Assemblymember David Weprin rallied with Queens lawmakers and Jewish community leaders outside the offices of the Department of Education in Ozone Park Nov. 27, demanding accountability for an antisemitic rampage at Hillcrest High School.
Photo by Paul Frangipane
Queens elected officials and Jewish community leaders rallied outside the borough offices of the city Department of Education offices in Ozone Park on Monday, Nov. 27, demanding answers on the city’s lack of transparency over a two-hour antisemitic rampage in the hallways of Hillcrest High School in Jamaica on Nov. 20.
Students were seen on video rioting after they discovered a teacher changed her social media profile picture to indicate that she “stand with Israel” on her own device, on her own time, according to Council Member James Gennaro. Videos of the violent rampage went viral on social media over the weekend, alarming Gennaro and his colleague in government, as well as the Jewish community which has felt isolated and under attack since Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7 slaughtering more than 1,200 civilians and kidnapping more than 240 back to the Gaza Strip.
“I saw the violent videos of this riot and the unbelievably virulent expressions of antisemitism. Because of this teacher’s innocuous expression of free speech, hundreds of students rioted with the intent of perpetrating violence on this individual, who was taken by school authorities and barricaded in an office protected by school staff until the police could restore order,” Gennaro said. “… God knows what would have happened had they caught her.”
Gennaro was further dismayed by the slow response by the DOE and the Adams administration.
“The riot happened on Monday, but my office didn’t know about it until Tuesday. And even the Chancellor’s office didn’t know about it until Wednesday,” Gennaro said. “Was this not a big deal? Of course it was; it was a riot in a school against a teacher…
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