Citing security considerations, the superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified College District froze a plan Thursday to fly the Israeli flag in school campuses for one month yearly.
The district’s Board of Training voted 3-2 on Tuesday to show the Israeli flag throughout the month of Might annually to mark Jewish Heritage Month. The measure was a part of a decision geared toward combating antisemitism with a mixture of Holocaust schooling, classes on Jewish historical past and remembrance of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assaults on Israel.
The transfer was met with opposition from some who anxious that it appeared to favor one faith, and one nation at the moment engaged in a battle in Gaza through which many Palestinian civilians have been killed.
In an announcement Thursday, BHUSD Superintendent Alex Cherniss mentioned that “in mild of heightened security considerations across the displaying of flags on our campuses,” he was issuing a directive that “till additional discover, no flags will probably be displayed on our campuses apart from the flag of the USA of America and the flag of the state of California.”
Cherniss mentioned he was taking the motion in accordance with a board coverage that permits him to take action “to keep away from any threat to the security or safety of scholars, workers or district property or to stop disruption of college operations.”
Throughout Tuesday’s Board of Training debate on the matter, board member Rachelle Marcus mentioned she was involved that displaying the Israeli flag would make faculties a goal. Board member Amanda Stern mentioned “partisan materials” similar to a nationwide flag doesn’t belong in a public college decision.
However board member Russell Stewart mentioned the flag show is “not in opposition to anybody. It’s in help of our Jewish college students and the Jewish neighborhood.”
Beverly Hills Vice Mayor John Mirisch attended the assembly in help of the transfer, saying, “This needs to be a no brainer for a college district that represents one of many solely Jewish-majority communities exterior of Israel.”
Hussam Ayloush, govt director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, condemned the flag proposal, saying it “conflates Jewish religion and identification with the political actions of a international authorities and undermines the inclusive and respectful surroundings that public faculties are supposed to foster for all college students, no matter their background.”
