Pro-Israel teacher hides in Queens high school as ‘radicalized’ students riot: ‘They want her fired’
From NYPOST.COM
Hundreds of “radicalized” kids rampaged through the halls of a Queens high school this week for nearly two hours after they discovered a teacher had attended a pro-Israel rally — forcing the terrified educator to hide in a locked office as the teen mob tried to push its way into her classroom, The Post has learned.
The mayhem at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica unfolded shortly after 11 a.m. Monday in what students called a pre-planned protest over the teacher’s Facebook profile photo showing her at a pro-Israel rally on Queens Oct. 9 holding a poster saying, “I stand with Israel.”
“The teacher was seen holding a sign of Israel, like supporting it,” a senior told The Post this week.
@hillcrestgoofyyaa.fights LMAOOOOO W CREST? #hillcrest #hillcresthighschool #newyork #freepalestine??❤️ #palestinewillbefreefromtherivertothesea #boycottisrael #standagainstzionists #freepalestinetillitsbackwards ♬ dammi falastini by mohammad assaf - nora
“A bunch of kids decided to make a group chat, expose her, talk about it, and then talk about starting a riot.”
Hundreds of kids flooded into hallways and ran amok, chanting, jumping, shouting, and waving Palestinian flags or banners.
Many tried to barge into the teacher’s classroom despite school staffers blocking their entry.
“Everyone was screaming ‘(The teacher) needs to go!’” a ninth-grader said.
School administrators and the NYPD, which responded to the school at about 11:20 am, got wind of their plans just in time to rush the teacher into an office and lock the door, another educator said.
Students recorded the commotion, posting multiple videos, some set to pulsing Arabian music, on TikTok.
“When a protest brakes (sic) out because a teacher stands with Israel,” a caption on one says.
Another reads, “Hillcrest high school had a riot because a Health teacher was supporting Israel.”
Most comments posted on the videos applauded the kids and jeered the teacher, one calling her a “cracker ass bitch.”
Clips showed a water fountain ripped out in the hallway and shattered tiles in the second-floor boys’ bathroom, which students admitted they vandalized.
The NYPD not only sent a couple dozen cops to restore order but tapped its counterterrorism bureau to investigate a possible threat against the school, according to City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Queens), citing officials.
“Whether it was one student or multiple students who did or said something, whatever the trigger was, something happened. And I know from my many years on the City Council that the counterterrorism task force is not engaged unless they believe it is potentially a serious situation,” Gennaro said.
The teacher gave a statement to The Post, which is withholding her name for her own safety.
“I have been a teacher for 23 years in the New York City public school system — for the last seven at Hillcrest High School. I have worked hard to be supportive of our entire student body and an advocate for our community, and was shaken to my core by the calls to violence against me that occurred online and outside my classroom last week.”
“No one should ever feel unsafe at school — students and teachers alike,” she added.
The teacher continued: “It’s my hope in the days ahead we can find a way to have meaningful discussions about challenging topics with respect for each other’s diverse perspectives and shared humanity,” the teacher said in her statement. “Unless we can learn to see each other as people we will never be able to create a safe learning community.”
The school’s deans, and a sergeant stationed at the school, finally corralled the students back into classrooms, according to sources and the NYPD.
Cops escorted the teacher safely out of the building.
Students said kids followed and spit on her, but another teacher said that did not happen.
The hostility went further, students told The Post.
“They found where she lives — her address, her phone number, her family and everything — her personal information,” a senior said.
“I heard that some people already called her on her private phone and said some bad things.” Sources could not confirm that.
The chaos and lockdown, which sources said lasted roughly two hours, was one of the most frightening incidents of antisemitism in New York schools and colleges since the Hamas massacre in Israel Oct. 7 sparked the Jewish state’s war with Gaza.... (Read more)
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