Elite NYC Private School Drowning in Antisemitic Hate Claims

Jewish parents of students at an elite New York private school are fuming over what they say is growing anti-Semitism on campus and a failure on the part of the administration to call it out, according to an article published Wednesday.

The outraged parents at the $52,993-a-year Fieldston School in Riverdale told Tablet Magazinethey’ve experienced growing bias since 2015, and that none of the incidents were properly addressed by school leadership.

“The school has a problem saying the words Jewish or Jew,” one parent told the magazine. “And calling out hate against this community.”

Parents traced back the problems to the 2015 launch of the school’s Affinity Group program, which gathers students in third through fifth grades by shared racial or ethnic identity. Parents can also chose to place their kids in a general discussion group, open to students of all backgrounds.

At the time, parents asked for a Jewish affinity group but were denied, leaving them “aghast,” one parent said according to the report.

Jewish students said fellow classmates met their concerns about anti-Semitism by telling them they should be considered white and privileged and therefore could not be victims of discrimination.

That same year, swastikas reportedly began appearing in the halls and classrooms.

School leadership responded with a presentation to students that apparently didn’t include mention of how the symbol was used in “relation to the slaughter of millions of Jews,” according to one parent.

Facing outrage, the school sent out a letter that identified the swastika “as a hateful symbol of the Nazi genocide, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, fascism, and the destruction of European Jewry and other victims of the Nazi regime.”

Some parents said the school didn’t appear to respond to incidents of anti-Semitism the way they did with incidents of other bias or prejudice.

The response fit a pattern of “sincere if limited efforts to address it, or pro-forma apologies, or simply indifference,” one faculty member said.

The tension between Jewish parents and the administration exploded last month when an invited speaker appeared to equate Holocaust survivors and their Nazi oppressors, the article said.

“The [Nazi] attacks are a shameful part of history, but in some ways it reflects the fluidity between those who are victims becoming perpetrators,” Columbia University Law School adjunct Kayum Ahmed told about 500 high school students Nov. 21, according to the report.

“I use the same example in talking about the Holocaust. That Jews who suffered in the Holocaust and established the State of Israel today — they perpetuate violence against Palestinians that [is] unthinkable,” Ahmed said.

Several students and parents were shocked at the remarks — and outraged at the school’s lack of what they saw as an appropriate response, according to the magazine.

Administrators waited until the Wednesday after Thanksgiving to issue a statement, the article detailed.

“We are taking the opportunity brought by this incident not to discuss this particular speaker or his words, but to reaffirm our institution’s firmly held values,” wrote Head of School Jessica Bagby in a letter obtained by the magazine.

“We are taking the opportunity brought by this incident not to discuss this particular speaker or his words, but to reaffirm our institution’s firmly held values.”

Some parents said they thought the letter “was worse than doing nothing.”

“It was simply a ‘f–k you,’ and entirely infuriating,” one parent said.

Another parent said they immediately began looking for a different school.

Police on the Hunt for Man Who Vandalized Beverly Hills Synagogue on Shabbat

Update: Police have identified and caught Anton Nathaniel Redding, 24, in connection with the antisemitic vandalism of a Persian synagogue in L.A. last week. Redding was arrested trying to flee in Kono, Hawaii and has pled not guilty to charges.

Originally from Russia, he works at The Highlands at Wyomissing retirement facility. He graduated from Hempfield High School, Landisville, PA, in 2013 and then attended Point Park University from 2013-2014 before dropping out to go to Capitol Bartending School.

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Beverly Hills police are investigating vandalism of Nessah Synagogue on Saturday morning after an employee arrived at the place of worship at 7 a.m. to discover an open door, overturned furniture and damage to several relics.

Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime but report that there is no evidence to suggest that the attack was anti-Semitic in nature. The synagogue’s main scrolls were locked up and undamaged.

Damage inside the synagogue was “ugly,” according to one witness who had conversations with people who saw the damage first hand, and will require extensive cleanup.

A place of worship for the Persian Jewish community in Southern California, the Nessah Synagogue occupies a respected place in Los Angeles’ Iranian community. It was founded by David Shofet, who immigrated to the United States in 1980 from Tehran in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution.

When members arrived Saturday morning for Shabbat, they found papers and fliers from the lobby strewn across the front of the property. Police soon cordoned off Rexford Drive, where the synagogue is located.

“This cowardly attack hits at the heart of who we are as a community,” Mayor John Mirisch said in a statement. “It is not just an attack on the Jewish Community of Beverly Hills; it’s an attack on all of us. The entire City stands in solidarity behind Nessah, its members and congregants.”

The attack comes at a time when the community is especially alert to anti-Semitic violence. On Tuesday, two shooters attacked a cemetery and a Jewish grocery store in Jersey City, N.J., leaving six dead.

“In the aftermath of the terrible tragedy in Jersey City earlier this week, the American Jewish community is understandably anxious,” said Richard Hirschhaut, director of the American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles. “Reports of vandalism and damage to a synagogue are deeply troubling and cause further sense of discomfort amid the presumption of anti-Semitic intent.”

Moshe Isaacian has been a member of the Nessah Synagogue for 16 years. Isaacian said that the temple often rallied for other synagogues in the country that have experienced similar acts of vandalism.

“To have this happen on our home turf is very jarring,” he said. “Our community can’t stay silent about this.”

On Twitter, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also expressed his concern. “Shocked and outraged by the vandalism at Nessah Synagogue in the city of Beverly Hills,” he said. “We will stand together and speak out strongly against any act of hate and intolerance in our community. We’re keeping our friends and neighbors in our thoughts as police investigate.”

On Saturday afternoon, Beverly Hills police released a description of the suspect as a white man, 20 to 25 years old with short dark curly hair, a thin build, wearing possibly prescription glasses and carrying a backpack and pulling a rolling suitcase.