Web Analytics

Florida High School Pulls Holocaust Graphic Novel

A public high school in Florida has removed an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary from its library. It is the second known instance of this particular edition of the famous Holocaust book being swept up by conservatives seeking to purge schools of literature they deem inappropriate.

The principal’s office of Vero Beach High School, which is located in a community on Florida’s east coast, recently decided to remove “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” from its school library, according to Cristen Maddux, a spokesperson for the Indian River County school district. Maddux told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the book was determined to be “not age appropriate.”

The advocacy group StopAntisemitism urged the school to reinstate the graphic novel.

Last year, a school district in Texas ordered its librarians to remove the same book before reversing course a week later following public outcry. Other books about the Holocaust recently removed by public schools include Art Spiegelman’s “Maus,” which a Tennessee district pulled from its middle school curriculum last year, and Jodi Picoult’s “The Storyteller,” which was removed from another Florida district last month following a parental challenge.

The removal at Vero Beach High School was spurred by at least one challenge from a parent in the district affiliated with the conservative activist group Moms For Liberty, according to the Treasure Coast News, a local publication. In the challenge, the parent had reportedly written that the book was “not a true adaptation of the Holocaust.”

The district backed up that sentiment, Maddux told JTA. “That’s not the actual diary of Anne Frank,” she said. “It’s a fictional novel that has some inappropriate content in it.” Maddux added that the book “was removed due to minimization of the Holocaust,” and said, “Library spaces in the district currently have factual accounts of The Diary of Anne Frank.”

Maddux said that she herself had not read the book and did not immediately know what the “inappropriate content” in question was.

In a statement to JTA about various challenges to the graphic adaptation, the Anne Frank Fonds, the Switzerland-based foundation that controls the copyright to her diary, said it was “generally concerned that ignorance about the Shoah, relativization or denial of history are on the rise, especially in the United States.” 

The foundation also defended the inclusion of Frank’s original writing by saying, “We consider the book of a 12-year-old girl to be appropriate reading for her peers.”

The graphic novel adaptation of the diary was released in 2018 with the full authorization of the Anne Frank Fonds. Adapted by Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman and illustrator David Polonsky and intended for young readers, the book compresses Frank’s actual diary entries into a condensed version of her true story. While it does contain some invented dialogue and surrealist scenes, reproductions of Frank’s actual diary in the book hew to her exact words.

North Carolina University Under Fire for Ignoring Antisemitic Incident

The mother of a High Point University student said the school did not take seriously an antisemitic incident involving her son until she reported it to news outlets.

Jill Moskowitz said someone drew a Swastika on the door of her son’s dorm room sometime between midnight on March 18 and noon the next day. Until she reached out to news media on Tuesday — more than two weeks later — no one from the school indicated they would try to find out who did it, she said.

“It’s unacceptable,” Moskowitz said in a phone interview from her home in New Jersey. “He was targeted because he’s Jewish. It’s bullying, plain and simple, and it shouldn’t be tolerated.”

Moskowitz said that as her son was choosing a university, he never considered whether he would feel welcome based on his religious faith. Since he’s been at High Point University, she said, he never had any issues until recently.

But now, she said, she wonders if the private, United Methodist-affiliated school has been slow to respond because she and her family aren’t Christian. “We proudly shout it from the mountaintop: High Point University is a God, family and country school,” a post on the University’s blog reads. “HPU celebrates the fundamentals that made this country great.”

Moskowitz said, “They are very focused on that. Jews are a minority at the school, and I think minorities don’t get accounted for.”

Moskowitz said that on the afternoon of March 19, her son noticed the Swastika crookedly scrawled on a dry-erase board mounted to the door of his suite. His name and those of his three roommates are all on name tags on the door.

Moskowitz’s son took a photo of the symbol and went to report it to his resident advisor, who his mother said told him, “It was probably just a drunken prank. Let me know if it happens again.”

Disappointed that the RA wasn’t more interested, Moskowitz said, her son reported the incident to Amy Epstein, the university’s Jewish Life Coordinator, who was supportive and who immediately filed a report with the school’s Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.

A few days later, Moskowitz said, someone posted on High Point University’s Yik Yak, an anonymous online chat platform, that they “(expletive) hate” her son, calling him by name. Moskowitz said her son doesn’t know who posted the remark.

Moskowitz said it was more than a week after the Swastika incident when her son told her about it, saying he didn’t want to upset her. By then, no one at the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs had been in contact with him, she said.

Moskowitz contacted the office herself on March 27. She also asked for advice on a private Facebook page for the parents of High Point University students that include members who work for the school and offer answers to questions.

One of those members, identified as a “concierge” or school liaison, responded privately, saying they would file a report with Diversity and Multicultural Affairs. By Thursday, when Moskowitz had received no response from the office, she reached out to the concierge again.

On March 31, Dr. Sherrell Fuller, senior director of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, emailed Moskowitz, saying, “I want to reach out once more to let you know that I was absolutely not ignoring you and minimizing the importance of everything that has happened to [your son].”

Fuller said in the email he had faith in Epstein’s ability to investigate and deal with bias issues involving antisemitism and added, “By no means was I not taking this seriously.”

Fuller told Moskowitz in the message that he, Epstein and the vice president of student life would discuss how “to move forward with diversity training and conduct procedures.”

Moskowitz responded to the email the same day, saying she wants to see the person who drew the Swastika on her son’s door be held accountable.

“As a university, this reflects on you,” she wrote to Fuller. “Something must be done. Emails and promises to educate do absolutely NOTHING to solve this problem. I am one voice but you have a much bigger platform. DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!!”

On Tuesday, after she reached out to several news outlets, Moskowitz said she received a call from High Point University President Dr. Nido Qubein, who told her he had been away from campus and had only just learned of the incident. Moskowitz said he told her that campus police were investigating, but that because her son’s room is in a corner, footage from cameras in the halls didn’t offer clear images of anyone approaching.

She said he called her a second time Tuesday afternoon to apologize and say the school had not handled the situation properly.

Moskowitz said her son had been contacted by campus police Tuesday afternoon, the first time since the incident began.

The FBI’s updated report on 2021 hate crimes, released in March, found antisemitic crimes had increased nearly 20% over the previous year and represented the majority of religious-based hate crimes.

Houston Area Littered with Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyers Ahead of Passover

Residents of Jersey Village in Northwest Houston woke up Monday morning to antisemitic flyers on their doorsteps accusing Jewish people of being in league with Satan.

Eric Turnquist, 50, a trade compliance attorney, didn’t have one on his welcome mat but spotted a flyer on a neighbor’s lawn during his morning bike ride. His parents, who also live in the neighborhood, received one, as did at least ten people on a local neighborhood Facebook group.

“We get the standard Jehovah’s Witnesses stuff or apocalyptic church gathering people, but I’ve never seen anything this offensive,” he says. “I’ve heard of it before, but I’ve never held one in my hands.”

The flyers promote the Goyim Defense League (GDL), which runs an online television station. They are known for their offensive flyer campaigns, which blame Jewish people for everything from COVID to the Russian-Ukrainian war. They have also accused Disney of grooming children for Jewishness and other ridiculous claims. NGO StopAntisemitism has been following the GDL and their leader Jon Minadeo II for years. Houston is not new ground for Minadeo. In 2022, the white supremacist and a few followers dropped antisemitic banners along a Houston highway.

The Jersey Village campaign is dominated by a buff pencil drawing of Satan with blood dripping from his horns and the headline “Every single aspect of the Jewish Talmud is Satanic.” The flyer then goes on to wildly and inaccurately quote the Talmud for various verses. 

Overall, the flyer is a vile collection of mis- and disinformation aimed at furthering global antisemitism at a time when fascism is on the rise in the United States. For Turnquist, who identifies as a committed progressive Christian, the campaign is the cause of sadness.

“More than anything else, I’m sad,” he says. “That someone in 2023 is this profoundly broken. What am I even supposed to do with this? I’m not going to that website. They’re not convincing me of anything. I pity this person; Their life must suck.”

Harvard University ‘Apartheid Wall’ Sparks Outrage

Harvard University’s Hillel chapter noted that the start of the campus Palestine Solidarity Committee’s “Israeli Apartheid Week” on Sunday yet again featured a hateful art installation referred to as an “apartheid wall.”

NGO StopAntisemitism tweeted photos of the antisemitic “apartheid wall” with their followers on March 26th accusing Harvard of allowing the harassment to occur.

Harvard Hillel Israel Chair Daniel Denenberg, Hillel Intern for Combating Antisemitism Sabrina Goldfischer, and Hillel President and Crimson Editorial editor Jacob Miller described in an email sent to Hillel affiliates that the wall was “offensive,” The Harvard Crimson reported.

“We’re emailing you because in previous years this wall has been a talking point for much of Harvard’s Jewish community. For some Jews, it has also been painful and offensive,” they wrote. “However much you care, Israel is the world’s only Jewish state. It is our historic homeland. It has held together our people and shaped our culture and practice for eighty generations.”

“We therefore unambiguously reject the PSC’s characterization of Zionism as racist or colonialist,” they said.

The “apartheid wall” promotes the BDS movement and features multiple panels containing anti-Israel propaganda, including claims that Israel only exists because of “racism, colonialism and ethnic cleansing.”

One of its panels consists of black and white imagery that Hillel described as “reminiscent of the Holocaust concentration camps for many last year.”

The co-president of Harvard Israel Initiative, Sarah Bolnick, told the campus newspaper that the installation is “a form of hate speech” and is “very offensive and aggressive.”

Neo-Nazi Captured by Romanian Police with Conspiracy to Commit Riots

Heavily armed Romanian police brought violent, neo-Nazi leader Robert Rundo’s flight from justice to an abrupt halt in Bucharest on March 29. The police acted on a U.S. extradition request.

Rundo, 33, is charged with conspiracy to commit riots for his role in trying to provoke violence at political rallies in California and other states from December 2016 to October 2018. He allegedly trained members of his white supremacist group to fight. He also appears to keep a framed Adolf Hitler portrait in his home.

When first charged in 2018, Rundo fled to Central America, where he was previously extradited. When a judge dismissed the charges, Rundo then traveled to Eastern Europe, where he allegedly moved around the Balkans with false documents. In 2021, the judge’s dismissal was reversed, and Rundo was re-indicted in January.

In May 2022, Rundo declared: “My goal is to be James Bond someday. But right now, I’m Jason Bourne. I’m on the run. I’m on the nitty-gritty side of things … . Going from country to country.”He is known for founding the Rise Above Movement, which uses fitness and martial arts to spread neo-Nazi ideology in “active clubs.”

The group describes itself as the “premier” mixed martial arts club of the alt-right, and it participated in the Unite the Right rally in August 2017 in Charlottesville, Va.

NGO StopAntisemitism shared the news of Rundo’s arrest with their followers on Twitter.

Homophobic and Nazi Insignia Found at Vanderbilt University

VUPD is investigating a report of homophobic language and an antisemitic symbol written on the exterior of the Blair School of Music, per an April 1 email from Vice Provost and Dean of Students G.L. Black and Vice Chancellor for Outreach, Inclusion and Belonging André L. Churchwell. 

According to the email, the university has not identified a suspect, but any Vanderbilt community member found responsible will be subject to disciplinary action and criminal prosecution as seen fit by law enforcement.

“Language and actions intended to promote fear or division at Vanderbilt will not be tolerated as we continue, as a community, to foster a welcoming, affirming and inclusive environment for all,” the email reads.

First-year Joel Bernstein said he was worried about an incident like this occurring, citing an uptick in hate against Jewish communities in recent years. As a result of recent increases in discrimination nationwide, Vanderbilt updated its discrimination policy in November 2022 to allow for students to be subject to sanctions even if their discriminatory acts do not directly violate university policy.

“It’s upsetting how incidents like these almost always come from places of ignorance by people who are fed false narratives,” Bernstein said in a message to The Hustler. “Ignorance leads to hate, so I implore those who want to act to educate themselves on Judaism and ask questions on uncertainties they have to prevent even more people falling down this spiral.” 

Bernstein also encouraged those who want to learn more about Judaism to attend Hillel and Chabad events on campus. 

In November 2022, NGO StopAntisemitism exposed Vanderbilt University's Assistant Football Coach Dan Jackson for defending Kanye West's antisemitism on a Facebook thread, stating people need to “wake up.”

Vanderbilt Hillel President Carly Stewart, a senior, said her community was hurt by the vandalism, especially since similar incidents have recently happened in the greater Nashville community.

“I think it is important that Vanderbilt continues to affirm its support for affected communities. Vanderbilt should also investigate the incident thoroughly to hopefully find the perpetrators,” Stewart said. “Incidents like these show that antisemitism and homophobia are unfortunately still alive. Hatred has no place on our campus, and we hope that the Vanderbilt community will come together to support affected students.”

This vandalism occurred only a few weeks after Governor Bill Lee signed bills restricting public adult cabaret shows — effectively limiting drag shows — and banning gender-transition care for minors. Junior Chandler Quaile, Vanderbilt Lambda Association community relations director, expressed concerns about the homophobic vandalism in an email to The Hustler. 

“Our community has once again been placed at the crosshairs of bigotry through hate symbolism on a part of campus home to the highest concentrations of queer people,” Quaile said. “This is an unacceptable and morally reprehensible act of unbridled hate, and the Lambda Association condemns the vandal in the strongest terms possible. Hate has no place on this campus.”

A university representative declined to comment further on the matter and referred The Hustler to Black and Churchwell’s email.

Vanderbilt Chabad did not immediately respond to request for comment.

More Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyers Uncovered in Boca Raton

For the second time this year, Boca Raton police are investigating after antisemitic flyers were found in a neighborhood near downtown.

NGO StopAntisemitism, one of the leading voices bringing antisemitism to light, has been following similar flyers across the country. The watchdog organization has named the antisemitic group responsible as the Goyim Defense League. Neo-nazi Jon Minadeo II runs the league. Minadeo is well-known to law enforcement for harassing the Jewish communities of Florida. Minadeo is actively fighting a Florida bill that would make it illegal to litter propaganda onto private property.

"I'm very distressed to learn about this," Betsy Wenzel told WPTV. "It's probably a few people that are really trying to get a lot of exposure." Wenzel was shocked to hear antisemitic flyers were found scattered throughout her Boca Raton neighborhood Sunday night.

In a photo sent to WPTV by one of Wenzel's neighbors, the flyers are packaged in Ziploc bags, just as they were when similar materials were found in another Boca Raton neighborhood in January.

Boca Raton police released the following statement to WPTV on Monday morning: “We are aware of the recent materials. The first report was received last night just before 11 p.m. along the 600 block of High Street. Additional locations in the area have since been reported. We are currently investigating.”

Dept. of Education Rules the University of Vermont Failed to Address Campus Antisemitism

The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has ruled that the University of Vermont (UVM) failed to respond to numerous complaints of antisemitism and anti-Zionist harassment and discrimination, according to a press release issued on Monday.

The announcement marks the first time the Biden administration has resolved a complaint of campus antisemitism and the first time ever that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act has been applied to anti-Zionist discrimination.

In light of the rulings, NGO StopAntisemitism called for the resignation of the University’s President, Suresh Garimella.

OCR began investigating the university in Oct. 2021 after the Brandeis Center filed a complaint alleging that a teaching assistant harassed UVM students who embraced Zionism and that student clubs, including UVM Empowering Survivors — a sexual assault awareness group —  expelled them from their groups. Additionally, UVM’s Hillel Center was vandalized and no one was punished.

OCR said on Monday that the university did not investigate “serious allegations of harassment” and that “responsive steps” were “delayed,” effectively “discouraging” students and staff from coming forward in the future. Among the complaints the university left unaddressed was an allegation that an anti-Zionist teaching assistant bragged about giving Jewish students zero credit for class participation. In another complaint, the same professor allegedly celebrated when someone stole an Israeli flag from a Jewish student’s residence and captioned “Kristallnacht” on a post showing damage to a Jewish-owned business.

OCR announced that the complaint is resolved, with UVM agreeing to implement several reforms, including a top down review of its procedures for assessing discrimination complaints, new training for Bias Response Team members that emphasizes civil rights laws’ protections for national origin and shared ancestry, and a formal statement affirming its commitment to address antisemitism on campus.

In a statement, the University of Vermont said it assumes “responsibility to provide equal opportunity to all members of its community to fully express their identity in an environment free from discrimination and harassment.” The university also pledged to “use all tools at its disposal to eliminate the hostile behavior and enable each member of the community to learn and work in an environment unfettered by discrimination and harassment.”

UVM Hillel also welcomed OCR’s announcement, saying, “We are grateful to the many students, alumni, families, friends, and organizations who spoke out when Jewish students at UVM needed their support.”

Ohio Teen Arrested for Threatening New York Synagogue

An Ohio teen who made terrorist threats against a northern New York State synagogue was arrested last week.

The Secure Community Network’s operation command center received information on March 28 about a threatening message on the social-media platform Telegram. The message included a synagogue address, according to SCN, a nonprofit under the auspices of the Jewish Federations of North America and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

SCN and the Jewish Federation of Central New York alerted the local FBI field office, leading to the arrest of the 15-year-old, whose name has not been released.

“We meet, we prepare, and we plan for ‘when,’ ” said Susan DeMari, community security coordinator for the Federation. “Having witnessed and been a part of the seamless and collaborative effort amongst law-enforcement agencies sharing information clearly reaffirms the need, time and effort vested by all involved.”

Michael Masters, national director and CEO of SCN, noted that the coordination between groups has been successful. “This is a stark reminder of the threats that we face as a country and faith-based community every day,” he said of this and other recent threats.

Antisemitic Flyers Distributed Throughout Connecticut

Residents of two Connecticut areas made a troubling discovery this week: white supremacist and antisemitic flyers outside their New Haven and Hamden homes.

“I found this in front of my house — right in the driveway, right behind one of our cars,” said Richard Brown, of Hamden. “This is a white supremacist message. It’s clear when you open it up and take a look at it.”

Brown found the flyer at his house early Thursday morning. These flyers were left on several other streets in town and the East Rock neighborhood in New Haven.

“There’s somebody with some intent and some resources that are trying to stir up trouble. And we need to say that’s not who we are and not what we stand for,” New Haven resident Paul Wessel said.

The flyers reference Yale MBA student, Robert Lucas, who recently proposed renaming Whitney Avenue in New Haven. The street is named after Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, which is a machine that led to the expansion of slavery.

“I thought it’s disturbing,” Lucas told News 8. “It’s disgusting but it’s not discouraging.”

Lucas, who is not Jewish, said he’s grateful residents brought these flyers to his attention.

“When these incidents happen, I think it’s important we speak out 100 times stronger than those who did these acts,” Lucas said.

An investigation is underway into these flyers. Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett is encouraging anyone with information or surveillance video to share it.

“It has no place in Hamden,” Garrett said. “These hateful messages do not represent what Hamden is all about.”

These types of incidents continue to happen at an alarming rate in Connecticut.

More Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyers Invade Florida Neighborhoods

Residents in a St. Petersburg neighborhood reported that antisemitic flyers were left in their local book exchange boxes.

NGO StopAntisemitism has identified and attributed the antisemitic leaflets to the neo-nazi group, the Goyim Defense League. The league and their leader, Jon Minadeo II, travel the nation dropping these hateful flyers. This is not the first time such materials have been left in neighborhoods in the Tampa Bay area. Last summer, such flyers were left in Hyde Park and South Tampa.

A Jewish resident of the Old Northeast neighborhood of St. Petersburg emailed photos of the flyers to 8 On Your Side Sunday, saying that someone left the documents in a neighbor’s Little Free Library box.

“She was, of course, horrified,” the resident said. “She told me other neighbors with similar LFL boxes were stuffed as well.”

The flyers made various antisemitic claims about prominent Jewish figures in sports and media, as well as Judaism itself.

A spokeswoman with St. Petersburg police confirmed the existence of the fliers, saying officers removed the documents from homes in the area of 13th and 14th Avenue. However, because the flyers did not make any threats nor was any property damaged, police said their placement technically falls under the First Amendment.

St. Petersburg police said they will have directed patrols in the area as a precaution.

Northern Syracuse Area Middle School Infested with Antisemitic, Homophobic, anti-Black racism

Middle school students in Hastings-on-Hudson have called their Black peers "monkeys," shared antisemitic memes, touched other students' genitals, and commented favorably about the Holocaust and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

And there's plenty more.

Some students are behaving so badly that other students don't feel safe − and it's affecting the school's ability to teach, according to a memo sent to staff at Farragut Middle School by the school's principal, Jennifer Spirelli, and assistant principal, Kamillah Dawkins.

The memo, sent Monday, said staff would meet Wednesday to discuss the situation. It also said the school would have to share "concerns and expectations" with school district families. Moving forward, the memo said, the district would need to review how incidents are reported and the district's code of conduct.

The memo was posted in a closed Facebook group Tuesday and shared with The Journal News/lohud.

"Any amount of behavior such as this is too much," Hastings Superintendent William McKersie said in interview Wednesday afternoon. "We're being open and direct about it here in Hastings. The only way we're going to get after students struggling with these behaviors is if we're overt about it, clear about it."

McKersie and Spirelli both said the social-emotional impact of the pandemic on students and a variety of other factors were driving the bad behavior. Middle-school students are generally 11 to 13 years old, meaning most would have been between 8 and 10 between 2020 and 2022.

"It's a socialization problem. It's an educational problem. It's a philosophy problem. It's an internet problem. It's a, you know, political problem," Spirelli said. "I think it's all encompassing."

University of London Professor Canned after Insulting Jewish Students with Antisemitic Tropes

Professor Rob Singh was recently fired from Birkbeck, University of London for antisemitic rhetoric directed at students. He will be allowed to finish the rest of the academic year at the institute.

According to the university's website, "Rob is a specialist in contemporary US politics and the politics of American foreign policy. He is the author of eleven books - including, most recently, In Defense of the United States Constitution (Routledge, 2019) - and numerous articles and book chapters."

Singh’s firing was the result of the British based Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) which claimed to have submitted evidence against Singh.

Singh allegedly made statements to students like: “Too bad you live down to stereotypes,” “Is it difficuybeing a Jew?” [sic] and “Are you pretending to be a Jew?”

Singh is also accused of using profanities and slurs specifically targeting black people, and other racist terminology, such as referring to people as apes.

Professor Singh will be leaving his position as the Professor of Politics and Director of Education in the Department of Politics on July 31, according to CAA. 

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said, “The language used in the correspondence that was provided to us is extreme and appalling, containing various forms of bigotry, including a number of antisemitic comments. Someone who repeatedly uses such language, even in the heat of a sustained argument, has no place teaching impressionable young people. It is right that he is imminently leaving Birkbeck.”

Jewish Student Granted Restraining Order Against Michigan High School

InterimPNHS Principal Nat Ledlow

A circuit court judge granted a temporary restraining order against Portage Northern High School (PNHS) for reportedly scheduling Graduation Day this year on Shavuot, a Jewish holiday that celebrates when God gave the Jewish people the Torah.

The lawsuit, filed by a senior at the school, states the student is unable to attend graduation because her faith requires her to observe the holiday on May 26.

18-year-old Minaleah Koffron filed the lawsuit claiming the district violated the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, the Michigan Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.

FOX 17 obtained court documents that explain for the last decade, the Koffron family had given the school advance notice of Jewish holidays, including the dates of Shavuot.

In the documents, Saraphoena Koffron, Minaleah's mother, explains that for years, that advanced notice included letters, phone calls and even meetings with Portage Public Schools.

The court filing goes on to say the Koffrons repeatedly tried to work with school officials, but PNHS claimed they were unable to change the graduation date.

The documents show that during a March 3 meeting, interim principal Nate Ledlow even said he was concerned about getting "300 angry emails" from other parents. But, in that same meeting, Ledlow did tell the Koffrons that he would inquire about other dates and expenses.

However, on March 8, the documents allege Ledlow admitted to the family that he never actually intended to make those inquiries, adding that while he does have the authority to change the date, he wouldn't without an order from the superintendent.

Koffron says she previously missed other school events due to conflicts with the Jewish calendar, including prom her junior year because it fell on the first day of Passover.

The lawsuit asserts the school’s alleged refusal to accommodate the student’s religious needs is a “clear” act of discrimination and a violation of her constitutional rights.

In a statement, Minaleah says the school's actions make her feel like a "lesser citizen."

"Whether the adults in this district realize what message they were/are sending or not, the message was and remains clear— my religious identity is not as important as the identities of Christian kids at my school. In the eyes of the school district, I am a lesser citizen."

Minaleah writes, "Even if the decision to schedule graduation on a Jewish holy day was an oversight, the decision to keep it is not.”

The documents also go on to explain that Miller Auditorium, where the graduation is set to be held, had alternate dates available that same week and any changes would not result in additional fees.

The judge granted the temporary restraining order Wednesday; however, FOX 17 learned Thursday evening that the case appears to be headed to federal court.

Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyers Found in Two New Jersey Towns

State Police and local police are trying to find out who is responsible for antisemitic flyers found this week in at least two towns in northwestern New Jersey - Allamuchy Township in Warren County and Byram in Sussex County.

The flyers reference COVID and list the names and titles of Jewish people employed by various government health organizations and drug companies. The bottom of the flyer lists the web address for an antisemitic website.

State Police said Thursday that someone who found one of the flyers in front of a business on Johnsburg Road in Allamuchy Township on Tuesday morning notified authorities, who then found several other identical flyers when they canvassed the area.

NGO StopAntisemitism attributed the anti-Jewish flyers to the Goyim Defense League (GDL), led by neo-nazi Jon Minadeo II. Minadeo and his followers are responsible for thousands of antisemitic flyer drops around the country.

Troopers spent several hours knocking on doors and asking residents for surveillance footage from security cameras to aid them in their investigation.

A State Police spokesman said that an “unknown granular substance” in bags that contained flyers has been sent to a lab for testing.

Texas Man Arrested for Trespassing at Synagogues Across Houston

A man was arrested on March 22 for criminal trespass at Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism on March 19.

Tyse Hem was arrested following several attempts to enter HCRJ after being asked to leave.

Hem is known to have approached multiple Houston-area synagogues, including Congregations Beth Israel and Emanu El, Temple Sinai, Chabad of The Woodlands, and Chabad of Uptown, as well as the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC.

The Secure Community Network (SCN) shared a “Be-on-the-Lookout” (BOLO) alert featuring identifying information and photos for Hem, who has an established criminal record and a history of violence.

Second Swastika Discovered at New York High School

Antisemitic garffiti has been discovered at a high school in Rockland. School officials and police confirm a swastika was found in a classroom at Clarkstown South High School weeks ago, and another was seen in a locker room earlier this month.

Some students News 12 spoke to during dismissal on Thursday had no idea, while another student said it happened in their classroom. 

The president of Rockland's Jewish Foundation said they are aware of what happened and are prepared to help the district.

The school district said the swastika symbol has no place in the school district and encouraged all families to take time during the upcoming break to talk about the values of tolerance and acceptance. 

Atlanta Jewish Community Distraught Over Antisemitic Graffiti

A police report was filed with the Gwinnett County Police Department a day after swastikas and Heil Hitler were discovered March 13, drawn into pollen on a sliding board in the playground area of the Lockridge Forest subdivision.

The police report was filed by Chet Roberts, president of the swim and tennis committee. He sent an email three days after the discovery to members of his group, which doesn’t include the full subdivision owners, saying: “It’s been brought to our attention that some hateful rhetoric was scrawled in some pollen that had collected on one of the children’s slides. We have contacted the proper authorities regarding this issue and are putting the issue in their hands to address this particular issue.”

The graffiti was discovered by California relatives of Rissa Shapiro, whom they were visiting to celebrate her mother’s 95th birthday. She said she called Roberts to let him know and she took several photos which she shared with her neighbors.

Shapiro, who has lived in the subdivision for more than two years, said that Roberts told her that he would contact State House Rep. Esther Panitch, but when the AJT contacted her, she said she had not “yet” been contacted.

One of the residents of Lockridge Forest said she was upset not only by the graffiti, but also by her subdivision’s response. “Nothing was really done. The email was sent to the swim and tennis members but that’s not many people,” said Risa Jennison, who has lived in the subdivision about three years. She pointed out that her father lived through the Holocaust, losing all his family members except a brother.

The subdivision, she charged, “Is just sweeping it under the rug. The neighborhood needs to know what’s going on. There are a lot of Jewish people in the neighborhood,” citing some across her street and behind her house.

She added that she was particularly concerned that the five- and six-year-old children that play on the equipment would see the graffiti, which she acknowledged, was probably drawn by teenagers.

Shapiro said that the graffiti was gone days later, but she didn’t know if Roberts had cleaned it up or the rain had just washed away the pollen.