WASHINGTON (NYT) – A Republican-led House committee turned its attention to three of the most politically liberal school districts in the country Wednesday, accusing them of tolerating antisemitism, but the district leaders pushed back forcefully, defending their schools.
The hearing was the third by House Republicans to expose what they see as a pro-Palestinian agenda gripping schools and college campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
During the contentious session, Republicans accused the district leaders — from New York City, Berkeley, California, and Montgomery County, Maryland — of “turning a blind eye” to antisemitism.
Enikia Ford Morthel, the superintendent of Berkeley schools, acknowledged some incidents in her schools but pointedly stated that “antisemitism is not pervasive in Berkeley Unified School District.”
And David Banks, the New York City schools chancellor, said the repeatedly hostile questions from the panel suggested that it was trying to elicit “gotcha moments” rather than solve the problem of antisemitism.
The hearing came about five months after a hearing on antisemitism in which the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania gave lawyerly statements, prompting an intense backlash that helped lead to their resignations.
But on Wednesday, Republicans did not appear to elicit similarly damaging moments.
Nor did the school leaders’ answers appear to prompt widespread anger back in their communities, as happened when Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, testified before Congress last month.
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