the jurisdiction of the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
Israel has insisted on retaining the right to conduct military operations against Hezbollah if the group attempts to rearm or rebuild its infrastructure — a stipulation that has met resistance from Lebanese officials, who argue it infringes on national sovereignty. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon has said Israel would maintain an ability to strike southern Lebanon under any agreement.
During his meeting with the UN’s special envoy for Lebanon on Tuesday, Katz stressed that the implementation of the ceasefire must include effective enforcement and oversight, including preventing arms smuggling and domestic arms production by Hezbollah.
Retired Israeli Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi — who leads the Israel Defense and Security Forum, a group of former military commanders — recently told The Algemeiner that any deal must include Iran’s “full exit” from Lebanon and Israel’s freedom of action to prevent any future buildup of Hezbollah. Otherwise, he warned, the agreement would be “devastating” for the Jewish state.
Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker, Elias Bou Saab, told Reuters the proposal under discussion would entail an Israeli military withdrawal from south Lebanon and regular Lebanese army troops deploying in the border region, long a Hezbollah stronghold, within 60 days.
He added that a sticking point over who would monitor compliance with the ceasefire was resolved in the last couple days, with an agreement to set up a five-country committee, including France and chaired by the United States.
Nabih Berri, the Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese parliamentary speaker, has been leading the Iran-backed terrorist group’s mediation efforts.
According to reports, Hezbollah will relocate its “heavy weapons” north of the Litani River as part of the expected ceasefire, and Israel has pledged to limit military action against violations by the Iranian proxy to situations where the Lebanese military fails to neutralize the threat, and only after consulting with the US.
In Washington, DC, American officials said on Monday that a truce was close but finalized.
“We don’t believe we have an agreement yet. We believe we’re close to an agreement. We believe that we have narrowed the gaps significantly, but there are still steps that we need to see taken. We hope that we can get there,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters during a press briefing.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby expressed similar sentiments.
“We’re close,” he told reporters, but “nothing is done until everything is done.”
The post Israel Will Show ‘Zero Tolerance’ for Lebanon Ceasefire Violations, Defense Chief Tells UN Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Across Europe, Australia, and the West, Another Front Has Been Opened in the War Against Jews
Illustrative: Supporters of Hamas gather for a rally in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Reuters/Joel Carrett
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched its latest part of a genocidal war on Israel, terrorizing, massacring, and raping innocent civilians. This attack was part of a broader war, as terror groups like Hezbollah, the Houthis, and militias in Iraq and Syria target the Jewish State — all coordinated by the chief terror architect, Iran. Including the Iranian-funded terror gangs in the West Bank, Israel is now fighting on seven different fronts against enemies committed to its destruction.
But there is an eighth front too — one that extends far beyond the Middle East.
In Amsterdam, Jewish and Israeli soccer fans were violently targeted and attacked in what can only be described as a pogrom.
One day before the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Nazi Germany’s mass pogrom in 1938, in Amsterdam — the same city where Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution — Jews had to once again hide from mobs seeking to harm them.
This is not normal or acceptable.
While some tried to falsely argue this riot — and so many others like it — are about opposition to Israel, that’s not true. Attacks outside synagogues, and against any Jew — before their view on Israel is even known — proves this targets our religion, not any country or state.
Antisemitism has been on the rise for decades. The October 7 massacre was not fueled primarily by political grievances, but by deep primal hatred — the same hatred driving antisemitism globally today.
Antisemitism is known as the “oldest hatred,” because at any given time in history, Jews have been targeted either for their religion, culture, ethnicity, or beliefs.
Today, this hatred is often expressed by attacking “Zionism”, the belief in Jewish self-determination in their ancestral homeland, Israel. (A homeland that was needed, because people tried to kill Jews everywhere else they have ever lived.)
This hatred of Jews spans the political spectrum. Extremists from the far-left to the far-right, who otherwise oppose each other, unite in their disdain for Jews. For example, white supremacist David Duke has voiced support for anti-Israel protests, citing a shared hatred of “Jewish supremacism.”
This has been made worse by the trend toward weak leadership and moral confusion prevalent in Western democracies, which fails to distinguish between aggressors and their victims.
France, the UK, and Canada have initiated limited arms embargoes on Israel, claiming concern about supposed violations of international humanitarian law. Yet 17% of all France’s arms exports go to Qatar — an actual human rights violator and key sponsor of Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Australian government often claims that it is a steadfast friend of Israel, yet its actions belie that description. It continues to reverse longstanding bipartisan positions by voting in favor of biased and one-sided anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations.
Today, Australia ahistorically labels Gaza, eastern Jerusalem, and the West Bank as “Occupied Palestinian territory,” signaling to the Palestinians that negotiations aren’t necessary and everything they want is theirs by right without any need to compromise.
Australia even doubled its funding to UNRWA, despite UNRWA’s long history of spreading antisemitic propaganda and incitement to violence through its schools, and UNRWA employees’ direct involvement in the October 7 atrocities.
Australia says that Israel must listen to the international community. Yet it was that same international community that facilitated much of the funding that let Hamas turn Gaza into a giant terror base. The international community also allowed Hezbollah to build up a massive rocket arsenal in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, meant to both disarm Hezbollah and keep it well away from Israel’s border.
The current Australian government is suddenly obsessed with trying to force a two-state solution right now, as if this is currently feasible with Hamas controlling Gaza and the corrupt Palestinian Authority having lost control of many of the cities of the West Bank. The message of this obsession is to reward Hamas’ terrorism on October 7, and encourage the Palestinian leadership to continue the rejectionism with which it has met every two-state peace offer Israel has ever made.
The Australian government’s calls on Israel for restraint and ceasefires, as if Israel initiated the October 7 conflict, while demanding comparatively little of Hamas, help fuel the “eighth front” war against the Jews.
When Jews are afraid to walk their own streets, when Jewish students are unable to go to university campuses, when Jews are abused in the streets of Townsville and cars are defaced in Sydney, it is a sign that the social cohesion that Australia likes to boast about has been eroded.
Israel is not above criticism, and criticizing its policies is perfectly legitimate, as it would be to criticize any country. However, such critics cross a line when they apply a double standard to Israel to which no other country is subjected, all while ignoring the unique security challenges it faces.
Western leaders who fail to clearly support democratic partners like Israel embolden those who wish to destroy all of us, and their weakness in confronting domestic manifestations of antisemitism makes Jewish communities worldwide vulnerable to hatred and violence.
Long after the guns fall silent along the seven fronts on which Israel is fighting, the eighth front will continue to rage, fueled by weak leadership that lacks both the wisdom to tell the difference between right and wrong, and the courage to confront the world’s oldest hatred.
Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
The post Across Europe, Australia, and the West, Another Front Has Been Opened in the War Against Jews first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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