Americas' Feds probe: Can US students be suspended for chanting ‘From the river to the sea’?

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Source : https://www.timesofisrael.com/feds-probe-can-us-students-be-suspended-for-chanting-from-the-river-to-the-sea/

Feds probe: Can US students be suspended for chanting ‘From the river to the sea’?​

Latest Title VI investigation relating to the Israel-Hamas war weighs whether it’s Islamophobic to discipline pupils for chanting ‘From the river to the sea,’ or antisemitic not to ​

By JTA and TOI STAFFToday, 2:34 am​

Protesters at a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, November 19, 2023. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/ via JTA)

JTA — A suburban Minneapolis school district is facing a federal investigation for Islamophobic discrimination after suspending two Muslim students who chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The case at Edina Public Schools has divided local Jews and Muslims and is the latest in an expanding list of Title VI investigations relating to the Israel-Hamas war by the US Department of Education. Investigations of two other educational institutions were also announced on Wednesday.

“From the river to the sea” is a common chant at pro-Palestinian rallies and has sparked debate. Many Jewish and non-Jewish leaders and groups say the phrase is antisemitic for endorsing the elimination of the State of Israel. Some Palestinian groups have claimed it endorses or at least does not rule out coexistence. The river in question is the Jordan, and the sea is the Mediterranean. The territory between them is the West Bank, the entire State of Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Britain’s then Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in October: “I would encourage police to consider whether chants such as ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ should be understood as an expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world.” And German prosecutors in Berlin that same month said it was a call for the erasure of Israel.

One member of Congress, Democrat Rashida Tlaib, was censured for using it. Another, Republican Elise Stefanik, said it was a call for genocide at a congressional hearing that led to the resignations of two elite university presidents.

The investigation in Edina will pit those dueling perceptions against each other. Other Title VI complaints, filed on behalf of Jewish students, have argued that schools and universities must take disciplinary action against students who use phrases like it.

Taken together, the cases may compel the federal government to determine whether such phrases create a hostile environment for Jewish students — or whether disciplining students who use it constitutes anti-Muslim discrimination.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, filed the complaint in November after two high school students were suspended for chanting the phrase during an October 25 pro-Palestinian walkout. CAIR-MN’s director, Jaylani Hussein, confirmed to JTA that the investigation was in response to the organization’s complaint.

CAIR-MN said it filed the complaint because the students were disciplined “for participating in protests and speaking up for Palestine.” It alleged that other students who have “expressed similar sentiments” were not suspended.

“For those of us who are using that phrase, it is contextualized in the way we see it: 75 years of occupation,” Hussein told TC Jewfolk, a local Jewish publication. Hussein also organized a protest of an Edina school board meeting in December to push back against the suspensions; the protesters chanted the phrase at the meeting.

“Anyone who believes that this is a way to have a violent approach to the freedom of Palestinians, that’s not what we’re calling for, not chanting for,” he said. “But everyone has the right to interpret things on their own.”

In a statement to JTA, the Edina school district said it has “unwavering support” for students’ rights to free speech and assembly. The district added that it also has “strong policies prohibiting any type of discrimination” for categories of people protected by state law.

“Our core beliefs in Edina Public Schools are grounded in the inherent dignity of all people,” the statement said. “We value and appreciate the diversity of all of our students. Edina Public Schools deeply condemns islamophobia and antisemitism. We will not tolerate hateful or inappropriate comments or behaviors and will work diligently to provide a safe and inclusive environment for our students and staff.”

The district has said it considers the phrase “From the river to the sea” to be antisemitic, and that it disciplined the students on those grounds after repeatedly warning them not to use the phrase. The walkout was reportedly preceded by an Instagram post saying Israel’s war in Gaza constituted ethnic cleansing and genocide. The post reportedly read, “Not speaking up is giving the green light to the Zionists.”

Protesters at a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, November 19, 2023. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/ via JTA)
JTA — A suburban Minneapolis school district is facing a federal investigation for Islamophobic discrimination after suspending two Muslim students who chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The case at Edina Public Schools has divided local Jews and Muslims and is the latest in an expanding list of Title VI investigations relating to the Israel-Hamas war by the US Department of Education. Investigations of two other educational institutions were also announced on Wednesday.