‘Commit to Palestinian liberation’: Brooklyn principal is slammed for sending staff an email demanding they call for sanctions on Israel and protest for Palestinians
- Principal Amanda Bueno sent email to staff asking them to support Palestinians
- Email that was sent around school also contained several pro-Palestinian links
- It encouraged staff to protest, attend a vigil or donate to Palestinian causes
- The email has now led to calls for Bueno to face some sort of reprimand
- New York law forbids requesting or encouraging any public servant, city employee to engage in political activities
Principal Amanda Bueno sent email to staff asking them to support Palestinians
A New York City school principal has come under fire after she sent an email to teachers and admin staff that saw her demand sanctions against Israel.
The email was sent during the middle of last weeks conflict between Israel and Hamas.
‘If you have been watching the news in absolute horror, you are not alone,’ Principal Amanda Bueno told staffers at MS 136 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
‘You can take action today by protesting, attending a vigil, making a public commitment to Palestinian Liberation, signing a petition, or calling your government officials to place sanctions on Isreal (sic),’ she wrote on Wednesday.
‘The time is now to take a stand for those impacted by state-sanctioned violence and crimes against the humanity of the most vulnerable in our world.’
The email included a series of links that directed those who clicked to a ‘Teach Palestine’ website and another about US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) who tweeted against the Israeli raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem that kicked off this latest round of Hamas rocket attacks.
‘You can take action today by protesting, attending a vigil, making a public commitment to Palestinian Liberation, signing a petition, or calling your government officials to place sanctions on Isreal (sic),’ Principal Amanda Bueno wrote in an email on Wednesday
The email included a series of links that directed those who clicked to a ‘Teach Palestine’ website and encouraging staff to protest, attend a vigil or donate to Palestinian causes
Principal Amanda Bueno told staffers at MS 136 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn to support Palestine
‘I opened the email and I was in shock. I felt very targeted and very attacked by her words. These resources she provided, it’s propaganda,’ one teacher told the New York Post.
‘There was nothing in the email about Hamas rockets targeting innocent Israeli civilians.’
The email has now led to calls for Bueno to face some sort of reprimand.
‘New York law forbids requesting or encouraging any public servant, city employee, or subordinate public servant/employee to engage in political activities,’ wrote lawyer Inna Vernikov, who also sent a letter to the Department of Education asking for Bueno to be sanctioned.
Vernikov said she knew of teachers at MS 136 with ‘close family members who live in Israel.’
One local politician felt the Bueno’s email to have been insensitive given that it was known some teachers at the school had ‘close family members that lived in Israel’
‘The matter is being addressed internally and was referred to the special commissioner of investigation for further investigation.’
‘Schools are not public forums for purposes of political expression, and staff may not use DOE resources in the furtherance of personal or political activities,’ a spokesman for the Department of Education said.
Parents who spoke to the Post disagreed with the principal’s approach.
‘Stay in the middle. You are saying, “Support this group and not the other.” That’s wrong,’ said one.
‘She should remain neutral because in New York, you have so many different groups of people,’ said another parent.
The email was sent during the middle of last weeks conflict between Israel and Hamas