Los Angeles Times

Jewish families say anti-Israel messaging in Bay Area classrooms is making schools unsafe

Jewish families across the Bay Area are pushing back against what they describe as an overt anti- Israel bias in K-12 classrooms.

In the weeks after Hamas' deadly cross-border attacks on Israeli border towns and Israel's ensuing bombardment of Gaza, a seventh-grade Jewish student at Roosevelt Middle School in San Francisco grew accustomed to seeing her classmates display their support for Palestinians.

Students wore shirts that read "Free Palestine" and "All eyes on Gaza." But it was more of a background hum until spring, when things took a sharper turn.

During a school assembly, a classmate spoke out against the war, equating it to genocide. Then, one teacher asked students to create a "propaganda poster" that would "persuade your audience" on an issue important to them. Many students used the opportunity to create public service announcements for cleaner oceans or against food waste and texting while driving. A handful called for an end to the war in Gaza.

One poster, prominently displayed by the teacher, caught the seventh-grader's attention. A student had drawn an image of a Star of David exuding thick chains shackling what appeared to be an outline of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Beneath the image, written in red

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