Pro-Palestinian NYC high school riot: Letters to the Editor — Nov. 28, 2023

J.C. Rice

The Issue: A student-led pro-Palestinian riot against a pro-Israel teacher at Hillcrest HS in Queens.

It truly saddens me that my alma mater, Hillcrest High School, was on the front page of The Post for all the wrong reasons (“Pro-Israel teacher hides in Queens high school as ‘radicalized’ students riot: ‘They want her fired’,” Nov. 25).

When I went to Hillcrest, the students, for the most part, got along with each other.

The lynching mentality of a small segment of the Hillcrest student population was truly way out of line, and the teacher’s real fear for her life for standing with Israel was frightening.

While the loss of life on both sides is truly horrifying, what both the students and the world in general fail to grasp is that Israel was attacked in an act of war.

Civilian citizens, young and old, were killed or taken hostage.

Stuart Schnitzer

Forest Hills

In what The New York Post is labeling a “riot,” students protested by dancing, chanting, and jumping up and down.

There was no property damage, and no one was injured.

Subsequently, the students returned to class.

That is not a riot, and characterizing it as one is a falsehood that treats any support for Palestinian rights as illegitimate and labels any opposition to the policies of the Israeli government as “antisemitism.”

In fact, Arabs are considered by Muslims to be Semitic descendants of Abraham.

Yet there are those promoting that viewpoint in America who are also content to receive support from individuals waving swastikas at their rallies and chanting “Jews will not replace us.”

Spare me the lies and hypocrisy.

Bruce Ellis

Houston, Tex.

Bob McManus’ column was spot on [“An antisemitic riot in an NYC high school needs more than just ‘I’m outraged’,” Nov. 26].

The protest was a shameful indictment of NYC’s educational establishment and the mayor.

Today’s public schools and virtually all public universities are producing masses of indoctrinated graduates.

Sadly, these protests will continue unabated until the citizens of New York make significantly better choices in the voting booth.

It is all about choices — and choices have consequences.

John Mancuso

Naples, Fla.

It was with profound incredulity that I read about the Queens high-school “student rampage.”

It is critical that we refrain from describing this debacle as a black mark on our society. To the contrary, it is the result of the abject failure of the parents and educators.

Students may civilly protest and even conduct walkouts; however, such behavior cannot be tolerated if violence erupts.

Mitchell Schwefel

Barnegat, NJ

Many of the students at Hillcrest were exercising their right to protest, but the troubling nature of the protest is certainly casting a negative light on the school itself and raising questions about what parents are teaching their kids.

It is heartening to see the NYC Department of Education and many others supporting the teacher who had to hide from the student protest.

These students involved should be reprimanded, even if they hide behind masks.

If they were bold enough to protest, they shouldn’t be afraid to show their faces.

Joseph Comperchio

Brooklyn

At the very least, mandatory school trips to the Holocaust Museum should be part of the Hillcrest HS administration’s response to what Mayor Adams called its students’ “vile show of antisemitism” directed at a faculty member who had attended a pro-Israel rally.

Shockingly, it took our throttlebottom mayor five days to express outrage.

Reagan’s lament that “freedom is . . . never more than one generation away from extinction” rings all-too-true today.

James Hyland

Beechhurst

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