Jewish kids flee NY public schools over Oct. 7 antisemitism, parents blame teachers for pumping up the venom

Jewish parents have yanked their kids out of Big Apple public schools at an alarming rate since Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel three years ago, blaming educators — like the Brooklyn teacher who praised the Oct.7 mastermind — for fostering hate.Thousands of families in New York have opted for the friendlier confines of yeshivas and day schools since the 2023 terror attack on the Jewish state, citing rampant antisemitism inside public shools, a review by The Post found.

“They’re shown videos that Israel was starving Palestinian girls,” said Josh Horowitz, who left Williamsburg and moved upstate to have his daughter in a safer setting.“There was no context.

There was no screening.“They were calling Zionists violent.It’s not about me.

It’s about what was being taught in the classroom.”Upper East Side mom Natalya Murakhver, who yanked her two children from PS 87 in 2024, said the change in the public school culture since the terror attack has been stark.“Things have progressed very quickly.The language changes, the caliber of the venom.

I think we’re entering a new phase,” she said.“Back then, I think they were at least trying to pretend it was just about Israel.

And now it’s pretty clear to those for whom it wasn’t clear before that anti-Zionism is Jew hate and antisemitism as we know it.”A June report by the Teach Coalition found that K-12 enrollment in Jewish schools in the state rose nearly 2% — roughly 3,100 students — in the 2025-2026 school year alone, largely in New York City and upstate towns like Monsey.Coalition CEO Sydney Altfield said the jump was 4.2% from 2022 to 2025, more than double the 1.8% growth in Jewish school enrollment from 2019 to 2022.Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah, a network representing 300 Jewish day schools and yeshivas in the US and Canada, said a recent survey determined that 60% of parents who enrolled kids in their Jewish schools said they wouldn’t have done so if not for the three-year-...