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Fair Lawn High School in New Jersey allegedly banned yellow ribbons that honored Israeli hostages taken prisoner on October 7th, 2023 in what is being called a “blatant” display of antisemitism.

“Some Fair Lawn High School parents and the group StopAntisemitism also complained that the presence of Israel’s flag during the event, which was partly promoting a trip to Israel, was not allowed because the administration deemed it too ‘political’ — while members of the Muslim Student Association were allowed to display a keffiyeh,” the New York Post reported.

Critics of the alleged censorship also referred to the incident as “deeply offensive.”

“What happened at Fair Lawn High School is an alarming case of hypocrisy and blatant antisemitism,” Liora Rez, the founder of StopAntisemitism, told the media outlet. “This incident is nothing short of a direct violation of Jewish students’ rights to express their identity and humanitarian concerns.”

Bergen County is approximately 17 miles from New York City. Between a third and 40% of the roughly 35,000 residents there are Jewish. It’s no wonder there was a major outcry over the incident. The issue of antisemitism has been a sore spot between parents and the school district there for quite a while evidently. Parents have filed complaints that have been reportedly ignored.

“The incident at Fair Lawn High School’s Club Fair is not an isolated event but part of a disturbing pattern of antisemitism that I and other parents have been battling for years,” Adi Vaxman, the founder and president of Operation Israel, a group that provides humanitarian relief to the Jewish state, commented to the New York Post in an interview on Sunday.

“Despite numerous meetings with the board of education and the superintendent, promises of inclusion in anti-antisemitism efforts have gone unfulfilled,” Vaxman remarked.

Her daughter, Maya, is a student at the high school and she’s furious over the anti-Semitic environment growing there.

“The administrator’s claim that the yellow hostage ribbon — a humanitarian symbol calling for the release of innocent civilians abducted from their homes and held in subhuman conditions by Hamas — is ‘political’ is deeply offensive and unacceptable,” she railed during the interview.

The enraged mother was also incensed over the black-and-white keffiyehs, which are “a symbol of the armed resistance against Israelis.” Those were allowed to be on display at the fair for hours according to Vaxman.

“This glaring double standard exposes the bias of the school and the administrator in question,” she asserted. “It’s alarming that the school supports the Muslim Student Association identifying as Palestinian while censoring the Israeli flag for the Jewish Student Union. Israel is the world’s only Jewish state, naturally associated with Judaism and relevant to the JSU’s advertised trip to Israel.”

Paul Gorski, who is the principal at the school, issued a statement naturally defending the actions at his school.

“We take pride in our Student Activities program as well as the leadership shown by both students and faculty,” Gorski claimed. “During this year’s event, both the Muslim Student Association and the Jewish Student Union were asked to adjust items that were not part of their original displays. Both groups received the same instruction and were treated equally,” he said, adding that “no students were disciplined in connection with their participation at the Club Fair.”

“We condemn antisemitism and remain steadfast in our commitment to creating an inclusive community where hate is not tolerated,” the statement contended. “When we return to school after being closed for the Jewish holidays, we will engage in dialogue with our students and community. Hate has no home at Fair Lawn High School.”

That response was not good enough for Vaxman or many other parents.

“This selective application of rules further demonstrates the discriminatory treatment of Jewish students. The school’s response is extremely disappointing and fails to address these core issues,” Vaxman pointed out. “Their participation in the ‘No Place for Hate’ initiative rings hollow when Jewish students face such blatant discrimination and intimidation in their school on a regular basis. We demand concrete actions, not empty platitudes, to combat antisemitism and ensure true equality for ‘all’ students.”

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