18-07-2025
Netanyahu's school petitions to remove him from hall of fame
Students at Benjamin Netanyahu's former school have launched a petition to remove the Israeli leader's portrait from the hall of fame.
More than 200 pupils at Cheltenham High School, near Philadelphia, in the US, signed a petition calling for the politician to be removed from the gallery of notable alumni, according to The New York Times.
The group, which accounts for nearly 14 per cent of the student body, cited the ongoing corruption charges Mr Netanyahu is facing, alongside the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court accusing him of war crimes in their email calling for his removal. The allegations have been vehemently denied by Mr Netanyahu.
'When students see these alumni on the wall of fame as we walk past every day, we understand that these are people we should look up to, and we strive to be like them one day,' two of the students wrote in an email to the school's alumni association according to the report.
'As such, we feel it is not right for him to continue to be recognised in our school,' the petition said.
On Friday members of the alumni association were scheduled to meet school officials to discuss the petition to have Mr Netanyahu's portrait removed.
The Israeli leader, who graduated from Cheltenham in 1967, was inducted into its hall of fame in 1999.
His brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed in 1976 while trying to rescue hostages held by Palestinian and German terrorists in Uganda, was inducted in 1984.
In an email to a lawyer representing the association and the school district, Emily Brecker Greenberg, the secretary of the alumni association, reportedly wrote: 'I believe that most people on our board would like to keep Netanyahu up, but maybe with an update in his biography.'
She added: 'It is interesting that the world really doesn't do much about other dictators who massacre thousands of their population, but Israel is always the one in the hugely negative news,' she added. 'And I say that letting you know that everyone on our committee is not happy with the situation in Gaza …. From EITHER side!!!!'
