(JTA) — An official at a school in New York City that held a moment of silence for Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes on the Gaza border received a death threat.
William Stroud, assistant principal of Beacon School, a selective public school located in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan, told a parents meeting that he received a death threat after the May 15 moment of silence became public through media reports, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The school filed a harassment complaint with the New York Police Department.
Stroud told the parents, according to the Post, that the school had approved the moment of silence announced over the school’s public address system. A student has requested the moment of silence following a Friday border protest in which at least 60 Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli troops.
Some Jewish parents told the Post last week following news of the tribute that they were unhappy that the school got involved in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. A Jewish student told the newspaper that the moment of silence made some of her Jewish friends uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, about 200 current and former students and parents signed a letter in support of the moment of silence.
“As individuals affiliated with Beacon, we were very proud to learn that a moment of silence was held at the school for Palestinians killed in Gaza last week while protesting for their rights,” the letter read, according to The Forward.
Critics pointed out the school had not held memorials for individuals killed in similar clashes in other countries, and that many of those slain at the border with Gaza were members of the terrorist group Hamas.
