El Camino Real Charter High students walk out over alleged antisemitism on campus
Students at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills staged a walkout Tuesday to protest recent antisemitic incidents on campus.
The action, which was organized by a group of seniors, included students holding up Israeli flags and signs that read, “Stop the hate.”
Danielle Eshed, a ninth-grader at the charter school within the Los Angeles Unified School District, told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that a fellow classmate screamed antisemitic comments at her and then attacked her.
“He called me a dirty Jew, and then I said something out of defense,” Danielle told the station. “He said he was going to beat me up, and I didn’t believe him until he got up, pushed me and started punching me repeatedly in the neck and the back.”
David Hussey, the school’s executive director, told KABC-TV Channel 7 that the student has been disciplined but didn’t elaborate on details.
“One is addressing the issues. Maybe some students don’t know what they’re saying and what the impacts are, so it’s educating those students and then reassuring the other students that they are safe at this school,” Hussey said.
School board front-runner Kahllid Al-Alim, seeking a seat that represents much of south and southwest L.A., has expressed regret over the social media posts.
Hussey didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
Danielle’s father also spoke at the Tuesday rally in support of his daughter, according to KCBS-TV Channel 2.
“The school thinks that he has more rights than my daughter for protection,” Edan Eshed said. “He has rights to be educated, but my daughter [doesn’t] have the rights for her safety.”
Students also said that notes have been passed around in class about Hitler and that the curriculum around World War II is insensitive, according to KTLA.
About 200 protesters shut down a private event at UC Berkeley that featured Ran Bar-Yoshafat, an Israeli attorney and former member of the Israel Defense Forces.
After the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October, both Jewish and Muslim parents have called on the Los Angeles Unified School District board to help prevent hate speech, discrimination and threats on local campuses.
Parents said there has been a rise in bullying and insensitivity at the schools ever since the war began.
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