Dickinson ISD in Galveston County is investigating an allegedly antisemitic incident from a teacher against an Israeli student.
Talya Hayoun, a freshman Israeli student at Dickinson High School, said she was startled on November 16 to see a message on her English teacher’s whiteboard: “No justice, no peace. Justice for Palestine.”
Hayoun, who revealed the details of the allegations in an interview with Fox 26 Houston, said the message was not part of a lesson.
“I’m really, really scared,” Hayoun said. “I’m the only Israeli at school. No one is Jewish over there. They made me feel guilty that I’m Jewish and that I’m from Israel.”
She claimed the teacher specifically asked her where she was from.
“She said, ‘Oh, you still have family in Israel?’ I said, ‘Yes, of course. All my family is over there. And I’m from there too,'” Hayoun said, per Fox 26.
The alleged incident comes at a time when reported hate crime incidents against both Jews and Muslims in the United States are reportedly on the rise. The spike in such reports follows Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and the latter’s subsequent retaliatory military operations.
The student’s parents filed a complaint on the day of the incident.
“If I go to school for the teacher to teach me, everything she says is true and is right. It doesn’t matter; it’s true, and it’s right. She’s the adult, and I have to believe what she says. This is where the bullies start coming in,” Natasha Hayoun, the student’s stepmother, told Fox 26.
Dickinson ISD issued a statement to the news outlet confirming an investigation into the alleged incident.
“Dickinson ISD is aware of a situation on Thursday morning involving a Dickinson High School English teacher [whose] parents have said wrote a statement on the board related to the Israeli and Palestine war,” the statement reads, per Fox 26. “The parents have met with high school administration, and the district is investigating the situation.”
Benjamin Hayoun, the student’s father, told Fox 26 there is no reason that message should have been on the board.
“What is the benefit here? What is the purpose here? Someone needs to take responsibility here about this situation because my daughter, she is not at fault that she is Israeli,” he said.
