Anti-Israel forces take over New York City schools

Of those who run New York City public schools, where were they? I almost forgot. They no longer operate the system. They turned it over to the Palestinians.

The schools employ – as a teacher – former fashion photographer Damien Nevin who said “Long live Yahya Al-Sinwar” in a 2024 Signal group of anti-Israeli Park Slope Food Coop, in a shoutout to the late mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 Israelis, according to a lawsuit.

That triggers my first question: How has he managed to hold his job after championing a mass murderer?

Nevin’s attitude is blamed in part for chasing Jewish students out of the public schools, according to The New York Post.

The Post goes on to report that a teachers advocacy group catalogued a minimum of 250 antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents in NYC schools since Oct. 7. Comparable problems have been reported in Philly and Los Angeles.

In turn, The Post interviewed Jewish parents who transferred their children out of NYC public schools to private schools and/or suburban and separate public other schools. The paper reported that thousands of NYC families chose yeshivas and Jewish day schools since Oct. 7.

“They’ve shown videos that Israel was starving Palestinian girls,” said Josh Horowitz, who moved from Williamsburg to above NYC for his daughter’s sake. “There was no context. There was no screening. They were calling Zionists violent. It’s not about me. It’s about what was being taught in the classroom.”

Natalya Murakhver of the Upper East Side took her two children from a public school in 2024 and said, “Things have progressed very quickly. The language changes, the caliber of the venom. I think we’re entering a new phase. Back then, I think they were at least trying to pretend it was just about Israel. And now it’s pretty clear to those for whom it wasn’t clear before that anti-Zionism is Jew hate and antisemitism as we know it.”

In recent years, mainly since Oct. 7, NYC Jewish families seeking to move their children to a new school has “doubled, if not tripled,” said city school admissions consultant Alina Adams, according to The Post. “It’s three years in, and if anything, it’s gotten worse. Before three years ago, I worked with many, many Jewish families, and no one asked what a school was like for Jewish families.

“Over the last three years, people have been asking more and more as they’re looking for new schools,” she continued. “Every single Jewish family I work with, every single one, it might be the first question, it might be the last question, but it will always be a question: What is this school like for Jewish students?”

What a pathetic and absurd obstacle course. The United Jewish Teachers, a teachers advocacy group, reported that about two-thirds of the 250 antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents included verbal harassment, physical threats, assaults and hate symbols like swastikas.

This environment did not begin with Oct. 7. It evolved in the years before the slaughter in southern Israel. What happened to the people in charge?

Correct me if I am wrong, but a school system is composed not only of students gone wild, but also teachers who report to principals and assistant principals in each school. They answer to the superintendent and deputy superintendents in between. The superintendent reports to the mayor or the school board. The superintendent’s title in NYC is chancellor.

They are responsible for maintaining order in the public schools. I recall that a mob of students rushed through a Queens school after they learned that one of their teachers, who is Jewish, attended a pro-Israel event. So what? A lot more people attend pro-Arab events. Shouldn’t they face in-school protests?

It raises questions about the educational levels of these children. They are not trained to read beyond the headlines. Whose job is that?

I can understand that some antisemitic incidents will occur, but 250? The administration should have worked from the outset to nip this problem in the bud.

It should not surprise anyone. The educational system has long been broken. We can only hope that our leaders make a genuine effort to fix it.

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Bruce S, Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.