High schools in US; new target of 'antisemitism' pressure campaign
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A congressional committee that has questioned the leaders of prominent institutions over pro-Palestine rallies is now focusing on a younger group of students.
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Pro-Palestine protesters on the University of Chicago campus for a 5th day on May 3, 2024 (AP)
Leaders from three public school districts—New York City, Berkeley, California, and Montgomery County, Md.—are scheduled to speak in Washington this week before a Republican-led committee to address antisemitism in K–12 schools, The Wall Street Journal reported.
This happens to be the same committee that has questioned heads of elite universities over pro-Palestinian protests.
Last Monday, New York City Public Schools Chancellor David Banks stated that he is not scared by the process and would not approach it defensively. “There are issues that have played out in our schools that are unfortunate, but I think we’ve gotten a handle on a lot of it,” he stated.
College officials experienced backlash after testifying before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce after college pro-Palestine protests swept the nation, prompting the departure of two college presidents and sparking the recent weeks-long dispute at Columbia University.
Leah Wiseman Fink, a Brooklyn elementary school parent, is demanding local school board members be removed for alleged discrimination against Jewish families, and parents are objecting to war-related lessons they believe are prejudiced toward "Israel".
According to Rep. Aaron Bean (R., Fla.), the hearing, brought by the Brandeis Center and the Anti-Defamation League, attempts to hold officials of these schools "accountable for their failure to keep Jewish students and teachers safe.”
It is important to note that there have been numerous instances of anti-Palestinian hate crimes in the US, including the murder of an 8-year-old boy since October 7, and yet no Congressional meeting was called to investigate anti-Palestine hate crimes.
Parents are concerned that teachers are fueling a "pro-Palestine" viewpoint and "indoctrinating students" as in one instance in a Berkeley school where a teacher encouraged students to write "stop bombing babies" on school hallways.
Some parents, like Juliana Fredman, have fought back against the measures, insisting that there was no increase in antisemitism and that many were conflating “antisemitism and criticism of Israel and the war,” adding that not being comfortable hearing contrasting views to one's own does not mean the environment is unsafe.
New US anti-Semitism definition aims to thwart student uprising: PFLP
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) declared that the US House of Representatives vote in favor of expanding the definition of the term "anti-Semitism" is an attempt to thwart the university uprising and legitimize the policy of repression and abuse against students and others in society.
In a statement on Friday, the PFLP condemned the transformation of the law into a tool to strike all forms of solidarity with Palestine and "kill any criticism of Zionist practices and policies within American society."
The PFLP emphasized that the current events represent a deceitful manipulation of US laws, aiming to impose restrictions on freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate, both guaranteed by US laws. The Palestinian Resistance group further condemned the labeling of any movement against occupation crimes, investments, or relations with Israeli institutions as "anti-Semitic", stressing that it intends to suppress support for Palestine and stifle the student uprising.
The Front considered that this decision comes within the framework of the US policies of discrimination and double standards toward the rights of the Palestinian people. While peaceful protests are accused of "anti-Semitism", the United States turns a blind eye to the genocidal war against the Palestinian people and seeks to distort terms by accusing the Resistance of "terrorism" and describing the crimes of the occupation as "legitimate self-defense".
The PFLP underscored that the passage of this decision will increase the gap between the young American generation, who are beginning to see things unfold before them, and the old generation who refuse to reassess their emotional ties to the Israeli occupation.
The Front, in its statement, then called on the people to mobilize against this law and any infringements on the rights of American society in favor of "Israel".
