Jewish students faced escalated harassments since the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza broke out, according to a federal complaint.
The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into a civil rights complaint filed against Baltimore City Public Schools, where Jewish students have allegedly been subjected to “persistent discrimination and harassment.”
The Department’s Office for Civil Rights said on Thursday it is looking into whether the district, which serves more than 76,000 students across 177 schools, is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in educational settings.
The complaint was brought in late July by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on behalf of the school district’s Jewish students, alleging that district officials failed to address repeated reports of harassment and bullying of Jews.
The ADL’s complaint says that while Jewish students, who make up a small percentage of the student body, have faced harassment for years, incidents have escalated since the reignited war in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel.
The complaint includes examples of bullying behavior at several schools within the district. At Mount Washington School, an elementary and middle school, non-Jewish students allegedly sent their Jewish peers text messages with links to a “Zionist or Nazi?” quiz, performed Nazi salutes toward them on the playground, and told them, “We should call Hamas and have them come here,” referring to the terrorist group that controls Gaza. At Bard High School Early College, a teacher was alleged to have directed multiple Nazi salutes at the sole Jewish student in his class.
The ADL further alleges that Jewish parents raised concerns about these incidents and proposed solutions but that the school system either ignored their complaints or failed to take sufficient action.
Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights for the Education Department, called the alleged actions “appalling and infuriating.”
“If true, these allegations confirm a disturbing trend: too many of our nation’s educational institutions are failing American students by fostering a hatred of their own country and a tolerance for a deeply destructive ancient hatred,” he said in a statement.
By Bill Pan
