Three leading Jewish organizations launched a pro bono antisemitism helpline on Thursday to assist California parents of children experiencing anti-Jewish harassment in K-12 schools.
The pilot helpline comes after a complaint was filed on Wednesday against Berkeley, California’s K-12 system detailing a number of reports from parents and students exposing antisemitic behavior conducted by peers and teachers. The Brandeis Center, the Anti-Defamation League, and StandwithUs partnered to launch the program.
Students chanted, “Kill the Jews,” “F— the Jews,” “F— Israel,” “KKK,” “Kill Israel,” “I hate those people,” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” as teachers watched without intervention at events organized by faculty using Berkeley Unified School District resources, the complaint states.
“The eruption of anti-Semitism in Berkeley’s elementary and high schools is like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center, said in a Wednesday press release.
“It is dangerous enough to see faculty fanning the flames of anti-Semitism on college campuses, but to see teachers inciting hate in the youngest of grades while Berkeley administrators sit idly by as it continues to escalate by the day is reprehensible,” he added. “Where is the accountability? Where are the people who are supposed to protect and educate students?”
According to the complaint, Berkeley teachers organized walkouts and activities “denigrating Israelis and calling for the elimination of Jews,” actively engaged in antisemitic bullying, and emboldened pupils to bully Jewish students — all while the school district ignored these reports.
One teacher allegedly showed his class “violent pro-Hamas videos” and displayed a number of anti-Israel images all over his classroom, including one image of a fist holding a Palestinian flag punishing through a Star of David. Other images celebrated the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and “condone violence against civilians.” The principal allegedly told parents that the antisemitic materials would be removed, but the complaint stated the images remain on classroom walls.
Another teacher reportedly went on a number of anti-Israel tirades and regularly expressed “antisemitic stereotypes.” She required students to write an assignment on Israel being considered an “apartheid” state and was hostile toward dissenting opinions.
A second-grade teacher wrote “stop bombing babies” on a sticky note, resulting in a number of students following suit, and the group displayed the notes on the door of the only Jewish teacher in the school. The assignment was to write “messages of anti-hate.”
The complaint listed a number of examples of how teachers had “emboldened” their students to harass Jewish peers. After giving a presentation on his Jewish ancestry, one student had his project vandalized as a classmate crossed out the word “Jewish” and scrawled “free Palestine” in its place.
Another Jewish student was allegedly told, “You have a big nose because you are a stupid Jew,” and “I don’t like your people.” That same student was also told that his Jewish traditions are dumb and that they’re not welcome. Another student was called a “midget Jew,” and after a mistake was made by some students in a lab experiment, one peer reportedly called out, “Of course it was the Jews.”
The Berkeley Unified School District has received a number of complaints of anti-semitism following the Oct. 7 massacre, including a letter signed by 1,370 Berkeley community members to the Berkeley Superintendent and the Board of Education. These concerns, the Jewish organizations say, have been ignored.
Jewish students offended by these conversations were moved to other classes or the health center or library, which made the students feel “isolated, marginalized, [and] ostracized,” according to the press release.
BUSD Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel told the Washington Examiner that the school district has “not yet received official notification of the recent federal complaint” but will “work with the Office of Civil Rights in support of a thorough investigation.”
“Berkeley Unified stands against all forms of hate,” she said. “This is a message we share widely and frequently in our school community. We believe that classrooms must be places of joy, empathy, curiosity, love, and rigor where all students feel safe, seen, heard, and valued … We remain committed to engaging with our community to ensure that BUSD is a district that lives up to its values of excellence, engagement, equity, and enrichment.”
“We stay in communication and work in collaboration with various members of our diverse community and have recently had focused conversations on these specific concerns,” she added.
Californians can report incidents of antisemitic discrimination, intimidation, harassment, vandalism or violence to the Legal Protection K-12 Helpline, where lawyers will investigate the incident and may provide pro bono representation on behalf of victims.
Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), one of just two Jewish Republicans in Congress, shared his thoughts on the incidents with the Washington Examiner.
“Since Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel, we have seen a nearly 400% uptick in antisemitic incidents throughout the United States. This hate has no place in our national discourse, and it is imperative leaders voice their strong opposition to such horrifying and targeted acts of violence and discrimination,” he said.
Kustoff continued, “I am pleased the House of Representatives passed my bipartisan resolution to condemn and denounce antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world. Jewish students and families across the country deserve to feel safe in school and in their communities, and we must do everything we can to ensure they are protected.”
Marci Miller, senior education counsel for the Brandeis Center who is overseeing this complaint, told the Washington Examiner, “Harassment and bullying by teachers is especially harmful to students due to the imbalance of power and the resulting loss of trust in the school system. It also sends other students the message that it is ok to bully their Jewish peers. The very people who are supposed to be protecting and educating the students are using their power to harm them.”
“Some teachers claim that they are exercising their free speech rights when they make harmful comments to students, but the right to free speech does not protect K-12 teachers when they use their platform to indoctrinate students or harass them,” she added.
“Although we have received more complaints of anti-Semitic bullying and harassment from families who live in more liberal areas of the country and state, this is not a political issue,” she said. “The reported incidents involve violations of law and school policies, not expressions of political opinions.”
In the first three months after Oct. 7, the ADL recorded 256 antisemitic incidents in U.S. K-12 schools, representing greater than a 140% increase from the same time period the previous year.
The Education Department is investigating complaints the Brandeis Center filed against Wellesley, SUNY New Paltz, the University of Southern California (USC), Brooklyn College, and the University of Illinois. The Brandeis Center also recently filed federal complaints against American University and the University of California for antisemitism on UC Berkeley’s campus.
