NYC teachers getting anti-Israel literature in DOE schools

New York Post

3 days ago

Hateful anti-Israel propaganda has slipped into city Department of Education literature and schools at least five times in the past two months, The Post has learned.
In the latest instance, faculty members at a large Brooklyn elementary/middle school received an email Monday with the subject line: 'How Much Jewish Wealth From The Black Slave Trade Was Used To Help Create Israel?'
Among a dozen links to inflammatory texts, the email includes several articles branding Jews as former slave owners; a piece by Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakahn claiming 'Jewish behavior has ill-affected Black people and others;' and a Palestinian children's workbook decrying 'bullies called Zionists.'
4 Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos has vowed to crack down on dissemination of 'politically one-sided materials deeply offensive to the Jewish community.'
Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
'It's clearly an attack,' a Jewish teacher who received the diatribe in her DOE email told The Post.
The incident is evidence of rising antisemitism in NYC schools and other educational institutions since the Israeli-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023, experts say.
The emails came from [e-mail], an encrypted account hiding the sender's identity.
The teacher asked that she and her 'amazing' school, which she described as close-knit and harmonious, not be named.
'There was never an issue with antisemitism — not once,' she told The Post, adding she wears a Star of David at work.
'It wouldn't be fair to drop such a stain on the school. I would put my last penny on the fact that I don't think it's a person from the school' who sent the offensive missive.
4 The links to antisemitic literature in an email sent to Brooklyn teachers include a Palestinian children's handbook that refers to 'bullies called Zionists.'
Obtained by the New York Post
Like many other NYC schools, the Brooklyn school posts its teachers' DOE email addresses on a public website.
Two assistant principals were 'horrified' by the cyber stealth, but the teacher has not discussed the emails with the principal — who did not address them with staff.
It's the latest in a series of anti-Israel attacks popping up in DOE communications.
In early April, schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos apologized after a 17-page 'Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit' was linked in a newsletter sent to teachers and parents.
4 Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos apologized in early April after a 17-page 'Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit' was linked in a newsletter sent to teachers and parents.
Weeks later, a 'Teacher Career Pathways' newsletter for master teachers in the city's 1,800 schools called for student voices to be heard on the 'genocide in Gaza.'
In a DOE crackdown on 'politically one-sided materials that are deeply offensive to the Jewish community' being disseminated, Aviles-Ramos halted the release of mass communications sent to educators, students and parents without her approval.
At the same time, an anti-Israel group, the Labor for Palestine Network, sent an email blast to city teachers on their DOE accounts calling for a May Day strike and other 'civil disobedience' to protest the Gaza war. The DOE said it would investigate.
Last month, a flyer distributed in several Manhattan schools urged teachers voting in their union elections to back a campaign to divest pension funds from Israel.
4 Elias Rodriguez, 31 of Chicago, is charged in the May 21 murders of two Israeli embassy workers in Washington, D.C.
Katie Kalisher via Storyful
The flyers came after the cold-blooded murder of two young Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. by a gunman who yelled, 'Free Palestine.'
The United Federation of Teachers disavowed the flyers. The DOE said it removed them from schools.
Karen Feldman, a middle-school teacher and Holocaust educator studying the rise of antisemitism in NYC public schools, said the mounting incidents 'point to a systemic issue.'
'We must all demand stronger oversight and safeguards to ensure public institutions do not become platforms for hate,' she said.
Asked whether the Brooklyn school had reported the emails, a DOE spokeswoman said, 'We are investigating this matter and will address it as appropriate with disciplinary action, community engagement, and educational intervention.'
Officials said the DOE has identified who sent previous anti-Israel emails, but would not elaborate on 'personnel matters.'