Teacher Removed From Classroom After Calls to Kill Some Jews Come to Light

[MosheFeingold]

Last edited Wed Feb 22, 2017, 04:23 PM - Edit history (1)

NOTE: This is the Jewish group!

Texas Pre-School Teacher Removed From Classroom After Twitter Calls to ‘Kill Some Jews’ Come to Light

by Lea Speyer

A pre-school teacher in Texas has been suspended from the classroom pending an investigation into her encouraging social media followers to “kill some Jews,” The Algemeiner has learned.

Nancy Salem, who teaches at The Children’s Courtyard in South Arlington, as The Algemeiner first reported, was among 24 anti-Israel activists at the University of Texas, Arlington (UTA), exposed by covert campus watchdog group Canary Mission for expressing racist and violent thoughts online.

Salem — a member of the UTA chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and a supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement — used her now-disabled Twitter account to post such remarks as: “How many Jews died in the Holocaust? Not enough…HAHAHAHA.”

Since Canary Mission’s exposure of Salem’s social media behavior, the Children’s Courtyard’s Facebook page has been flooded with comments criticizing the institution and calling on parents to remove their children from the school.

In response, the school stated, “Our senior management team is working to address this matter. This in no way reflects the views of The Children’s Courtyard. We strive to provide an inclusive environment for all children, families and staff members. We also expect our employees to uphold standards of personal and professional conduct.”

The Algemeiner was unable to reach Salem for comment, as she has closed her social media pages and the school declined to share her contact information.

— Rachel Frommer contributed to this report.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/02/21/texas-pre-school-teacher-removed-from-classroom-after-twitter-calls-to-kill-some-jews-come-to-light/

Note bene: I am not terribly familiar with the source. Assuming it is similar to the paper (which started in the 1970s), I am assuming it is a centrist/center-right Jewish site with a decidedly pro-Zionist slant. No mainstream sources appear to be talking about this. When I google, I get Pam Geller and other radicals. Long way of saying: take this with a grain of salt.

[blm]

1. Then it shouldn't be posted at all, imo. The Pam Geller lie machine should be enough warning.

Canary Mission is even against Jewish Voices for Peace.

[MosheFeingold]

2. To clarify

Pam Geller apparently picked up the story. Her radical group is not the source.

The Algeimeiner of my memory was a periodical I read in the 1970s. I am making the assumption it is the same group.

[blm]

4. Canary Mission, itself, is a RW rabid reactionary group.

Jewish version of James O'Keefe's Veritas.

[MosheFeingold]

5. I'm not familiar with it

Again, what I care about is "is this true"? Even scum tell the truth sometimes.

[blm]

6. Then if that is the ONLY thing you care about you should ascertain whether or not it is true first

before you post it, since the only source, so far, is discredited RW propagandists who have been lying for years about everything else under the sun.

You think we don't get enough RW propaganda posted here?

[MosheFeingold]

7. Couple of things

1. I don't consider reporting that a teacher said "kills some Jews" and "how many Jews died in the Holocaust? Not enough HAHAHA." Right wing stuff, nor should you.

2. I am not familiar with this Canary Group until you talked about it. So far, I've got your word that it is right wing.

3. Algemier is a legit, albeit centrist/centre-right outfit, unless it has changed dramatically. Just because asshole happened to be repeating its story doesn't make the story any less true or relevant.

[blm]

8. Then check out Canary Mission. Don't blame me for being familiar with RW propaganda groups.

You're welcome.

[MosheFeingold]

9. Checked

It's website is pretty innocuous and sound.

https://canarymission.org/about/

I checked it on the ADL, and they do not list it as a radical site.

Interestingly, I also checked "voices for peace," I checked the ADL website. The ADL considers Jewish Voices of Peace (despite its wonderful name) to be "one of America’s 10 worst anti-Israel organizations in 2010 and 2013."

http://www.adl.org/israel-international/anti-israel-activity/c/backgrounder-jewish-voice.html

So, I'm not sure who to believe at the moment.

[grossproffit]

25. I donate to canary mission. It's the one monthly payment that I look forward to making.

[MosheFeingold]

3. That's horrid

But all I care about is whether this teacher really said such things.

[EllieBC]

18. Here's another link with the tweets.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/arlington/2017/02/22/arlington-preschool-teacher-fired-kill-jews-tweet-anti-semitic-posts



Now I know that some people do not want to believe antisemitism is real unless it comes from the right, but it is.

[Behind the Aegis]

20. Isn't that the truth?!

In a thread about the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, someone decided it was time to mention Israel ("shooting kids in the back from 60 yards away over a border and calling it self defense&quot ....what a shocker. Because, you know, can't have a discussion about anti-Semitism without screeching about Israel (didn't someone just write along-ass thread about that? ). I said this to another poster, but it is also a bit fucked up that most issues with anti-Semitism, until this recent spate, which was unignorable by the MSM, seem to only get "face time" in right-center-right publications (and Jewish ones, of course).

[EllieBC]

21. It's a form of concern trolling.

The concern trolls can never explain why antisemitism committed against American Jews has anything to do with their "blah blah blah BUT BUT Israel!". They just need to steer the conversation that way.

[MosheFeingold]

22. In fairness we don't know anything about Ms. Saleem/Salem's politics

So this very well could be an attack from the right. Statistically unlikely, yes, but statistics should seldom be applied to a given person.

But, in general, you are correct that, in current times, most "wells" (or cesspools, if you prefer) of antisemitism come from groups that are typically "in the liberal camp" politically, chiefly Muslims and African-Americans. In both groups (which also overlap a little) a majority hold antisemitic beliefs.

Regarding the recent rash of JCC bomb threats and the cemetery vandalism, my lifetime of experience has shown me that the most likely perps are going to be apolitical teenage boys (of any given race, creed, or color, including Jewish) being assholes.

I wouldn't waste time dwelling on these until it is proven otherwise.

[lunasun]

36. A majority of Muslims and African Americans hold antisemetic beliefs????

[MosheFeingold]

40. Yes, but don't apply to a specific person

You can do your own Google search, but first hit on Wikipedia:

"According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project released on August 14, 2005, high percentages of the populations of six Muslim-majority countries have negative views of Jews. To a questionnaire asking respondents to give their views of members of various religions along a spectrum from "very favorable" to "very unfavorable", 60% of Turks, 74% of Pakistanis, 76% of Indonesians, 88% of Moroccans, 99% of Lebanese Muslims and 100% of Jordanians checked either "somewhat unfavorable" or "very unfavorable" for Jews"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_antisemitism#Trends

There are many other similar studies, polling immigrants and residents of the USA (both citizen and green card) and other Western Nations.

For example, this on in the UK:

"The poll also found that 31% of British Muslims thought Jews were too influential in government compared to 7% in the national average; while 39 percent said that Jews have too much power in the media compared to just 10% nationally.The survey also revealed that 34% of British Muslims believed that Jewish people speak “too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust,” while 40% believe that Jews in Britain have more loyalty to Israel than the UK. Furthermore, the analysis found that 26% of the UK Muslim community believed Jews were responsible for the majority of the world's conflicts compared to just six percent nation wide. 27% also said that people "hate" Jews because of their behavior."

http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Poll-Third-of-British-Muslims-say-Jews-have-too-much-power-in-UK-450887

And regarding blacks:

"According to surveys begun in 1964 by the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization, African Americans are significantly more likely than white Americans to hold antisemitic beliefs. There is a strong correlation between higher education levels and the rejection of anti-Semitic stereotypes for all races. Black Americans of all education levels are significantly more likely than whites of the same education level to be anti-Semitic. In the 1998 survey, blacks (34%) were nearly four times as likely as whites (9%) to have answers that identified them as being of the most anti-Semitic category (those agreeing with at least 6 of 11 statements that were potentially or clearly antisemitic). Among blacks with no college education, 43% responded as the most anti-Semitic group (vs. 18% for the general population). This percentage fell to 27% among blacks with some college education, and 18% among blacks with a four-year college degree (vs. 5% for the general population)"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American%E2%80%93Jewish_relations#Anti-Semitism_among_African_Americans

[marybourg]

10. Fox News has picked it up.

citing The Algemeiner. A google search will find it.

[MosheFeingold]

13. I'll take the attention where I can find it

As regular posters know, I am loathe to call anyone an antisemite (or racist, sexist, or anything else). I think the word(s) get cheapened by too free of use.

But when it happens for real, the perps need to be exposed for what they are.

[lunasun]

37. Really? From your post #22

But, in general, you are correct that, in current times, most "wells" (or cesspools, if you prefer) of antisemitism come from groups that are typically "in the liberal camp" politically, chiefly Muslims and African-Americans. In both groups (which also overlap a little) a majority hold antisemitic beliefs.

[MosheFeingold]

39. Statistics should never be applied to a person

For example, one could say the most likely source of a KKK member was a Southern white male, of Protestant upbringing.

And of course, most Southern white males of Protestant upbringing are just fine.

But if your looking for a KKK member who did something, that's the universe of people in which you start. Could be wrong, but probably not.

Same with antisemitism. People from certain groups are far more statistically likely to be antisemitic.

Yet again, one should not judge a particular person in that manner.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. Grains of salt

While stories like this are rarely picked up by center-left, left sources, it doesn't mean they aren't true (or as I have seen in a few cases, true-ish[/I). To be quite honest, given the recent attention given to anti-Semitism, I am actually shocked at the coverage! Most of the time one only sees coverage of anti-Semitism is if it is a big event, one the liberal/left media simply cannot ignore, but most times, it is usually relegated to center-right/right leaning news sites and Jewish news sites.

ETA: If I could ask a favor, could you please add: "This is the Jewish group!" to the first line of your post. Some don't realize they have wandered into the group, especially when Israel is mentioned, and start their bullshit. I found by adding that phrase, it gives people a head's up, and most, then steer clear or act more respectful.

[MosheFeingold]

12. You're correct

And I don't understand the phenomena.

FWIW, I've read pretty much the entire Algemeiner website and now the Wikipedia entry.

From Wiki:

"Former Senator Joseph Lieberman described the paper as an "independent truth telling advocate for the Jewish people and Israel".[3] The Algemeiner's Advisory Board was chaired by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. Its website, Algemeiner.com, is updated throughout the day, and has been referred to as "the Jewish Huffington Post," due to its similar democratized content model, with a combination of original reporting, blogs, and aggregation.[4]

.....

Contributors and bloggers include Alon Ben-Meir, Elie Wiesel, Dore Gold, David Brog, Jonathan Sacks, Shmuley Boteach, Daniel Pipes, Abraham Foxman, Alan Dershowitz, Shlomo Shamir, Don Seeman, Morton Klein, Oleksandr Feldman, Danny Danon, Robert S. Wistrich, Irwin Cotler, Ronn Torossian, Danny Ben-Moshe, John Bolton

....

The Algemeiner is often referenced by various other news media outlets, including The Guardian, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, Arab News,[14] The New Yorker,[15] The Daily Mail, The New York Post, USA Today, Politico, The New York Daily News, Fox News"

So I am removing my "grain of salt" caveat and stand behind the observation its a "centrist/centre-right" source, and mainly only saying "centre-right" because they apparently post articles by guys like John Bolton, who is a smart and informed man, albeit one with whom I disagree about in everything but Israel.

[MosheFeingold]

14. Edit made

"ETA: If I could ask a favor, could you please add: "This is the Jewish group!" to the first line of your post. Some don't realize they have wandered into the group, especially when Israel is mentioned, and start their bullshit. I found by adding that phrase, it gives people a head's up, and most, then steer clear or act more respectful."

Done.

[blm]

23. I check sources as part of my activism and that was the point I adhered to while

being careful to NOT show disrespect on any level.

[MosheFeingold]

24. No worries

It's always good to check.

[Skittles]

27. jeez Behind the Aegis

it is pitiful that you have to warn people to act like rational human beings

[Behind the Aegis]

38. Yeah, it is sad, but as you see...

well...even having such a message still attracts "interested" parties.

[Mosby]

15. that site is pretty reliable IMO

There is a similar incident that came out this week at a Scottsdale private Jewish school. The admins let her quit, she should have been fired and her teaching credentials revoked. So far the story has not made national news but I guarantee the Antisemitic hate sites will pick it up pretty quickly if they haven't already.

I'm not going to link to it, just Google Pardes teacher.

[MosheFeingold]

16. Sad

See #12. It all came back to me after a bit. The website used to be a Yiddish paper/mag that I read in NYC.

I didn't really speak Yiddish at all except to my parents and grandmother and read it to try to keep/refresh the language. Sadly, I don't think I've spoken more than the occasional word or phrase in Yiddish since about 1980 when my mother died. My children and grandchildren don't speak it at all.

Little trivia, but Israel had an official "no Yiddish" policy for a long time -- forcing people to speak Hebrew, English, or Arabic --- so as to unify the various groups of Jewish folks from the Diaspora. Basically only islands of Hasids speak it, and not all. Smart, but also sad to see it go the way of Ladino and various other languages. Probably more Yiddish speakers in NYC than Israel.

That said, I'm happy the paper not only made the leap to English but is a successful website.

[EllieBC]

19. It was my understanding that "no Yiddish" was also

because it was viewed as the language of the oppressed and a new start was wanted.

Definitely Yiddish is the only language in Meah Shearim and B'nai B'rak. Charedim do not want to use Hebrew for the daily and banal functions of life.

Most of my family doesn't speak Yiddish. Parts of my husband's family does and I wish I knew it so that I could pass it along. I've tried teaching myself but I just end up with a "YIVO" accent.

[COLGATE4]

28. I share your regret for the eventual disapparence of Yiddish

as a living language. The death blow was brought about by the Holocaust where essentially some 6 million Yiddish speakers vanished forever from the face of the earth. Israel's "no Yiddish" policy, while having valid reasons for implementation finished it off. Still, it's sad to see a rich and vibrant language pass into obscurity.

[MosheFeingold]

30. On the bright side

Most of the good Yiddish cusswords and insults are now accepted English.

And as my Bubbe taught me, "If you can't say something nice about someone, say it in Yiddish."



May you have a gud Shabbos and a good week!

[COLGATE4]

31. Thank you. Zay gezunt.

[marybourg]

17. Posted elsewhere on DU:

Reliable site. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/arlington/2017/02/22/arlington-preschool-teacher-fired-kill-jews-tweet-anti-semitic-posts

[Gothmog]

26. It is tough living in Texas at times

I read about this incident and no doubt we will be hearing more from the ADL. This teacher does not belong in a classroom

[procon]

29. Some of the claims made by this article are disputed by local press reporting.

It was first repored by a publication called The Algemeiner that Salem attended UTA and was reportedly a member of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Muslim Student Association (MSA). But a spokesperson for UTA said Salem has never been enrolled at the school, nor has she been a member of either student organization.

...

Correction: UTA said Salem has never been enrolled with the campus. UTA also claims Salem was not involved with the campus' SJP or MSA chapters. Canary Mission claims otherwise, however.

https://arlingtonvoice.com/arlington/education/2017/02/22/arlington-daycare-teacher-fired-over-kill-some-jews-comments

The Dallas News is reporting her tweets were several years old and occurred when she was a teenager, "In a prepared statement Thursday, she apologized. Salem said she made comments "that I deeply regret and believe are not a reflection of the beliefs I hold today."

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/arlington/2017/02/22/arlington-preschool-teacher-fired-kill-jews-tweet-anti-semitic-posts



Maybe the fact that she is Muslim and a Palestinian, living under Trump's Muslim ban, is enough to flog life into this old story to make it seem to be current news.

[grossproffit]

32. No. Her being caught is what made this current news. She has no one to blame but herself.

The end.

[procon]

33. Prejudices are a terrible burden.

If the stupid things we all do as children is carried over into adulthood, everyone would be punished for the rest of their lives. Since that is not the standard of our society, other factors must be considered.

[grossproffit]

34. It is the standard now. Social media is the first thing most corporations & universities check now.

She also wasn't a child. A child is someone prepubescent. She was a young adult, knowingly posting hate filled speech.

[procon]

35. She was a high school student when she made those remarks.

Calling her 'young adult' is convenient in condemning her, but legally she was still considered a child, not an adult. Since I can only go by what has been in news articles, I can't confirm your claim that she 'knowingly posting hate filled speech'. She admits to being influenced by others and not following her faith or the family values her parents instilled in her. She has apologized and expressed regret, and she has lost her job. That's enough penitence.

[JudyM]

41. Her posts were just 3 years ago. Regardless of everything else you throw here, this is valid news.