New York City parents are at war — over how their districts should handle symbolic statements regarding the Hamas attacks on Israel.
While some parents sought to publicly condemn terrorism through a resolution in their Community Education Councils, others went as far as to ask that the word “antisemitism” be removed from statements.
Some claimed there was no precedent for resolutions to address the current events since councils hadn’t passed resolutions on the killing of George Floyd, for instance.
At the Community Education Council meeting for District 3, which covers the Upper West Side and Harlem, Yael Denbo read aloud a resolution in support of Israel, which included offering condolences to all those affected by the war and called on the city Department of Education to provide resources on antisemitism.
Some parents argued there was no place for the statements.
“Does this set a certain precedent amongst the CEC? I tried to look for resolutions in support of Black Lives Matter, or the situation at the border where kids were being put in cages,” said Noah Odabashian.
A request was even made to remove the word “antisemitism.”
The group was only able to pass it with the concession that a resolution on Islamophobia would be passed next.
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“All the reasons why the resolution is needed were on display,” said co-sponsor Yael Denbo. “Whenever someone tries to condemn Jew-hatred, people say ‘we have to condemn something else, too.’”
At the CEC meeting for District 2, which covers Lower and Midtown Manhattan, a similar resolution co-sponsored by Maud Maron — “Condeming the Attacks in Israel and Offering Support to Students through the Current Period of Unrest” — failed to even make it to a vote.
“I was disgusted,” said Maron.
“The council has discussed other policy issues at length, including migrant issues, vaccine mandates, mask mandates, but when you have a vicious, heinous pogrom of Jewish people, there’s not one word of condolence or condemnation,” she said.
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip over three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.
Over 1,400 Israelis are dead, more than 4,200 are wounded and at least 100 were taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Hamas terrorists were seen taking female hostages and parading them down the street in horrifying videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured.
Maron stormed out of the meeting when members voted against adding the item to Wednesday’s agenda, with some saying it was not appropriate and that they didn’t have enough time to review the resolution.
Council president Leonard Silverman said he fully supports the sentiments of the resolution but didn’t think it was the “appropriate forum.”
“I think we’re setting a bad precedent,” he said. “We haven’t taken positions on other issues such as George Floyd, we haven’t taken positions on issues on such as Ukraine.”
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It puts members in an uncomfortable political position, he claimed.
CEC 30 in Western Queens tabled a similar resolution once Schools Chancellor David Banks condemned the attacks and denounced hate in city schools, but it plans to discuss another statement on the matter at a meeting this week.
Antisemitism has skyrocketed since the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas, with such posts surging online by 1,200%, according to a new report, and swastikas being flashed at rallies and scrawled near Jewish businesses.