In June 2021, during the height of the Israeli assault on Gaza and the forced displacement and dispossession of families in Sheikh Jarrah, the Montgomery County Public School Superintendent and Board President sent out an e-bulletin which read: “The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resulted in a significant uptick of threats of violence, expressions of bigotry and antisemitism in Montgomery County and across the nation.”
Internal documents showed that the original statement was more inclusive, but was changed to be more one-sided due to pressure from a pro-Israel organization, even after one staff person tried to push back unsuccessfully to keep the statement more sensitive to Palestinian and Muslim families.
The documents also show that the underlying request very clearly conflates criticism of Israel as being anti-Semitic.
peaceactionmontgomery.org 