As the fallout from the war between Israel and Hamas mounts, the head of the embattled Berkeley public school district is called to Washington, DC, to testify before members of Congress amid allegations of anti-Semitism at its schools.

Berkeley united

Chief Inspector Supt.

Enikia Ford Morthel said Monday she would travel to the nation’s capital for a May 8 hearing to answer questions from elected officials in the latest chapter of congressional investigations into anti-Semitism on campus that previously contributed to the resignations of presidents of Harvard University and New York University. Pennsylvania.

The hearing in the House Education and Workforce Committee, which is chaired by

Republican Virginia Foxx Representative from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx (RC)

comes as the 9,100-student district fights allegations of that

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has become an unwelcome place for Jews since October. Hamas’ attack on Israel and Israel’s retaliation took place in Gaza.

In March, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Anti-Defamation League filed a federal complaint with the Department of Education alleging “severe and persistent” harassment and discrimination against Jewish children attending Berkeley schools. It says school leaders “knowingly allowed a ‘viciously hostile’ anti-Jewish environment.”

The center, which is led by a former deputy secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education under President Trump, has filed similar complaints against multiple higher education institutions, including

the

University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College. It has also been indicted

the

University of California and UC Berkeley officials in the case amid allegations of anti-Semitism on campus.

Last week, a Jewish parent in the Berkeley district, Yossi Fendel, also south of the district, said it had not responded adequately to his requests for release.

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teaching materials about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That lawsuit was filed with the Deborah Project, a legal group that focuses on anti-Semitism in schools.

The Brandeis center and the Deborah Project did not respond to requests for comment.

Pro-Palestinian parents in the district, including a Jewish group called Berkeley Unified School District Jewish Parents for Collective Liberation, have said people filing complaints are confusing anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. As a result, they have widely labeled pro-Palestinian activities, such as classes about Israelis and Palestinians and student protests, as anti-Jewish, the pro-Palestinian parents said.

Morthel will be joined at the hearing by New York City Schools Chancellor David C. Banks and Montgomery County, Maryland Board of Education Chairman Karla Silvestre. The school districts, which are among the largest in the US, have also faced intense activism over the war between Israel and Hamas and reports of anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim or anti-Arab incidents.

A representative of the Berkeley schools said Morthel, who previously worked at schools in San Francisco and Hayward, “did not accept this invitation.”

“As our superintendent has said many times, Berkeley Unified celebrates our diversity and stands against all forms of hate and dissent, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” spokesperson Trish McDermott said in a statement.

“We strive every day to ensure that our classrooms are respectful, humanizing and joyful places for all our students, where they are welcomed, seen, valued and heard. We will continue to put our students first and care for each other during this period. time.”

The Berkeley Unified School District Jewish Parents for Collective Liberation, which includes about 60 parents, said Monday that the May hearing is “part of the MAGA Republican war on education.”

“Jewish children are safe and thrive in Berkeley’s diverse schools,” the statement said. “As Jewish Berkeley parents, we reject the idea that anti-Semitism is rampant in our schools; that is simply not true. A handful of parents have painted a wrong picture of our city in the national media, causing the national-right attack on education.”

“These congressional hearings are not about the well-being of Jewish students,” the group continued. “This is part of the Republican war on MAGA education, which limits public school students’ right to learn.”