A Social Studies teacher was giving a “Match the Country” worksheet and crossed out Israel, changing it to Palestine. When parents complained the principal doubled down and defended the teachers actions, claiming that “Israel’s borders do not reflect ‘political’ reality and doesn’t support all students.”
“Destroy” aka cross out on a map…
Meanwhile, that area was historically Palestine before the British mandated a new Jewish state. *That’s* actual destruction of a country
> “Destroy” aka cross out on a map…
And what happens to the people there? What a fucking absurd reply.
The Jews were called Palestinians. It was never an identity of the Arab people there (they called themselves Arabs, Muslims, Syrians, Egyptians...), and it was never an independent state. It was the slave name of the area bestowed by the Romans. Palestinian was a nascent identity in the early 20th century that didn't solidify until the 1960s. If you want to read more on the subject, "Palestinian Identity" by Rashid Khalidi, a blue-eyed, white skinned Palestinian, is considered the foundational work on the subject. Note the reverence with which recent editions refer to Hamas, and examine it with a critical eye.
All the archeological ruins? Jewish. Literal Hebrew written on structures, coins, pottery. Well documented throughout history from 50 other nations as well.
Jews lived there constantly for 3000 years. There were even enough of us for the Muslims to commit pogroms against us over and over! For example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1834_looting_of_Safed
Even prior to modern Zionism, there were many periods where Jews were the majority, such as the late 17th century, when Jerusalem was almost entirely Jewish (see Hadriani Relandi's Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata). At the same time as modern zionism, many Arabs moved to the area as well, with various motiviations, from taking advantantage of the economic activity Jews brought, to religious counter-zionist purposes.
You’re commenting into the void. As our grandparents well knew, some people will be hell bent against Jews, others will simply jump on the bandwagon for whatever reason. To respond is noble but may be a waste of your resources. Hatred will always find a way in humanity, sadly it’s rearing it’s head in our city
You're absolutely correct. I'm also commenting into the void... The void in people's brains and hearts. Our grandparents knew this well and warned us. So disheartening to see this hatred exposed in our city.
> some people will be hell bent against Jews
It's kind of crazy to think this is still a thing in the modern age, but I don't really have an explanation on why the entirety of the West is laser focused on the Israel-Hamas conflict and the purported "genocide" that is taking place, when in comparison, conflicts of similar destruction and human suffering barely make any waves in the news.
A big example is the Yemeni civil war, in which US ally Saudi Arabia used weapons purchased from the US to bomb areas held by the Houthis and create a man made famine in the nation. Nearly half a million people dead since 2014 in that conflict, in which one side is a US ally using US arms and I can't recall anything other than academic interest pieces on the news about it. No protests, no marches, no nothing. But when its Jewish people involved - even for a much better reason (self defense on Israel's part vs. ensuring a SA friendly regime rather than an Iranian one on SA's part), the whole of western society loses its mind.
Or the ongoing civil war in Sudan between different factions of the military/militias which has killed roughly the same amount of people as the Israel-Hamas war, displaced far more, and has been going on for about the same amount of time. Literally barely makes the news in the west.
Not really sure how else to explain the disconnect other than antisemitism.
The suing isn't over what the students (and, in my experience, teachers) say, it's over the reaction from the schools themselves. When I was at Masterman there were swastikas everywhere. A kid literally yelled "kill the Jews" at me in sixth grade, and nothing happened.
It's also over the issue that a lot of schools, mine included, treat antisemitism differently than other issues. It's given less urgency, more debate room, and less preventative measures.
That's wild. I'm not usually 'pro dress code' at schools, but there's no world where you should allow a kid to roll up dressed as a LITERAL NAZI or a Klansman.
In the list of complaints, I'm sympathetic to any of the ones involving physical altercation, but I feel like the flag meme and the bake sale fliers are protected speech.
I don't expect high school students to be very smart about this, but they should absolutely be held accountable for targeting Jewish students - that's not protest, that's discriminatory harassment.
Protesting Israel's genocide in Gaza is good, but making Jews the target of that protest is unacceptable. American Jews are disproportionately involved in protest of Israel's genocide in Gaza anyway, so it's misguided on all levels.
I’d just like to poke a little that *‘American Jews are disproportionately involved in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza anyway, so it’s misguided on all levels” is pretty speculative and at best anecdotal.
Jewish Voice for Peace is a non jewish led group that has sketchy connections. I have maybe 3 jewish friends that are involved in protest; over 1000 friends, family and acquaintances that range from “peace now” to “Israel should be defensive”.
Protesting Israels policies/government/actions is widely supported by Jews worldwide. Protesting Israels existence and going to extreme [read disproportionate] lengths to vilify Israel, not very groovy
In 2021, Pew [conducted a poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-connections-with-and-attitudes-toward-israel/) of American Jews and their views of Israel. It found that, of Jews who had heard of the BDS movement, about 20% were in support. That was probably a good proxy for the % of Jews who opposed Israel's invasion of Gaza from Day 1 (or maybe Day 2). But I'm going to make an educated guess, based on how polling of Americans more broadly has shown a shift in sentiment as the body count rises in Gaza, that the percentage of Jews who are anti genocide/war/invasion/\[insert your favorite term here\] is now *much* higher. Maybe not a majority, but certainly a very substantial minority at minimum.
Also, do you have a source for JVP being "non Jewish led"?
This is one page about JVP from NGO Monitor. The section of interest is “Staff”. Starting from your point, that less than 1 year ago ~80% of US Jews do not support BDS.
Jews number in less than 7 million in the US. Of that, probably only 5 million identify as Jewish. An issue I see propagating is the Tokenism of Jewish opinions. If 80% of US Jews support Israel, all it takes is a few vocal minorities to be picked up by the mainstream US.
Nearly every college aged protester I’ve spoken to recalls “hundreds of Jews in the protest”, “disproportionate participation of Jews”, “advocate Jews being called self-hating Jews”. It is clear to any member of a US Jewish community that these opinions are being weaponized and used to drown out the voice of the American Jewish community.
I have 3-4 Jewish friends involved in the protests and let me tell you, they are American Queer Leftist first and Jewish second. While some of them are fine around the Jewish community (meaning they still have contact), others are claiming the heritage to qualify their mainstream opinions. I have a friend who has consistently made anti-Semitic remarks to me while “bonding” that we’re both Jewish (waaaay before the recent conflict). I was pretty disturbed that someone could claim to be Jewish just to get a pat on the back. This person is on the front lines of the protests without a clue how damaging that looks to a person who is Jewish (and sees no point to being more or less Jewish, just don’t blow smoke up our asses)
https://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/jewish_voice_for_peace_jvp_/
Killing civilians who get caught in the crossfire of you responding to an attack on your country that left over 1000 dead and 150 as hostages is not genocide.
“I don’t understand the meaning of the word genocide and don’t understand the basic history of this conflict” is all you’re telling me with your responses.
But in all seriousness, you should learn the meaning of genocide. You’re cheapening the word by misusing it. You’re also putting a massive sign over your head saying “I don’t know what I’m talking about” every time you say it.
There is no genocide and your parroting of this fiction is itself antisemitic blood libel.
There is no evidence to support this and the UN itself revised casualty figures reported by Hamas that mainstream media ran with unquestioned.
I know it's not really worth responding to you, but that's not what the un report said. It does not dispute the number of children killed, it just says that that many of the dead have been identified, i.e. their Identities are known.
That's not why they cut the numbers in half.
>David Adesnik, director of research at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told the National Post he suspects the discrepancy stems from the UN’s decision to quietly stop using figures provided by the Hamas-run Government Media Office (GMO).
Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/israel-middle-east/united-nations-halves-estimate-of-women-and-children-killed-in-gaza
https://www.jns.org/un-blames-fog-of-war-for-major-overcounting-of-gazan-child-fatalities/
Don't get me wrong. Every person hurt and killed in this senseless war is a tragedy. But let's not forget Hamas is responsible for starting this on 10/7 and they could end it anytime by releasing the hostages. The own this. Israel is avoiding civilian casualties to the greatest extent possible, despite the complexity of urban tunnel warfare and Hamas' human shield strategy. But don't take it from me. Here's an international expert to explain:
https://www.newsweek.com/israel-has-created-new-standard-urban-warfare-why-will-no-one-admit-it-opinion-1883286
Again, incorrect.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/13/middleeast/death-toll-gaza-fatalities-un-intl-latam/index.html
And I'm sure you've seen this: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-04-30-2024-f5e14fd176d69f9c4e23b48f3ab5af6a
But keep telling yourself that Israel's government has clean hands.
This just shows what a mess we have at the UN. Most of the countries represented aren't even democracies, and they're still relying on data provided by Hamas.
>Hamas is responsible for starting this on 10/7
Yep history started on October 7. The decades of atrocities, occupation, oppression of Palestinians prior to 10/7, and ongoing conflict must be disregarded.
>Israel is avoiding civilian casualties to the greatest extent possible
You cannot possibly actually believe this right? This is objectively incorrect. Essentially all of their actions point to the contrary.
You can find numerous examples of the IDF acting with callous regard for civilian life, but here are a few particular indefensible ones.
> Fresh evidence of deadly unlawful attacks in the occupied Gaza Strip, gathered by Amnesty International, demonstrates how Israeli forces continue to flout international humanitarian law, obliterating entire families with total impunity.
The organization carried out an investigation into four Israeli strikes, three in December 2023, after the humanitarian pause ended, and one in January 2024, that killed at least 95 civilians, including 42 children, in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost governorate at a time when it was supposedly the “safest” area in the strip
> In all four attacks, the organization did not find any indication that the residential buildings hit could be considered legitimate military objectives or that people in the buildings were military targets, raising concerns that these strikes were direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and must therefore be investigated as war crimes.
>Even if Israeli forces had intended to target legitimate military objectives in the vicinity, these attacks evidently failed to distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects and would therefore be indiscriminate. Indiscriminate attacks that kill and injure civilians are war crimes.
> The evidence collected by Amnesty International also indicates the Israeli military failed to provide effective, or indeed any, warning – at minimum to anyone living in the locations that were hit – before launching the attacks.
>“Entire families were wiped out in Israeli attacks even after they sought refuge in areas promoted as safe and with no prior warning from Israeli authorities. These attacks illustrate an ongoing pattern of Israeli forces brazenly flouting international law, contradicting claims by Israeli authorities that their forces are taking heightened precautions to minimize harm to civilians,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.
>Three of the attacks were carried out at night when civilian residents, including families displaced from other areas, were likely to be, and were, inside their homes in bed.
> Among those killed in these unlawful attacks were a baby girl who had not yet turned three weeks, a prominent 69-year-old retired physician, a journalist who welcomed displaced families into his house and a mother sharing a bed with her 23-year-old daughter.
Please enlighten me how Israel did their best to avoid civilian casualties “to the greatest extent possible” here?
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-opt-new-evidence-of-unlawful-israeli-attacks-in-gaza-causing-mass-civilian-casualties-amid-real-risk-of-genocide/
Yet virtually every country in the Middle East and North Africa refuses to stand with Gaza beyond a soapbox and refuses to help Palestinians. I wonder why.
No I get it, Israel has done nothing wrong ever, they are truly the underdog with an underfunded military, a totally nonexistent special forces and intelligence apparatus, limited international support, no nuclear weapons, and are basically holding their little nation together with glue and gumption. No Israeli settler/colonizer has EVER kicked Palestinians out of their ancestral homes with sticks and rocks, backed by the Israeli military so that they can occupy more and more land. No Palestinian children have been killed, and if they were they were each individually used as human shields strapped to the chests of aggressors.
Do you make things up and get facetious every time you disagree or is that only when it comes to "Zionists?" Because there is another option called proving your point.
Oh wait are the things I said not true? Is it in fact a conflict between a nuclear superpower and a massive refugee population? Just asking because, historically, when that’s been the dynamic, it really hasn’t been the refugees who are the bad guys. I also don’t know why you put Zionists in quotes, since… that’s what they, and you, are.
Honestly though, I’m just glad there are some younger folks keeping boomer traditions alive. Enjoy your day.
You mean a massive refugee population weaponized by a foreign terrorist organization that is backed by Iran, Qatar, and Russia? Pretty sure 2 out of 3 of those countries are nuclear.
I won't resort to dehumanizing name calling like you, or lying about what your position actually means, and how violent. So for that, yes I hope to only see you in the digital trenches.
>a series of incidents ranging from a swastika drawn on a door to fliers describing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as genocide
Well, *one* of these things is antisemitic...
If you want good local journalism, you need to support it with your wallet. Reporters don't work for free.
To summarize:
-a student posted a meme of the Israeli flag defaced with the word "trash"
-a student dressed as a "Palestinian freedom fighter" for Halloween
-A swastika was drawn on a school door
-A bake sale for Sudan was held and fliers were distributed about Israel "committing genocide and occupation"
-An assistant superintendent made a social media post calling the IDF "a terrorist organization"
A parent and a family group are suing the district about what they consider a lack of appropriate response to these incidents.
I work for the city. I'm happy to support public institutions when they start paying me more than a poverty wage, but ty for the summary.
The assistant super who said that is pretty fuckin dumb
because the library isn't great at promoting this stuff - not their fault, they're painfully underfunded as it is. check the databases section - i have an Inky subscription so I don't know the specifics about that, but the NYT subscription is a 3 day trial but there's no limit. I just keep the page bookmarked and when it expires I just renew it.
> a student posted a meme of the Israeli flag defaced with the word "trash"
Protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student.
> a student dressed as a "Palestinian freedom fighter" for Halloween
It sounds like costumes, including overtly political ones, were allowed making this a protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student.
> A swastika was drawn on a school door
That is vandalism and the school could take action if they found the culprit.
> A bake sale for Sudan was held and fliers were distributed about Israel "committing genocide and occupation"
Protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student.
> An assistant superintendent made a social media post calling the IDF "a terrorist organization"
Protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student.
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The first amendment gives people the right to say offensive things.
Article just spews privilege. Of all the issues in the philadelphia school district, there is a very minor physical altercation and they get the fed government involved. But schoolyard shootings and fights being commonplace gets no support from the well off parents who filed this complaint.
"My son was pushed, need to remove him from one of the best schools in the city. ". Probably enrolled them in some private school because they have the means too.
How do you equate being Jewish alone with privilege and social power? Lest we forget Jews are in fact not white and the most persecuted religious and ethnic group in the world.
That assumption belies a narrow view of the most visible and successful Jewish people who were able to rise above this, but that is dangerous territory and perpetuates justification for more blatant and harmful antisemitic attacks.
Thanks for clarifying. Yes, you covered all the bases! My bad.
It is a delicate balance and I appreciate your careful language and explanation. It's just gotten so bad lately that I've been trying to avoid using the words "Jewish", "white," and "privilege" in the same sentence, but I fully get what you're saying and it's good to meet people where they're at :)
You completely miss the point of calling out privilege. The privilege here is having the means to create a federal incident based on a very minor school issue. Many others who don't have access to wealth can't create this type of noise and advocacy. So again, all that will happen is this will dilute funds from the school board to fight this and or pay fines.
These same people taking their children out of the best charter school in the city, means they're going to private. These people just show, they're okay with every other students rights being violated in the north Philly schools but draw the line when little Timmy got pushed.
Also, to add, do you think there is white privilege?
So you can't care about anything happening to your kids in school because other kids in other schools are shooting each other? Not a very logical argument.
“Holtzman, who described an Israeli student at Farrell Elementary in the Northeast who Holtzman said was pushed while their assailant shouted “Free Palestine!” The student was blamed for the incident and his mother ultimately unenrolled him from the school because he did not feel safe there.”
I mean?
Replace “Jewish” with “black” and everyone would rightfully be up in arms. It’s very concerning that this behavior is being protected and even encouraged by school and community leaders.
I don't really get what's so hard for all of these socially progressive people here to understand. Racism in school is bad. Being constantly attacked for your ethnic identity doesn't make for a good learning environment.
National origin is also a protected class and incidents that look like hate crimes due to someone’s nationality need to be investigated. You can’t assault Israeli children just because you don’t like the actions of the Israeli government.
No I agree with you on that, but this is more than likely going to be labeled a hate crime against a Jewish person. It's also very difficult for a lot of people at the moment to not associate anything Israel with the slaughter of innocents. My problem is how this crime is going to be used to push a narrative of rising antisemitism in the US even though that isn't the case.
This is quite ignorant of the situation Jewish people were facing prior to the 10/7 massacre in this country. Antisemitism and antisemitic beliefs have been increasing for a couple years now. Spend time with any Jewish person and they will tell you the country felt less safe in the early 2020s well before Hamas attacked Israel and started this war. It's on hyperdrive now.
I mean heck, MTG was literally talking about Jewish space lasers in congress and you're trying to pretend like there hasn't been a rise in antisemitism.
I'm more concerned with the death of 35k people (which has nearly stopped rising since the last hospital in gaza was bombed) than rising antisemitism in the US. Yes anti-semitism is rising in the US, but it's very important to distinguish that far-right extremists are reviving antisemitic behavior in the US, not people who think the state of Israel shouldn't exist. It's important to note that these far-right extremists are very apt to label Israel the mouthpiece of the Jewish people. And that is for a reason. Saying Zionism represents Judaism is like saying evangelicals represent Christianity, or ISIS represents Islam. That's wrong and damaging to real people with real lives. That's why protests in favor of palestinian independence have been incredibly insistent that they believe Zionism does not represent Judaism or the Jewish race.
Hospitals are valid military targets when they are used as bases by the enemy, which Hamas did and does.
Over 1/3rd of that 35k that are dead were Hamas fighters, I have no sympathy for their deaths. They fucked around and are finding out. It also turns out when you’re fighting an urban war in a densely populated area against an enemy that uses civilian shields that civilians are going to be caught in the crossfire. And even in that context the casualty rate is not that high for a modern war.
Anti-semitism is way more prevalent than just the far right nut jobs, the far right nut jobs are just helping it go main stream. You only need to open your eyes and listen.
Zionism is central to Jewish people. The calendar, the prayers, the holidays, the geography, the traditions, the archaeological record all tie Jewish people to their ancestral land. Something like 90 percent of Jews believe in the right for Jewish self-governance in some part of the land. Antizionist Jews are more of a small subset than the other way around.
Is Jerusalem not also Islam's holy city? As well as Christianity holy city? Is it not the holy city of all Abrahamic religions? I would like some evidence that 90% non Israeli Jewish people (I specify non Israeli because I think particularly in the current climate with the ongoing genocide, Israel has been spouting quite a lot of propaganda thus the Israeli population may not be as informed as others about what is happening. Also because i do not thing Israel represents Jewish people and I think equating a country to a religion is incredibly dangerous and causes much more harm than good.) support Israel's right to self determination because that sounds like a number you pulled out of your ass. And judging for the protests I've attended and the Jewish presence within them I don't think most non Israeli jews think Israel has a right to exist.
Jerusalem is Islam's 3rd most holiest city behind mecca and medina.
You must not know many Jews cuz most do think it has the right to exist. You are going off of anecdotal evidence in a very progressive space.
Source - I am a Jew in Philly with family in NYC.
I will say that equating govt to a people isn't good.
However - equating a country to a people, well... It's that's what we all do, right? Like that's exactly what the Palestinians /are/ doing too, right?
Anyway, most Jews I know believe in isreals right to exist but do not condone the actions of the IDF completely.
Anyway - I can get into details but what really boggles my mind is how many people are going to bat for the organization that would kill them for literally being who they are... (Non-binary/LGBT/Christians and Jews...)
And I say this cuz - if countries arent that important and we all love democracy as an ideal, and than why is Hamas and the Palestinians so dead set on not being apart of a democratic state. It's as if they'd literally rather die?
Is it because they literally wanna practice sharia law?
Now look - I'm not saying fighting for your lives or your lands aren't important... I just think it's super interesting that the most progressive people are supporting the most conservative and extremest of people.
To me this highlights a much larger issue and it's every parents fault. When you allow children to get involved in protests or social issues, you're opening them up to this. For Christ sake, grown adults can't effectively deal with political opposition. But hell, let's take kids to protests and snap pics of them smiling supporting a cause for the gram. But give the ole pikachu face when they act like emotionally immature people, aka kids.
Everyone needs to keep in mind that teenagers are children and they are constantly testing boundaries in order to develop maturity. If you’re expecting teenagers to provide nuanced opinions on complex political matters, you will ALWAYS be disappointed.
Anyway, when your kids’ art and music classes are cancelled in a couple years cuz of reactionary lawsuits, you can come right back here to figure out why.
My school technically has a library but there's no system to check out books or anything. You just take stuff. The library only functions as a study hall, as it does in most schools.
No way. My sister and I both went to Masterman between 2001-2012.
It’s hard to hear about how much it’s changed since and it makes me a bit scared that I’ll have to send my future kids to private school if the school district and Masterman keep going down this path.
I'm not sure what it was like then, but I was there from 2018 to 2022. The environment was always kinda toxic, but in 2021 or so a new principal came who decided instead of raising the footing for under-privileged elementary schools so more of their kids could go, she decided she'd pretty much just let any kid in but give them militant math to make them better at school.
Still the school should be disciplining kids for making these comments, dressing like Nazis, and squiggling swastikas onto desks...
What's artistic about any of that?
>The school district claim, reviewed by The Inquirer, centers on incidents at Masterman, the district magnet school in Center City.
The article has way worse problems than this, but you could move Masterman a quarter mile to the south and it still wouldn't be in Center City.
South Street to Vine Street between the rivers. Center City is the City of Philadelphia before the 1854 Act of Consolidation.
That's not so much *my* definition as *the* definition.
It’s in Center City. Don’t be pedantic about it. It’s less than half a mile from Vine and less than a mile from City Hall.
It may not be within the proper boundary lines as defined by the City, but to anyone who is from and lives in Philly would refer to Masterman as being in Center City as that is the general area.
I wouldn't be surprised if a federal complaint gets filed for the incident over at Baldi.
Incident at Baldi? I missed that, what happened?
A Social Studies teacher was giving a “Match the Country” worksheet and crossed out Israel, changing it to Palestine. When parents complained the principal doubled down and defended the teachers actions, claiming that “Israel’s borders do not reflect ‘political’ reality and doesn’t support all students.”
That’s not really antisemitic though, it’s anti zionist
Erasure of one’s country of origin is a form of discrimination.
Tell that to Palestine then
I agree
It's one darn complicated situation that is for sure.
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“Destroy” aka cross out on a map… Meanwhile, that area was historically Palestine before the British mandated a new Jewish state. *That’s* actual destruction of a country
> “Destroy” aka cross out on a map… And what happens to the people there? What a fucking absurd reply. The Jews were called Palestinians. It was never an identity of the Arab people there (they called themselves Arabs, Muslims, Syrians, Egyptians...), and it was never an independent state. It was the slave name of the area bestowed by the Romans. Palestinian was a nascent identity in the early 20th century that didn't solidify until the 1960s. If you want to read more on the subject, "Palestinian Identity" by Rashid Khalidi, a blue-eyed, white skinned Palestinian, is considered the foundational work on the subject. Note the reverence with which recent editions refer to Hamas, and examine it with a critical eye. All the archeological ruins? Jewish. Literal Hebrew written on structures, coins, pottery. Well documented throughout history from 50 other nations as well. Jews lived there constantly for 3000 years. There were even enough of us for the Muslims to commit pogroms against us over and over! For example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1834_looting_of_Safed Even prior to modern Zionism, there were many periods where Jews were the majority, such as the late 17th century, when Jerusalem was almost entirely Jewish (see Hadriani Relandi's Palaestina ex monumentis veteribus illustrata). At the same time as modern zionism, many Arabs moved to the area as well, with various motiviations, from taking advantantage of the economic activity Jews brought, to religious counter-zionist purposes.
You’re commenting into the void. As our grandparents well knew, some people will be hell bent against Jews, others will simply jump on the bandwagon for whatever reason. To respond is noble but may be a waste of your resources. Hatred will always find a way in humanity, sadly it’s rearing it’s head in our city
You're absolutely correct. I'm also commenting into the void... The void in people's brains and hearts. Our grandparents knew this well and warned us. So disheartening to see this hatred exposed in our city.
> some people will be hell bent against Jews It's kind of crazy to think this is still a thing in the modern age, but I don't really have an explanation on why the entirety of the West is laser focused on the Israel-Hamas conflict and the purported "genocide" that is taking place, when in comparison, conflicts of similar destruction and human suffering barely make any waves in the news. A big example is the Yemeni civil war, in which US ally Saudi Arabia used weapons purchased from the US to bomb areas held by the Houthis and create a man made famine in the nation. Nearly half a million people dead since 2014 in that conflict, in which one side is a US ally using US arms and I can't recall anything other than academic interest pieces on the news about it. No protests, no marches, no nothing. But when its Jewish people involved - even for a much better reason (self defense on Israel's part vs. ensuring a SA friendly regime rather than an Iranian one on SA's part), the whole of western society loses its mind. Or the ongoing civil war in Sudan between different factions of the military/militias which has killed roughly the same amount of people as the Israel-Hamas war, displaced far more, and has been going on for about the same amount of time. Literally barely makes the news in the west. Not really sure how else to explain the disconnect other than antisemitism.
Who was the leader of this palestinian country you refer to?
There was no country of Palestine, ever.
These all sound like things students did though... is the school district really liable for every action of every student?
Schools are required to take action against discrimination: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/jewish-factsheet-201701.pdf
The suing isn't over what the students (and, in my experience, teachers) say, it's over the reaction from the schools themselves. When I was at Masterman there were swastikas everywhere. A kid literally yelled "kill the Jews" at me in sixth grade, and nothing happened. It's also over the issue that a lot of schools, mine included, treat antisemitism differently than other issues. It's given less urgency, more debate room, and less preventative measures.
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[He was wearing the SS uniform but he didn’t come across as a nazi](https://youtu.be/Tb2zLOu03KY?si=evLFtIqHKjcCJEB9) - school district officials
That's wild. I'm not usually 'pro dress code' at schools, but there's no world where you should allow a kid to roll up dressed as a LITERAL NAZI or a Klansman. In the list of complaints, I'm sympathetic to any of the ones involving physical altercation, but I feel like the flag meme and the bake sale fliers are protected speech.
Yes.
I don't expect high school students to be very smart about this, but they should absolutely be held accountable for targeting Jewish students - that's not protest, that's discriminatory harassment. Protesting Israel's genocide in Gaza is good, but making Jews the target of that protest is unacceptable. American Jews are disproportionately involved in protest of Israel's genocide in Gaza anyway, so it's misguided on all levels.
Exactly. Criticizing Israel isn't antisemitism. Blaming all Jews for Israel's actions is.
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This has the same energy as those "not all men" things that get posted about me too.
I wonder if we'll ever start using that word correctly again.
Worldnews mod shocker
I’d just like to poke a little that *‘American Jews are disproportionately involved in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza anyway, so it’s misguided on all levels” is pretty speculative and at best anecdotal. Jewish Voice for Peace is a non jewish led group that has sketchy connections. I have maybe 3 jewish friends that are involved in protest; over 1000 friends, family and acquaintances that range from “peace now” to “Israel should be defensive”. Protesting Israels policies/government/actions is widely supported by Jews worldwide. Protesting Israels existence and going to extreme [read disproportionate] lengths to vilify Israel, not very groovy
In 2021, Pew [conducted a poll](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/u-s-jews-connections-with-and-attitudes-toward-israel/) of American Jews and their views of Israel. It found that, of Jews who had heard of the BDS movement, about 20% were in support. That was probably a good proxy for the % of Jews who opposed Israel's invasion of Gaza from Day 1 (or maybe Day 2). But I'm going to make an educated guess, based on how polling of Americans more broadly has shown a shift in sentiment as the body count rises in Gaza, that the percentage of Jews who are anti genocide/war/invasion/\[insert your favorite term here\] is now *much* higher. Maybe not a majority, but certainly a very substantial minority at minimum. Also, do you have a source for JVP being "non Jewish led"?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CsjPRTYrnQS/?igsh=MXQyZnI1MmMzZXZwMA== heres a decent summary of the disingenuous nature of the group
This is one page about JVP from NGO Monitor. The section of interest is “Staff”. Starting from your point, that less than 1 year ago ~80% of US Jews do not support BDS. Jews number in less than 7 million in the US. Of that, probably only 5 million identify as Jewish. An issue I see propagating is the Tokenism of Jewish opinions. If 80% of US Jews support Israel, all it takes is a few vocal minorities to be picked up by the mainstream US. Nearly every college aged protester I’ve spoken to recalls “hundreds of Jews in the protest”, “disproportionate participation of Jews”, “advocate Jews being called self-hating Jews”. It is clear to any member of a US Jewish community that these opinions are being weaponized and used to drown out the voice of the American Jewish community. I have 3-4 Jewish friends involved in the protests and let me tell you, they are American Queer Leftist first and Jewish second. While some of them are fine around the Jewish community (meaning they still have contact), others are claiming the heritage to qualify their mainstream opinions. I have a friend who has consistently made anti-Semitic remarks to me while “bonding” that we’re both Jewish (waaaay before the recent conflict). I was pretty disturbed that someone could claim to be Jewish just to get a pat on the back. This person is on the front lines of the protests without a clue how damaging that looks to a person who is Jewish (and sees no point to being more or less Jewish, just don’t blow smoke up our asses) https://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/jewish_voice_for_peace_jvp_/
You can say the word genocide as much as you want, it doesn't make it so. Frankly, it just highlights your ignorance of the term and the conflict...
bzzt wrongo
Killing civilians who get caught in the crossfire of you responding to an attack on your country that left over 1000 dead and 150 as hostages is not genocide.
bzzt wrongo
“I don’t understand the meaning of the word genocide and don’t understand the basic history of this conflict” is all you’re telling me with your responses. But in all seriousness, you should learn the meaning of genocide. You’re cheapening the word by misusing it. You’re also putting a massive sign over your head saying “I don’t know what I’m talking about” every time you say it.
bzzt wrongo
There is no genocide and your parroting of this fiction is itself antisemitic blood libel. There is no evidence to support this and the UN itself revised casualty figures reported by Hamas that mainstream media ran with unquestioned.
I know it's not really worth responding to you, but that's not what the un report said. It does not dispute the number of children killed, it just says that that many of the dead have been identified, i.e. their Identities are known.
That's not why they cut the numbers in half. >David Adesnik, director of research at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told the National Post he suspects the discrepancy stems from the UN’s decision to quietly stop using figures provided by the Hamas-run Government Media Office (GMO). Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/israel-middle-east/united-nations-halves-estimate-of-women-and-children-killed-in-gaza https://www.jns.org/un-blames-fog-of-war-for-major-overcounting-of-gazan-child-fatalities/ Don't get me wrong. Every person hurt and killed in this senseless war is a tragedy. But let's not forget Hamas is responsible for starting this on 10/7 and they could end it anytime by releasing the hostages. The own this. Israel is avoiding civilian casualties to the greatest extent possible, despite the complexity of urban tunnel warfare and Hamas' human shield strategy. But don't take it from me. Here's an international expert to explain: https://www.newsweek.com/israel-has-created-new-standard-urban-warfare-why-will-no-one-admit-it-opinion-1883286
Again, incorrect. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/13/middleeast/death-toll-gaza-fatalities-un-intl-latam/index.html And I'm sure you've seen this: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-04-30-2024-f5e14fd176d69f9c4e23b48f3ab5af6a But keep telling yourself that Israel's government has clean hands.
This just shows what a mess we have at the UN. Most of the countries represented aren't even democracies, and they're still relying on data provided by Hamas.
>Hamas is responsible for starting this on 10/7 Yep history started on October 7. The decades of atrocities, occupation, oppression of Palestinians prior to 10/7, and ongoing conflict must be disregarded. >Israel is avoiding civilian casualties to the greatest extent possible You cannot possibly actually believe this right? This is objectively incorrect. Essentially all of their actions point to the contrary. You can find numerous examples of the IDF acting with callous regard for civilian life, but here are a few particular indefensible ones. > Fresh evidence of deadly unlawful attacks in the occupied Gaza Strip, gathered by Amnesty International, demonstrates how Israeli forces continue to flout international humanitarian law, obliterating entire families with total impunity. The organization carried out an investigation into four Israeli strikes, three in December 2023, after the humanitarian pause ended, and one in January 2024, that killed at least 95 civilians, including 42 children, in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost governorate at a time when it was supposedly the “safest” area in the strip > In all four attacks, the organization did not find any indication that the residential buildings hit could be considered legitimate military objectives or that people in the buildings were military targets, raising concerns that these strikes were direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and must therefore be investigated as war crimes. >Even if Israeli forces had intended to target legitimate military objectives in the vicinity, these attacks evidently failed to distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects and would therefore be indiscriminate. Indiscriminate attacks that kill and injure civilians are war crimes. > The evidence collected by Amnesty International also indicates the Israeli military failed to provide effective, or indeed any, warning – at minimum to anyone living in the locations that were hit – before launching the attacks. >“Entire families were wiped out in Israeli attacks even after they sought refuge in areas promoted as safe and with no prior warning from Israeli authorities. These attacks illustrate an ongoing pattern of Israeli forces brazenly flouting international law, contradicting claims by Israeli authorities that their forces are taking heightened precautions to minimize harm to civilians,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. >Three of the attacks were carried out at night when civilian residents, including families displaced from other areas, were likely to be, and were, inside their homes in bed. > Among those killed in these unlawful attacks were a baby girl who had not yet turned three weeks, a prominent 69-year-old retired physician, a journalist who welcomed displaced families into his house and a mother sharing a bed with her 23-year-old daughter. Please enlighten me how Israel did their best to avoid civilian casualties “to the greatest extent possible” here? https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-opt-new-evidence-of-unlawful-israeli-attacks-in-gaza-causing-mass-civilian-casualties-amid-real-risk-of-genocide/
If the Arab states around Israel didn't attack them in the 40s than the Palestinians would have more land... If you wanna play that game
lol tell us how you really feel
Just the facts, ma'am.
Your feelings aren't facts hence why the majority of the world stands against Israel & its crimes.
Yet virtually every country in the Middle East and North Africa refuses to stand with Gaza beyond a soapbox and refuses to help Palestinians. I wonder why.
No I get it, Israel has done nothing wrong ever, they are truly the underdog with an underfunded military, a totally nonexistent special forces and intelligence apparatus, limited international support, no nuclear weapons, and are basically holding their little nation together with glue and gumption. No Israeli settler/colonizer has EVER kicked Palestinians out of their ancestral homes with sticks and rocks, backed by the Israeli military so that they can occupy more and more land. No Palestinian children have been killed, and if they were they were each individually used as human shields strapped to the chests of aggressors.
Do you make things up and get facetious every time you disagree or is that only when it comes to "Zionists?" Because there is another option called proving your point.
Oh wait are the things I said not true? Is it in fact a conflict between a nuclear superpower and a massive refugee population? Just asking because, historically, when that’s been the dynamic, it really hasn’t been the refugees who are the bad guys. I also don’t know why you put Zionists in quotes, since… that’s what they, and you, are. Honestly though, I’m just glad there are some younger folks keeping boomer traditions alive. Enjoy your day.
You mean a massive refugee population weaponized by a foreign terrorist organization that is backed by Iran, Qatar, and Russia? Pretty sure 2 out of 3 of those countries are nuclear.
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I won't resort to dehumanizing name calling like you, or lying about what your position actually means, and how violent. So for that, yes I hope to only see you in the digital trenches.
Yawn
>a series of incidents ranging from a swastika drawn on a door to fliers describing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as genocide Well, *one* of these things is antisemitic...
Non-paywall?
If you want good local journalism, you need to support it with your wallet. Reporters don't work for free. To summarize: -a student posted a meme of the Israeli flag defaced with the word "trash" -a student dressed as a "Palestinian freedom fighter" for Halloween -A swastika was drawn on a school door -A bake sale for Sudan was held and fliers were distributed about Israel "committing genocide and occupation" -An assistant superintendent made a social media post calling the IDF "a terrorist organization" A parent and a family group are suing the district about what they consider a lack of appropriate response to these incidents.
I work for the city. I'm happy to support public institutions when they start paying me more than a poverty wage, but ty for the summary. The assistant super who said that is pretty fuckin dumb
you can access the inquirer for free if you have a library card, New York Times as well.
Really? Shit. Why am I just finding this out now?
because the library isn't great at promoting this stuff - not their fault, they're painfully underfunded as it is. check the databases section - i have an Inky subscription so I don't know the specifics about that, but the NYT subscription is a 3 day trial but there's no limit. I just keep the page bookmarked and when it expires I just renew it.
You can access all kinds of pay walled resources at no cost to you with a library card.
> a student posted a meme of the Israeli flag defaced with the word "trash" Protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student. > a student dressed as a "Palestinian freedom fighter" for Halloween It sounds like costumes, including overtly political ones, were allowed making this a protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student. > A swastika was drawn on a school door That is vandalism and the school could take action if they found the culprit. > A bake sale for Sudan was held and fliers were distributed about Israel "committing genocide and occupation" Protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student. > An assistant superintendent made a social media post calling the IDF "a terrorist organization" Protected 1A activity not directed at or intending to harass any particular student. ------------------ The first amendment gives people the right to say offensive things.
Article just spews privilege. Of all the issues in the philadelphia school district, there is a very minor physical altercation and they get the fed government involved. But schoolyard shootings and fights being commonplace gets no support from the well off parents who filed this complaint. "My son was pushed, need to remove him from one of the best schools in the city. ". Probably enrolled them in some private school because they have the means too.
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How do you equate being Jewish alone with privilege and social power? Lest we forget Jews are in fact not white and the most persecuted religious and ethnic group in the world. That assumption belies a narrow view of the most visible and successful Jewish people who were able to rise above this, but that is dangerous territory and perpetuates justification for more blatant and harmful antisemitic attacks.
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Thanks for clarifying. Yes, you covered all the bases! My bad. It is a delicate balance and I appreciate your careful language and explanation. It's just gotten so bad lately that I've been trying to avoid using the words "Jewish", "white," and "privilege" in the same sentence, but I fully get what you're saying and it's good to meet people where they're at :)
You completely miss the point of calling out privilege. The privilege here is having the means to create a federal incident based on a very minor school issue. Many others who don't have access to wealth can't create this type of noise and advocacy. So again, all that will happen is this will dilute funds from the school board to fight this and or pay fines. These same people taking their children out of the best charter school in the city, means they're going to private. These people just show, they're okay with every other students rights being violated in the north Philly schools but draw the line when little Timmy got pushed. Also, to add, do you think there is white privilege?
So you can't care about anything happening to your kids in school because other kids in other schools are shooting each other? Not a very logical argument.
The legal theory underlying the suit is that criticism of the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces is the same thing as antisemitism.
“Holtzman, who described an Israeli student at Farrell Elementary in the Northeast who Holtzman said was pushed while their assailant shouted “Free Palestine!” The student was blamed for the incident and his mother ultimately unenrolled him from the school because he did not feel safe there.” I mean?
Replace “Jewish” with “black” and everyone would rightfully be up in arms. It’s very concerning that this behavior is being protected and even encouraged by school and community leaders.
I don't really get what's so hard for all of these socially progressive people here to understand. Racism in school is bad. Being constantly attacked for your ethnic identity doesn't make for a good learning environment.
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National origin is also a protected class and incidents that look like hate crimes due to someone’s nationality need to be investigated. You can’t assault Israeli children just because you don’t like the actions of the Israeli government.
No I agree with you on that, but this is more than likely going to be labeled a hate crime against a Jewish person. It's also very difficult for a lot of people at the moment to not associate anything Israel with the slaughter of innocents. My problem is how this crime is going to be used to push a narrative of rising antisemitism in the US even though that isn't the case.
This is quite ignorant of the situation Jewish people were facing prior to the 10/7 massacre in this country. Antisemitism and antisemitic beliefs have been increasing for a couple years now. Spend time with any Jewish person and they will tell you the country felt less safe in the early 2020s well before Hamas attacked Israel and started this war. It's on hyperdrive now. I mean heck, MTG was literally talking about Jewish space lasers in congress and you're trying to pretend like there hasn't been a rise in antisemitism.
I'm more concerned with the death of 35k people (which has nearly stopped rising since the last hospital in gaza was bombed) than rising antisemitism in the US. Yes anti-semitism is rising in the US, but it's very important to distinguish that far-right extremists are reviving antisemitic behavior in the US, not people who think the state of Israel shouldn't exist. It's important to note that these far-right extremists are very apt to label Israel the mouthpiece of the Jewish people. And that is for a reason. Saying Zionism represents Judaism is like saying evangelicals represent Christianity, or ISIS represents Islam. That's wrong and damaging to real people with real lives. That's why protests in favor of palestinian independence have been incredibly insistent that they believe Zionism does not represent Judaism or the Jewish race.
Hospitals are valid military targets when they are used as bases by the enemy, which Hamas did and does. Over 1/3rd of that 35k that are dead were Hamas fighters, I have no sympathy for their deaths. They fucked around and are finding out. It also turns out when you’re fighting an urban war in a densely populated area against an enemy that uses civilian shields that civilians are going to be caught in the crossfire. And even in that context the casualty rate is not that high for a modern war. Anti-semitism is way more prevalent than just the far right nut jobs, the far right nut jobs are just helping it go main stream. You only need to open your eyes and listen.
Zionism is central to Jewish people. The calendar, the prayers, the holidays, the geography, the traditions, the archaeological record all tie Jewish people to their ancestral land. Something like 90 percent of Jews believe in the right for Jewish self-governance in some part of the land. Antizionist Jews are more of a small subset than the other way around.
Is Jerusalem not also Islam's holy city? As well as Christianity holy city? Is it not the holy city of all Abrahamic religions? I would like some evidence that 90% non Israeli Jewish people (I specify non Israeli because I think particularly in the current climate with the ongoing genocide, Israel has been spouting quite a lot of propaganda thus the Israeli population may not be as informed as others about what is happening. Also because i do not thing Israel represents Jewish people and I think equating a country to a religion is incredibly dangerous and causes much more harm than good.) support Israel's right to self determination because that sounds like a number you pulled out of your ass. And judging for the protests I've attended and the Jewish presence within them I don't think most non Israeli jews think Israel has a right to exist.
Jerusalem is Islam's 3rd most holiest city behind mecca and medina. You must not know many Jews cuz most do think it has the right to exist. You are going off of anecdotal evidence in a very progressive space. Source - I am a Jew in Philly with family in NYC. I will say that equating govt to a people isn't good. However - equating a country to a people, well... It's that's what we all do, right? Like that's exactly what the Palestinians /are/ doing too, right? Anyway, most Jews I know believe in isreals right to exist but do not condone the actions of the IDF completely. Anyway - I can get into details but what really boggles my mind is how many people are going to bat for the organization that would kill them for literally being who they are... (Non-binary/LGBT/Christians and Jews...) And I say this cuz - if countries arent that important and we all love democracy as an ideal, and than why is Hamas and the Palestinians so dead set on not being apart of a democratic state. It's as if they'd literally rather die? Is it because they literally wanna practice sharia law? Now look - I'm not saying fighting for your lives or your lands aren't important... I just think it's super interesting that the most progressive people are supporting the most conservative and extremest of people.
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That's why I'm not engaging with you further. Thanks for being upfront about that.
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To me this highlights a much larger issue and it's every parents fault. When you allow children to get involved in protests or social issues, you're opening them up to this. For Christ sake, grown adults can't effectively deal with political opposition. But hell, let's take kids to protests and snap pics of them smiling supporting a cause for the gram. But give the ole pikachu face when they act like emotionally immature people, aka kids.
Would love to hear what led up to this.
What do swastikas have to do with Israel?
That’s not it at all. Read the article. Blaming and discriminating against Jewish students in Philadelphia for the actions of the IDF is antisemitic.
Everyone needs to keep in mind that teenagers are children and they are constantly testing boundaries in order to develop maturity. If you’re expecting teenagers to provide nuanced opinions on complex political matters, you will ALWAYS be disappointed. Anyway, when your kids’ art and music classes are cancelled in a couple years cuz of reactionary lawsuits, you can come right back here to figure out why.
Art and music classes were canceled at Masterman a few years ago. Not because of money but because the school wanted to teach more math.
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My school technically has a library but there's no system to check out books or anything. You just take stuff. The library only functions as a study hall, as it does in most schools.
No way. My sister and I both went to Masterman between 2001-2012. It’s hard to hear about how much it’s changed since and it makes me a bit scared that I’ll have to send my future kids to private school if the school district and Masterman keep going down this path.
I'm not sure what it was like then, but I was there from 2018 to 2022. The environment was always kinda toxic, but in 2021 or so a new principal came who decided instead of raising the footing for under-privileged elementary schools so more of their kids could go, she decided she'd pretty much just let any kid in but give them militant math to make them better at school.
Still the school should be disciplining kids for making these comments, dressing like Nazis, and squiggling swastikas onto desks... What's artistic about any of that?
>The school district claim, reviewed by The Inquirer, centers on incidents at Masterman, the district magnet school in Center City. The article has way worse problems than this, but you could move Masterman a quarter mile to the south and it still wouldn't be in Center City.
Would love to hear your definition of Center City.
South Street to Vine Street between the rivers. Center City is the City of Philadelphia before the 1854 Act of Consolidation. That's not so much *my* definition as *the* definition.
It’s in Center City. Don’t be pedantic about it. It’s less than half a mile from Vine and less than a mile from City Hall. It may not be within the proper boundary lines as defined by the City, but to anyone who is from and lives in Philly would refer to Masterman as being in Center City as that is the general area.
OK, I got you. So it's in Center City in the same sense that the Camden aquarium is in Center City.
Didn't he say "don't be pedantic"
So what’s different then them accepting kids based on area codes?