Beacon School Official Threatened Over Gaza Moment Of Silence

The Beacon School, a selective public school in New York City. Image by Google Maps
(JTA) — An official at a school in New York City that held a moment of silence for Palestinian victims of violence on the Gaza border with Israel received a death threat.
William Stroud, assistant principal of Beacon School, a selective public school located in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan, told a parents meeting that he received a death threat after the May 15 moment of silence became public through media reports, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The school filed a harassment complaint with the New York Police Department.
Stroud told the parents, according to the Post, that the school had approved the moment of silence announced over the school’s public address system. A student has requested the moment of silence following a Friday border protest in which at least 60 Palestinian protesters were killed by Israeli troops.
Some Jewish parents told the Post last week following news of the tribute that they were unhappy that the school got involved in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. A Jewish student told the newspaper that the moment of silence made some of her Jewish friends uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, about 200 current and former students and parents signed a letter in support of the moment of silence.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
