A Jewish father with two daughters enrolled in California public schools criticized the school district over its treatment of the recent Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel.
Shamik Dasgupta penned a letter on Wednesday condemning the district for failing to issue a statement on the attacks and for its support of Black Lives Matter in the wake of controversial statements by some chapters.
The Berkeley United School District later that day issued a tepid statement on the events in Israel. The statement “acknowledged that there is a heartbreaking conflict and tragedy at this moment” while avoiding the assignment of blame or condemning the enormity of Hamas’s purposeful attacks on civilians.
Dasgupta criticized the statement for failing “to mention the intentional and celebrated massacre of Jews.”
He highlighted the district’s previous vocal support for BLM in the “days after the atrocious murder of George Floyd,” which saw the district publish a statement “condemning the tragedy and even passing a resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter organization.”
Dasgupta contrasted the district’s tepid statement on Israel in light of its full-throated condemnation of “the injustice of the recent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.”
The district “do[es]n’t even mention the murders [of Israeli civilians], let alone condemn them” Dasgupta tweeted with an accusation that “Jewish lives don’t matter” to the district:
Dasgupta also called on the district to disavow its support for BLM after chapters posted statements in solidarity with Palestinians, including BLM Chicago, which included an image of a paraglider with its statement of support, as Legal Insurrection reported.
The image evoked Hamas paragliders descending on concertgoers at the start of the conflict, followed by a massacre of at least 250 civilian attendees, according to The Telegraph.
UPDATE (10/16/23): The headline was changed after publication.
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