Gaza war divide hits New York public schools with new antisemitism and Islamophobia training
New York City public schools are expanding training on antisemitism and Islamophobia to middle and high schools as a result of tensions over the war in Gaza, underscoring how fallout over the conflict is trickling down to everyday life.
The city’s public schools chancellor, David Banks, said on Monday that all middle and high school principals would be required to receive training on “navigating difficult conversations” among US teenagers and address tensions over the war.
NYC public schools will also expand access to teaching materials on antisemitism and Islamophobia and offer anti-discrimination workshops to members of parent organisations amid reports that parent council meetings have descended into fighting matches over the war.
The public school measures are the latest that underscore a sharp divide among Americans over the war in the Middle East.
In a New York Times poll released late last year, 44 percent of US respondents said Israel should stop its military campaign to protect against civilian casualties, while 39 percent said Israel should continue its offensive in the besieged enclave.
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The war in Gaza erupted after a Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel killed around 1,100 people, mainly civilians, and 240 hostages were taken back into the besieged enclave. Israel responded by pounding the Gaza Strip with air strikes and a ground invasion. The assault has left at least 25,490 Palestinians killed, mainly women and children.
The US has backed the Israeli offensive unconditionally, but tensions have erupted among pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian advocates over the war. University campuses have emerged as a high-profile domestic battleground.
While Jewish students and pro-Israel Americans have complained about antisemitism on campuses and among academics, pro-Palestinian students have said they are being targeted for their support of Gaza.
'Students' right to protest'
In just the latest incident, students protesting at Columbia University said they were sprayed with a hazardous chemical that caused a foul smell and physical symptoms while calling for Columbia to divest from Israel.
Monday’s announcement by the New York public schools system, however, suggests that tensions over the war are filtering down well beyond college campuses to students as young as 12.
Banks, the chancellor, attempted to strike a balance between the schools' competing voices.
“The way through this moment is not to malign our students or to impose our own ideologies on them - or to bury our heads in the sand. We must educate our students, and sometimes our staff.”
But separate incidents in the school district have inflamed parents and students on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to Banks, warning that students in the school system had been subjected to “bullying, harassment, and disciplinary sanctions for making statements, and attending and organizing protests in support of Palestine”, including long-term suspensions from school.
“A student’s right to protest exists even when teachers, administrators, and city officials disagree with their beliefs,” the ACLU wrote.
At the same time, Jewish teachers and parents supporting Israel have complained that they are being targeted for expressing their freedom of speech.
In November, high school students in Queens New York demanded that a Jewish teacher be fired after she changed her social media profile to a picture of herself at a rally outside of school hours, saying, “I stand with Israel”.
Critics denounced the students as antisemitic.
While Banks said the high school protest demanding the teacher’s resignation was “unacceptable”, he called the allegation of antisemitism “the height of irresponsibility”, saying that students at the school, which counts many Arab Americans, were motivated by solidarity with the Palestinian community.
In a separate case, Jewish parents and supporters of Israel at a public grade school erupted in anger after a social media post showed that a classroom map of the Middle East displayed before the war in Gaza had replaced all the confines of Israel with a Palestinian state.
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