California is sued by Jewish advocacy groups seeking to stop antisemitism in schools
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The state of California, its Department of Education and officials were sued Thursday by two Jewish advocacy groups that alleged the state allowed antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli students to go unchecked on campuses.The suit by Louis D.Brandeis Center for Human Rights and StandWithUs — nonprofits focused on Jewish civil rights — was filed on behalf of at least 12 Jewish parents and students who say they have faced “pervasive anti-Semitism in their California public schools,” court documents said.
The suit also names the California State Board of Education and State Supt.of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
The lawsuit alleges the state has violated the California Constitution’s equal protection and free exercise clauses, which prohibit discrimination by a state-governed entity against certain religious groups.The suit seeks a court order that would require California to monitor on-campus antisemitism, eliminate antisemitic curricula and impose limits on funding for schools that fail to enforce nondiscrimination policies.The California Department of Education and several of the school districts cited in the suit did not respond Thursday to requests for comment.
The suit alleges eight K-12 school districts — including Los Angeles Unified, San Francisco Unified, Berkeley Unified, Fremont Unified and Oakland Unified — allowed antisemitism to “fester” on their campuses, actions the state did not intervene to stop.The accusations include a Jewish student allegedly being forced to sit through a “celebration” of Hamas’ 2023 attack against Israel at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Los Angeles and a Berkeley Unified teacher allegedly displaying imagery of a fist punching through the Star of David — a religious symbol present on Israel’s national flag, the lawsuit said.
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