A Queens high school where teachers say some students chanted “Death to Israel!” is being slammed for hosting a “one-sided indoctrination” lecture series about the Middle East war, outraged critics charge.
The lecture series kicked off on Nov. 17 at the High School for Community Leadership in Jamaica Hills with a talk from Tova Fry, an anti-Zionist member of the far-left group Jewish Voice for Peace.
Another talk by Fatin Jarara, an Arab disc jockey, focused on the “Palestinian story of forced displacement, exile and resistance.”
A lecture by The Rev. Nyle Fort titled “Black Solidarity with Palestine” took place on Feb. 12 in the Jamaica Campus Library, which the high school shares with two other high schools and a middle school.
The school has been a hotbed of anti-Israel hate, insiders say.
During a citywide walkout on Nov. 9, students at the Jamaica Hills high school yelled “Death to Israel!” and “Destroy Israel!” sources told The Post.
Terrified teachers have complained to principal Carlos Borrero and the city Department of Education about the lectures but have gotten little response.
Critics said the latest series is “one-sided indoctrination” that does not promote critical thinking.
“The pipeline for propaganda is still too wide open,” said Queens Councilman Jim Gennaro.
“What that ultimately leads to in the worst case is the episode at Hillcrest High School,” Gennaro said, referring to the Nov. 29 student riot, when administrators locked a Jewish teacher in an office in fear for her safety.
Hillcrest and the High School for Community Leadership both fall within his district.
City Councilman Jim Gennaro’s district in Queens includes Hillcrest High School, where a student riot forced a Jewish teacher into hiding.
council.nyc.gov
“This, to me, runs afoul of the letter of the law and the spirit of the chancellor’s directive to teachers to keep politics out of the classrooms,” Gennaro said of the lecture series.
Schools Chancellor David Banks has announced a new approach to the growing tensions in schools, including consequences for students and training for educators.
Teachers complained that Borrero had ignored their complaints, but the Chancellor’s office on Friday told Gennaro’s staff that the principal agreed to add more inclusive and diverse voices to their lecture series.
The specific directive to enforce Banks’ orders is still being drafted.
Borrero was the subject of a teacher’s 2015 sex harassment lawsuit, which the city settled for $60,000 and kept him on.
LINK: ‘Propaganda’ talks given at school where students chanted ‘destroy Israel’ (nypost.com)
