A New Jersey civil rights organization is condemning the removal of a sign supporting Palestinian civilians from a high school classroom, alleging that school administrators took it down under pressure from U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s office.
The sign, which read “Gaza Must Live,” hung on the wall of a social studies classroom within the Bergen County Technical Schools District alongside other social justice displays.
It was removed in September after a parent shared complaints to Gottheimer’s office during a Back-to-School Night event.
According to the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ), staff members from Gottheimer’s office subsequently contacted Superintendent Dr. Howard Lerner.
Lerner then ordered the sign removed without first consulting or discussing the issue with the classroom teacher.
In an Oct. 8 letter to Lerner, CAIR-NJ Public Affairs Director Naureen Akhter called the congressional intervention an improper intrusion into classroom instruction.
“The interference by a Congressional office into a public high school classroom, while appalling, is not surprising, given Congressman Gottheimer’s track record,” Akhter said in a statement. Gottheimer is widely known as President Donald Trump’s favorite Democrat in the House of Representatives.
Akhter noted that other political and advocacy displays—including stickers reading “I Stand With Immigrants” and “Stand With Ukraine,” as well as a Black Lives Matter flag—remained visible elsewhere in the school.
She stated that district administrators had regularly observed the social studies classroom prior to September and had never cited the sign as a violation of district policy.
Supporters of Gottheimer and defenders of the intervention noted the lawmaker’s long-standing advocacy for Israel and strong stance on security matters within New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District, which includes parts of Bergen County.
Representatives for Gottheimer’s office have consistently defended actions against messaging they view as divisive or unaligned with district standard policies.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel killed about 1,200 people and resulted in a massive Israeli military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 75,000 Palestinians in the besieged and occupied territory.
Steven Donziger, an American human rights and environmental lawyer known for leading the multi-billion-dollar legal battle against Chevron, calculated that the Israeli military killed at least 434,800 people in its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, arguing that the besieged territory’s true death toll is significantly higher than the figure reported by mainstream media.
International bodies and human rights organizations say that the figures encompass a high percentage of women and children killed in residential and urban areas.
Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank, a UN independent commission of inquiry said in its latest report released on Tuesday.
More than 50% of the buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, with electricity, water desalination, and sewage infrastructure largely collapsed.
An 8½-by-11-inch sign reading “Gaza Must Live” was hung on a classroom wall alongside other social justice posters, expressing support for Palestinian civilians slaughtered by the brutal Israeli response.
CAIR-NJ has called on the district to reinstate the sign, establish consistent standards for classroom messaging, and protect teachers from outside political influence.
District officials have not publicly confirmed whether additional policy reviews or administrative discussions will take place.
Discover more from NJTODAY.NEWS
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.