EXCLUSIVE — A member of the Fairfax County School Board in northern Virginia commended a teacher’s anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian rhetoric, according to internal emails.
The emails, which were obtained by the parent activist group Parents Defending Education through the Freedom of Information Act, show Fairfax board member Laura Jane Cohen praising an unidentified Muslim teacher who had accused Israel of “aggressively and indiscriminately bomb[ing] Gaza and terroriz[ing] other occupied Palestinian territories.”
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“The School Board was quick to speak up when Israeli lives were lost, but is silent to the ongoing loss of Palestinian lives,” the unnamed teacher said. “You might think that your silence is balanced, neutral, and measured. However, the Muslim community, the Palestinian community, and countless interfaith communities against the Palestinian apartheid see your silence as a conscious choice to side with the oppressor.”
Cohen, who represents the Springfield district seat, thanked the teacher in response and added, “I appreciate your advocacy on behalf of the atrocities against Palestinians.”
Cohen then included the text of a statement she had read at a recent school board meeting that said: “During tonight’s moment of silence many of our Board members would like to share our care and concern for the victims, their loved ones, and our entire Jewish community who are suffering from Saturday’s vicious terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel. We further extend our care and concern for all civilians in Israel, Gaza and the surrounding areas who may be impacted by the ensuing war.”
The revelation of the emails comes the same day as a protest outside the Fairfax County Public Schools office after the school district disciplined a student at Langley High School for revealing the presence of an American flag drawn with swastikas in a social media post. The student who drew the flag was also suspended, according to the Fairfax Times.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Fairfax County Public Schools for comment.
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Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, said the news of Cohen’s supportive statement to the anti-Israel teacher was not surprising.
“Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment is increasingly common among educators and school board members,” she said. “People can disagree about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without accusing Israel of apartheid. It is quite telling that after Hamas raped, murdered, decapitated and kidnapped so many civilians in their own homes, the board member calls out Israel for ‘atrocities.'”
