Mideast War blowback

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Internal political debates between American Jewish organizations have ground to a halt following the violent attacks in Washington and Boulder, with the community united and focused squarely on safety, Haaretz's Washington D.C. correspondent Ben Samuels said on the Haaretz Podcast.

"Acts like this are just so unimpeachably antisemitic that there really is no gray area," he said. "We're seeing a real unanimity from the community. Whatever disagreements they may have with [U.S. President Donald] Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, or on what definition of antisemitism to adopt regarding criticizing Israel – these sort of attacks leave absolutely zero room for debate."

If, after the shootings of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington D.C. two weeks ago, "panic was at a fever pitch" among American Jews, following the Boulder attack on a march for Israeli hostages "it is a five-alarm fire." Government money for police protection, increased FBI capabilities and better online monitoring are among other demands from American Jewish leaders "that needed to be met yesterday."

In an unprecedented move in Israel-UK relations, Britain will place sanctions on senior Israeli officials. The Times of London reported on Tuesday that Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir will face formal sanctions for their comments about Gaza.

Britain – joined by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries – will enact asset freezes and travel restrictions on Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday.

The sanctions ban Smotrich and Ben-Gvir from entering the country or dealing with British financial institutions, similar to what senior Russians have faced due to the war in Ukraine.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy had earlier indicated that sanctions were forthcoming due to the ministers' statements, which he labeled "monstrous." Addressing the House of Commons last month, he declared.

"We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu's government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need. "Yesterday, minister [Bezalel] Smotrich even spoke of Israeli forces cleansing Gaza, destroying what's left of residents, Palestinians being relocated, he said, to third countries." He continued, saying, "We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms."

In May, leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada issued a stern rebuke of Israel's intensified military operations in Gaza, calling the humanitarian crisis "intolerable" and urging an immediate halt to the offensive, according to a joint statement published on the UK government's website. The statement, released on May 19, 2025, also demanded that Israel allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza and condemned inflammatory rhetoric from Israeli officials suggesting forced displacement of civilians.

Several days later the British government imposed sanctions against key figures in the Israeli settlement movement in Judea and Samaria, as well as Israeli construction companies operating in the region.

Two Palestinian activists from Masafer Yatta in the West Bank were prevented from entering the U.S. upon arrival in San Francisco on Wednesday, after U.S. officials invalidated their visas.

Eid Suleiman Hadaleen and Awdah Hathaleen, who were traveling to the U.S. to speak to progressive Jewish synagogues and organizations, now stand to be deported.

hile the Trump administration has made its crackdown on pro-Palestinian student visa holders a central component of its attack on immigration and universities, this would appear to be the first case of Palestinian activists being denied entry into the U.S. on political grounds.

The activists from the village of Umm al-Khair were entering the U.S. as part of an interfaith program, with their visas sponsored by the Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, California. They were slated to discuss the plight facing the region, which was spotlighted in this year's Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land."

"They were coming here to do a speaker tour in the Bay Area, Boston and Washington, DC," said Ben Linder, co-chair of J Street Silicon Valley, who organized an event scheduled for Thursday night at the Los Altos United Methodist Church. "We have four different events in the San Francisco Bay Area in the next 48 hours that they were supposed to speak at.

Linder said J Street contacted three local congressmen to try and find a solution. "They were detained inside the San Francisco airport yesterday," he said. "They arrived from Qatar. Their visas were very valid. Their U.S. tourist visas were invalidated by the Customs and Border Patrol. They are being held and not allowed to communicate, and they will be deported today back to Qatar."

British band Massive Attack on Monday threatened to sue Israeli hasbara activist Hen Mazzig, after he claimed the group incited against Israel and praised the former Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

During the band's performance in London on Sunday, news footage was projected behind them, including a clip showing Sinwar walking through tunnels with his family.

Mazzig shared the video on his social media accounts and accused the band – who present themselves as peace activists – of glorifying Sinwar.

In response, Massive Attack reposted Mazzig's comment on Monday, saying that while they typically avoid using X due to its ownership by Elon Musk, the band is seeking his address to send a formal legal warning. Unless Mazzig deleted the tweet and issued a public apology, they would pursue legal action, they said.

The band then released a lengthy statement, saying, "Massive Attack categorically reject any suggestion that footage or reportage used as part of an artistic digital collage in our live show seeks to glorify or celebrate any featured subject."

"In the specific case of the film loop that includes reportage of Yahya Sinwar, the entire sequence interplays with scenes from Jean Cocteau's film Orpheus, creating both a placement and implicit tone of horrified lament; that an individual of power can take people down into hell," they added.

"It would be bizarre, and perhaps revealing, that any observer of the live show films would solely home in on the Sinwar/IDF footage and completely overlook all other controversial figures featured in the reportage loops," they said.

Mazzig has not yet responded to the band's statement and has not removed the X post.

Massive Attack, who have performed in Israel in the past, have highlighted Palestinian issues in their shows for years. During their current tour, which has been ongoing for about six months, they project videos featuring Palestinian flags, footage of Israeli bombings in Gaza and occasionally speeches by local political activists.

“Iran, Iran makes us proud! Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!” shouted pro-Islamic Republic protesters in New York’s Times Square.

The “Solidarity with Iran” rally was organized by the socialist, pro-Palestinian Bronx Anti-War coalition, which called for people to come out in “full force to support the brave Iranian and Palestinian people fighting for all free people worldwide

Iran is defending itself against terrorist aggression from the US and Zionist regimes,” the group said.

According to videos and statements from the rally, protesters chanted, “US drones in the sky, Iran’s missiles will reply!” and “Courts and talks won’t set us free, resistance brings victory!” as well as calling for Tel Aviv to be burned to the ground.

Many posters and flags were also held up, including Iranian regime flags, posters saying “a genocidal apartheid state has no right to exist,” and pictures of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ebrahim Raisi, and Qasem Soleimani.

Another poster showed a burning Israeli flag with the words “Karma’s a b***h.”
Multiple members of the fringe anti-Zionist Jewish group Neturei Karta were also there, many of whom were standing on Israeli flags.

Videos also circulated on social media of a man dressed as Jesus in Times Square, wearing only a loincloth and covered from head to toe in fake blood, shouting, “F*** Israel,” while attached to a homemade crucifix with the same words.

Just a day earlier, The People’s Forum NYC held a similar rally in Times Square alongside Nodutdol (a Marxist, diasporic Korean organization) “to oppose the Zionist war on Iran [sic].”

“We must not be deceived by Rubio’s lies,” one group member said. “The idea [that] Israel acted unilaterally in bombing Iran is a total fiction.

“By pushing the Zionist attack dog to strike Iran in the middle of diplomatic negotiations, Trump has shown the world that his word and the word of all US imperialists are worthless.”

Group called for severance of US financial, military aid to Israel
The group then called for the severance of US financial and military aid to Israel, as well as “international, working-class solidarity against the war-profiteering corporations using mayhem and genocide to line their pockets.”

In one video, a speaker can be heard asking an animated crowd, “Is it Iran that raises the rent on your apartment? Is it Iran that cuts funding to your children’s schools? Is it Iran that trains the police who terrorize your block?

“Who did that? The United States,” he added, met with cheers.

The NYC protests joined multiple worldwide pro-regime rallies over the last few days, including major ones in London and Paris.

Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, said he was “run off the road” Thursday morning in a Cleveland suburb by a man who waved a Palestinian flag and threatened Miller and his young daughter.

The alleged incident, which comes amid acute concerns about a rise in political violence, is being investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police and by police in Rocky River, Ohio.

A suspect, Feras S. Hamdan of Westlake, Ohio, turned himself in to Rocky River police after Miller signed a criminal complaint for aggravated menacing and an arrest warrant was issued, Rocky River officials said.

Hamdan, whose attorney did not immediately respond to a message, pleaded not guilty Friday to the aggravated menacing charge, as well as an ethnic intimidation charge, Rocky River law director Michael O'Shea said.

“I was just driving to work, and I was cut off by a man in a Tesla who held up a Palestinian flag to me, and then rolled down his window and said that ‘I’m going to cut your throat and your daughter’s,’” Miller, who is Jewish, is heard saying on a 911 call, audio of which the Rocky River Police Department released along with a statement Friday. “And he said, ‘You’re a dirty Jew. I’m going to f-----g kill you all, and I know who you are and where you live.’”

Miller, 36, told 911 dispatchers that he followed the man on Interstate 90 and rolled down his window to better hear what he was saying and to take note of his license plate number.

“I am a little shaken, to be quite honest,” Miller told a dispatcher in Lakewood, the neighboring suburb where Miller exited the interstate. “I have a weapon on me. I’m glad I didn’t use it.”

During one stretch of Miller’s 911 call, a vehicle’s horn can be heard honking — a detail that the dispatcher noted to police officials for their report.

The police report also noted that while officers searched the interstate for a “flag that may have been thrown out” of the suspect’s car, no flag was located there.

Julie Morron, operations manager for the Rocky River Police Department, said a flag has yet to be found but that the investigation is ongoing.

Miller publicly commented on the alleged incident Thursday in a video accompanying a social media post in which he expressed relief that his daughter, who is 1, was not in the car with him.

A police report was not available to the public in the immediate hours after Thursday’s alleged incident, with officials waiting to gather more details before releasing documents Friday. Morron told NBC News on Thursday that Miller had been the alleged victim of a “road rage incident” and “could not wait to speak with officers” but agreed to later in the day. The suspect’s car also had left the area by the time local officers responded, police said.

In his video, Miller said that he had “gone about my day” and “carried on” with scheduled meetings. In a text message late Thursday, Miller wrote that he wanted to keep to his “set schedule of meetings” to “send a message” that his work would not be slowed by the incident.

Miller was later interviewed by police in Rocky River, according to the department’s statement.

“After further investigation, the second party to the road rage incident was identified” as Hamdan, the department said.

Rocky River officials are investigating the incident, along with Capitol Police, the FBI, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Rocky River police said.

In a statement Friday, the Capitol Police said the department immediately deployed special agents to the area to assist in the investigation and to locate Hamdan.

Miller was later interviewed by police in Rocky River, according to the department’s statement.

“After further investigation, the second party to the road rage incident was identified” as Hamdan, the department said.

Rocky River officials are investigating the incident, along with Capitol Police, the FBI, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, Rocky River police said.

In a statement Friday, the Capitol Police said the department immediately deployed special agents to the area to assist in the investigation and to locate Hamdan.

“In less than 24 hours, the USCP received notification of a threat against a Member of Congress, had boots on the ground, collaborated with the local police department, and the suspect in the case was arrested that same evening,” acting Capitol Police Chief Sean Gallagher said the statement. “This case is a prime example of the USCP’s stance towards threats against our elected officials. We will continue to have a zero-tolerance policy.”

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday further blocked the Trump administration's attempt to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students while giving those students additional legal protections.

U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued the preliminary injunction after having granted a temporary restraining order against the federal government this month.

The injunction holds that the administration is blocked from yanking Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which was based on a May 22 revocation notice the Department of Homeland Security sent to Harvard administrators.

In her decision, Burroughs directed the government to “immediately” prepare guidance to alert Trump administration officials to disregard that notice and to restore “every visa holder and applicant to the position that individual would have been absent such Revocation Notice.”

It also says the student visa holders should not be denied entry to the country as a result of the revocation.

The government must "file a status report within 72 hours of entry of this Order describing the steps taken to ensure compliance with this Order and certifying compliance with its requirements," Burroughs wrote.

Preliminary injunctions can be appealed, which the Justice Department is likely to do.

The Knesset Subcommittee for Foreign Policy and Public Diplomacy, chaired by Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz, convened on Wednesday to discuss views of Israel following Operation Rising Lion against Iran.

The committee reached out ahead of the meeting to the Harris-Harvard polling institute requesting various data in order to “understand the state of Israel’s public diplomacy, the challenges it faces, its successes in crafting effective campaigns, and how well it understands key target audiences in the US,” according to a statement from the committee.

According to the institute’s findings from its most recent poll this month, American support for Israel slightly declined since October 7, from 80% to 75%. However, when broken down by age groups, significant gaps emerged. Among young people, support is almost evenly split between Israel and Hamas (53% to 47%), while among those aged 65 and older, support for Israel is close to 90%.

The percentage of Americans who view Israel favorably dropped from 53% to 41% since October 7, while the proportion of those with a negative view rose from 21% to 30%, and the share of those with no opinion increased from 25% to 29%.

American support for Hamas has grown
Most Americans oppose Hamas and support the return of hostages as a precondition for a ceasefire. Still, support for Hamas has grown over the course of the war – from 16% in November 2023 to 25% in June 2025.

Most Americans are unfamiliar with Israeli politicians aside from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who currently has just 25% support – lower than the general support for Israel (41%). Netanyahu’s approval dropped from 34% in October 2023 to 20% in September 2024. There is a strong correlation between support for Netanyahu and support for Israel, as well as between support for Trump and support for Netanyahu, the poll found.

Harvard is "in violent violation" of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the federal government’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said Monday in a letter threatening to cut all the university's federal funding if changes aren't made.

The task force, which was formed this year under an executive order by President Donald Trump, wrote that the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services had concluded a Title VI investigation into antisemitism at Harvard.

Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin.

The letter outlined several violations the school had allegedly committed, including: A majority of Jewish students reported experiencing negative bias or discrimination on campus, a quarter felt physically unsafe, Jewish and Israeli students were assaulted and spat on, and the campus was vandalized with antisemitic stickers.

The letter also highlighted campus protests in the wake of the Israel-Palestinian war, noting that some demonstrators called "for genocide and murder, and denied Jewish and Israeli students access to campus spaces."

The letter accused Harvard of inaction, failing to defend all groups on campus equally, and of conforming to "racial hierarchies."

The government warned that if changes aren’t made, all federal funding will be cut.

"Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government," the letter said.

Harvard said Monday that it "strongly disagrees with the government’s findings."

"Antisemitism is a serious problem, and no matter the context, it is unacceptable. Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism in its community," a university spokesperson said in a letter.

Harvard said in response to the government’s probe that it had shared its report on antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias and outlined ways it has "strengthened policies, disciplined those who violate them, encouraged civil discourse, and promoted open, respectful dialogue."

"Harvard is far from indifferent on this issue," the school said. "Harvard has made significant strides to combat bigotry, hate and bias. We are not alone in confronting this challenge and recognize that this work is ongoing. We remain committed to ensuring members of our Jewish and Israeli community are embraced, respected, and can thrive at Harvard.”

In June 2024, Harvard’s president announced the school would implement initiatives to combat antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias on campus. Those efforts included updating campus-use rules, standardizing investigations and discipline processes, creating programs to facilitate constructive dialogue and viewpoint diversity, expanding kosher dining options, and offering workshops to incorporate antisemitism training into educational sessions.

A victim of the antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month has died and additional victims have been identified, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Monday.

Karen Diamond, 82, “died tragically as a result of the severe injuries that she suffered in the attack,” the statement says. She is the only victim to have died since the incident.

“This horrific attack has now claimed the life of an innocent person who was beloved by her family and friends,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said.

Prosecutors said the total number of victims has increased to 29, and the charges against suspect Mohamed Soliman have been updated and amended.

Soliman, 45, is now facing two first-degree murder charges – one for extreme indifference and the other with intent and after deliberation, the district attorney’s office said. Both of those charges are related to Diamond’s death.

Under an amended complaint, the prosecutor’s office said, Soliman is now facing more than 100 charges, including murder and attempted first-degree murder, assault, attempted assault, using and attempting to use an incendiary device and animal cruelty. Some of the charges also come with crime of violence sentence enhancers.

If convicted, Soliman faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for each of the murder charges in his state case. His preliminary hearing in the matter is scheduled for July 15.

Soliman is being represented by the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender, which has a standing policy to not comment on criminal cases.

Soliman is also facing federal hate crime charges related to the attack. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Argentina’s security ministry says it has filed a criminal complaint after fans of the second division All Boys soccer club after they staged anti-Israel protests and carried around a coffin draped in the Israeli flag before a match against Atlanta in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

The complaint accuses fans of “demonstrations of violence, expressions of racial and religious hatred, and public intimidation.”

The Argentine Football Association also condemns what it describes as “antisemitic acts” by All Boys club fans during the Sunday match, which also included fans waving Palestinian and Iranian flags; flyers and pamphlets found outside the stadium read “Israel and Atlanta are the same crap,” and “Clear off to Israel” under a banner reading “Death to the genocidal state of Israel.”

During the match itself, which ended in a 0-0 draw, a drone bearing a Palestinian flag flew over the stadium and some fans of the All Boys home team chanted anti-Israel slogans.

A pro-Palestinian activist yelled at New York City Democratic Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for "hypocrisy" for holding the stances of "Free Palestine" and also "Israel has a right to exist," according to footage that spread across social media on Monday.

"What do you say about politicians who constantly reaffirm Israel's right to exist, because people like me get attacked for standing up for Palestine, and you are defending Israel's right to exist!" the activist yells at the beginning of the video.

"My family is in Palestine right now, constantly under attack, and you're saying both free Palestine and Israel has the right to exist," he continued.

"Don't be hypocritical. It [Israel] does not have the right to exist. It's not your land to say that Israel has the right to exist," the activist concluded before walking off.

Has Mamdani said that Israel has a right to exist?
Previously, Mamdani has said in a mayoral debate that he affirms Israel's right to exist as a state with equal rights, but would not specify it as a Jewish state.

While the identity of the activist is not confirmed, many users across social media have suggested that it was Anas Saleh, 25, from Staten Island.

Saleh was arrested last June after storming into a New York subway car along with other anti-Israel protesters and demanding "Zionists raise their hands,' and saying this is their chance to "get out."

Saleh's X profile contains multiple posts slamming Mamdani for his stance on the Israel/Palestine despite his refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

People, alleged to be members of the University of Windsor's Palestinian Solidarity Group (PSG), yelled “Hamas are coming” and a number of other statements at a fundraiser in Canada attended by former hostage Noa Argamani on Wednesday, the rescued hostage confirmed on X/Twitter on Saturday.

“Hamas came. Hamas kidnapped me. Hamas murdered my friends. But I won; I survived. Now, I speak for those who can’t,” Argamani shared. “I’ll keep exposing Hamas’s crimes and fighting for the hostages’ release—including my partner, Avinatan.

A video of the incident shared by Argamani claimed that the alleged PSG members also blocked attendees from entering and exiting the building.

Argamani was attending the fundraiser as part of a trip facilitated by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), according to the Toronto Star.

Argamani was rescued from Nuseirat on June 8, 2024, alongside three other hostages: Almog Meir (21), Andrey Kozlov (27), and Shlomi Ziv (40) in an operation named after Arnon Zamora, a soldier who fell during the rescue.

Argamani’s partner, Avitan Or, is one of 50 hostages remaining in Hamas captivity. The last known sign of life from him was in mid-March

The prestigious Nysmith School in Northern Virginia received a civil rights complaint Tuesday for allegedly expelling three Jewish students who faced anti-Semitic harassment and whom the school’s headmaster told to "toughen up" after they reported the conduct.

The Nysmith School, known as one of the top 10 institutions in the country for students between kindergarten and eighth grade, allegedly expelled Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy’s three Jewish children in March, after the parents complained about its "unwillingness to respond to anti-Semitic harassment of their 11-year-old daughter," according to a copy of the complaint the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed with Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares.

The complaint accuses the tony school—a feeder institution for the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Falls Church—of fostering an environment "that is hostile to Jews," suggesting that the hatred displayed on America’s college campuses has also infected younger students.

The school "allowed anti-Semitism to take root in her class" over the course of several months, including with a social studies project that saw students promote Adolf Hitler as a "strong historical leader." That project "was shared with the entire school community" and contributed to "a pattern of persistent and severe anti-Semitic harassment," the complaint alleges.

The parents notified Headmaster Kenneth R. Nysmith, the school’s owner and namesake, that the bullying began shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree and intensified in the following months. After the headmaster "decided to hang a Palestinian flag in the school gym, the harassment of their daughter grew more severe," according to the complaint.
When the family raised the issue again with Nysmith earlier this year, he told them their daughter should "toughen up" and abruptly ended their meeting. Two days after that confrontation, on March 13 of this year, Nysmith allegedly informed the family by email "that all three children were expelled effective immediately, days before their mid-semester report cards, and long after the application periods for other local schools had passed."

The Brandeis Center filed its complaint under Virginia’s Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on religion and shared ancestry.

The situation became unmanageable for the children’s parents in October 2024, a year after Hamas murdered more than 1,200 Israelis in cold blood. Around that time, one of the children’s social studies teachers tasked a class with depicting a "strong historical leader." The Nysmith School sent an image from the project over email that showed a "photo featuring the unmistakable face of Adolf Hitler."

The parents, the complaint states, became aware earlier this year "that one of their daughters had been the target both of severe and pervasive anti-Semitic harassment and of bullying by other children in her class. But she had been too ashamed to tell them."

Children in the school allegedly placed "pro-Palestine stickers on school-issued laptops and lockers" and taunted the Jewish children for being "Israeli." Other kids described Jews as "baby killers" and said "they deserve to die because of what is happening in Gaza."

"The bullies told their daughter that everyone at the school is against Jews and Israel, which is why they hate you," the complaint alleges. "The other children also taunted her about the death of her uncle, saying that they were glad he died in the October 7th attack, even though he had died years earlier."

When the parents reported this behavior to Nysmith in February of this year, he initially "acknowledged the seriousness of the misconduct and assured Mr. Vazquez and Dr. Roy that he would swiftly handle the issue."

Just weeks after that meeting, Vazquez and Roy learned that Nysmith had canceled the school’s "annual Holocaust program speaker because of his concern that the event might inflame emotions within the Nysmith School community in light of the Israel-Gaza conflict." The following day, a Palestinian flag was "raised in the Nysmith School gymnasium, alongside the flags of other nations, including the Israeli flag."

Around that time, the school environment became even more hostile, the complaint says.

The 11-year-old child "broke down in tears and said the bullying had become worse. The Palestinian flag provoked more aggressive bullying and harassment. Classmates cited it as evidence that ‘everyone hates Jews,’ taunting her that ‘we won’ and that the flag was proof that ‘nobody likes you.’"

The family again contacted Nysmith to address the bullying, but were met with resistance. Nysmith, the complaint says, "dismissed their concerns and told them to tell their daughter to ‘toughen up.’"

By March 13, Nysmith decided to expel all three Jewish family members from the school.

"After reflecting on our emotional conversation on Tuesday, the words used make it clear that you have a profound lack of trust in both me and the school," Nysmith wrote, according to a copy of the email included in the complaint. "I felt very clearly that you do not think Nysmith is the right school for your family, and the longer we try to ignore that reality, the more pain it will cause your children. With this in mind, I regret to inform you that today will be your children’s last day at Nysmith."

A Seattle teen feared for her life in a locked classroom as a mob of students pounded on the door, "threatening to physically assault her based on her Jewish identity," according to a recently filed lawsuit.

The incident was the culmination of anti-Semitic harassment the student, referred to in the complaint as M.K.L., had endured for months, leaving the now-15-year-old with "terrifying nightmares and flashbacks," the June 12 suit her parents filed against Seattle Public Schools alleges. School officials repeatedly failed to address the harassment and refused to turn over surveillance footage, according to the complaint

They’ve also said there was never video of the mob outside the classroom. But the plaintiff’s lawyers cast doubt on that claim, with one accusing the school of failing to preserve the footage.
"We know that they have cameras because they’ve also released some other unrelated footage," one attorney, Seth Rosenberg, told the Washington Free Beacon. "They seem to have kept the things that aren’t helpful and apparently not kept the things that are."

M.K.L., "terrified that she will be attacked by her former peers," has not returned to campus since hiding from the mob, according to the complaint.

Nathan Hale High School students began harassing M.K.L.—then a freshman who received special education for an anxiety disorder—on a daily basis for being Jewish following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack, according to the complaint. Over the school year, she was told to "kill herself" for being Jewish, was surrounded and had her face spat on while enduring anti-Semitic sentiments, and repeatedly saw swastikas drawn throughout the school, including on her folder and softball team’s bench.

M.K.L.’s parents told both the principal, William Jackson, and the vice principal, Makela Steward-Monroe, about the harassment their daughter faced, but they "failed to meaningfully intervene," the suit alleges. Their "inaction resulted in more and more brazen antisemitic incidents" and refused to provide results from promised investigations or security footage.

On May 22, 2024, one or two students would enter M.K.L.’s classes, trying to get her to come into the hallway. The teacher for her final period "became suspicious that those attempts to pull her from class were a real threat to M.K.L.’s safety," the suit alleges. When class was ending, the teacher saw "a group forming in the hall and pulled M.K.L. aside to stay back and then locked the door, keeping M.K.L. inside with her."

Roughly 20 students gathered outside the classroom, and for "5 long minutes … yelled threats, banged on and rattled the door, and used antisemitic slurs" while calling for M.K.L. to come out, the suit reads. Others texted her, saying the kids "were going to assault her."

M.K.L. texted her mother, "I rlly rlly rlly need you," then called her father, who said he could hear the mob trying to enter the room. He spoke to the teacher, who told him she was protecting M.K.L. "from getting beaten up."

"It is impossible to overstate how terrifying this incident was to M.K.L. and her parents," the complaint states. "M.K.L. believed that if the students were able to access her inside the locked classroom, these students would have physically attacked her, and she feared for her life."

After about 20 minutes, security escorted M.K.L. to the office. The next day, Steward-Monroe told M.K.L.’s parents the school couldn’t continue to escort her in the halls.

Her parents pulled her from school for the rest of the year over safety concerns.

A previous attorney for M.K.L.’s parents, Lara Hruska, requested surveillance footage of the May 22 incident soon after, emails provided to the Free Beacon shows. Months later, in October, the school district denied that video existed.

Hruska pointed out that Steward-Monroe told M.K.L.’s parents that she’d relied on video to count students gathering outside the classroom, suggesting it had been deleted. A school representative said Steward-Monroe couldn’t explain the discrepancy because she’d been on leave since August.

Just over a week after the May 22 incident, Jackson refused to see M.K.L.’s parents in-person to discuss their daughter’s specialized education program, opting instead to meet over Zoom, even though he was down the hall, according to the suit. He turned his camera off when they asked about the May 22 episode.

Jackson, the 2023 Washington State Secondary Principal of the Year who emphasizes the importance of "anti-racist practices," has since left Nathan Hale. He’s now the director of teaching and learning for the nearby Bellevue School District.