NYC public schools newsletter accusing Israel of ‘genocide in Gaza' prompts new crackdown
The New York City schools boss has suspended release of mass communications sent to educators, students and parents without her approval — sparked by a furor over a recent Department of Education newsletter claiming Israel is committing 'genocide in Gaza.'
The Post first reported Wednesday on the antisemitic message that was included in a 14-page 'Teacher Career Pathways' spring 2025 newsletter — sent out to 'master teachers' across the system's 1,800 schools.
Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said newsletters and other mass communications cannot be released without first being reviewed by her office, amid consultation with Mayor Eric Adams' office.
'It is egregious and deeply disappointing that despite our efforts to streamline communication protocols in this massive system, politically one-sided materials that are deeply offensive to the Jewish community were once again shared with educators,' Aviles-Ramos said in a statement Thursday.
'I profusely apologize for this. Moving forward, all system-wide communication will be directly signed off by my office until we can further build team capacity to reflect our core values and the highest commitment to curating materials that ONLY reflect political neutrality.'
Adams — who is considering running for re-election under an independent 'EndAntiSemitism' ballot line -— was furious after hearing of the Israel-bashing message sent out by his education department.
'Let me be clear: Schools are where our children should feel safest, which is why neither antisemitism, nor any other form of hate, has any place in New York City Public Schools,' the mayor told The Post.
'As the home of the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, we must ensure our Jewish students, families, and educators feel welcomed, not targeted. Today, our city's public school system is taking direct and sweeping action to ensure that no politically one-sided rhetoric ever appears again in any official communication sent from our schools.'
Meanwhile, a DOE directive sent to educators Thursday was even more explicit.
'Effective immediately, please pause all newsletters and mass communications from your teams and divisions until further notice,' the memo sent by a DOE supervisor obtained by The Post said.
'This applies to any staff-facing, family-facing, or citywide messages, regardless of audience or platforms,' the memo sent to educators said
Earlier this month, Aviles-Ramos was also forced to apologize for a different newsletter that linked to a 'Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit' — sparking outrage in the Jewish community.
That 17-page document contained radicalized messaging that encourages readers to 'Stop arming Israel and free Palestine!'
Meanwhile, an anti-Israel group last week sent an email blast to hundreds of city teachers pushing for a May Day strike and other 'civil disobedience' to protest the Gaza war.
The Labor for Palestine Network called for union members to rise up against 'the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza' and even coordinate their efforts with student groups, which teachers were told to ignore by city school officials.
Jewish educators applauded the action from the chancellor and City Hall.
'We thank the chancellor for recognizing that certain mass email communications and distributed resources have reflected historical inaccuracy and bias, undermining the Department of Education's core commitment to political neutrality,' said Karen Feldman, co-founder of the New York City Public School Alliance.'
'We welcome her efforts to build a team that truly reflects and upholds these values. However, we must emphasize that this is not an isolated incident—what we are facing is a systemic problem that demands comprehensive and sustained attention.'
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