Students at Netanyahu’s Pennsylvania high school want him ejected from the alumni hall of fame
The Israeli prime minister was inducted into Cheltenham High School’s hall of fame in 1999
Benjamin Netanyahu as pictured in his high school yearbook at Cheltenham High School in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. (File photo)
(JTA) — More than 200 students at Cheltenham High School in suburban Philadelphia have petitioned for the school’s alumni hall of fame to eject Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who graduated from the school in 1967.
Officers of the school’s alumni association are meeting with school district officials on Friday to consider the petition, according to a report in The New York Times, which said the association’s secretary privately said the group was inclined “to keep Netanyahu up, but maybe with an update in his biography.” Netanyahu was added to the hall of fame in 1999, during his first stint as prime minister.
The petition, submitted last month by roughly 15% of students, cited Netanyahu’s criminal indictment and arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, the newspaper reported. Netanyahu denies the criminal charges against him and Israel rejects the allegation that it has committed war crimes in Gaza, where it has been battling Hamas since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
“When students see these alumni on the wall of fame as we walk past every day, we understand that these are people we should look up to, and we strive to be like them one day,” two of the students wrote when they submitted the petition last month, according to The New York Times. They added, “As such, we feel it is not right for him to continue to be recognized in our school.”
Netanyahu lived in Cheltenham twice, from 1956 to 1958 when he was in elementary school, and from 1963 to 1967 when he was in high school, while his father taught at a local Jewish studies institute. At Cheltenham High, he participated in soccer, debate and chess clubs and reportedly skipped his graduation ceremony to return to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. He recently joked on Fox News with another graduate, the conservative pundit Mark Levin, about the alumni hall of fame, which does not include Levin.
