According to a recent report in the New York Post, a 17-year-old Jewish high school student studying in an elite school within New York City fell victim to a wave of antisemitic online harassment.
By Rachel Avraham
According to a recent report in the New York Post, a 17-year-old Jewish high school student studying in an elite school within New York City fell victim to a wave of antisemitic online harassment after Brooklyn Technical HS’ Class of 2025 student-run account announced that the student committed to a dual degree program between Tel Aviv and Columbia universities. One of the haters told the girl that she had “nothing to be proud of.” Another said they looked forward to her thesis on “ethnic cleansing.”
The New York Post reported that others made outrageous comments about her “cheating her way into genocide university,” and going to a college built “on children corpses,” parroting Hamas talking points. According to the report, the girl’s plans for a political science and Middle Eastern studies dual major were also ridiculed: “lol middle eastern studies this has to b a joke,” someone said.
Another student — who is in a class with the girl — even shared the post to his own Instagram “story” but added a massive Palestinian flag to cover her college announcement, the New York Post noted. But the senior said the worst comment of all was, “Man with mustache was right,” referring to Adolf Hitler, according to the report.
Hundreds of dark comments continued into the next day, turning the celebratory post of a young high school girl getting accepted into college into a political firestorm so nasty that the entire @bths25decisions account was taken down by the school, the New York Post noted. “It’s not only really affecting me, but the whole Jewish community at school,” the 17-year-old girl told the New York Post. However, she related that she was not shocked by the incident, as she has experienced similar treatment since the October 7th massacre.
The moderators tried to smooth over what happened. “We do not condone any degree of antisemitism or Zionism,” they said in one Instagram story. “We will do our best to refrain from taking any political stances, and any deviation from this policy can be attributed to human error.” Then, a second statement was made: “WE ARE SORRY,” it read. “NO POLITICS. NO ANTI-SEMITISM. NO NOTHING.”
Shortly afterwards, the New York Post reported that the account was shut down by the school, according to sources. According to the report, students said the outcome was “disappointing” because the page was simply to share news about college plans. “Every senior deserves to be able to celebrate their college accomplishment without it being political,” another Brooklyn Tech senior told the New York Post.
The girl, her parents and the friends of the 17-year-old Jewish girl have urged the high school to take action. “I expect them to take action against the student that we know initiated some of this and we have requested that he be removed from her class, that he get suspended,” her dad told the New York Post. “We requested that they write an official statement to the school community . . . all of which they were receptive to, but non-committal.”
According to the report, the New York City Department of Education said the school immediately intervened after learning about the incident, launched an investigation and is “taking the necessary steps to respond.” A spokesman told the New York Post: “Any form of antisemitism, bullying, or hatred has absolutely no place in our schools, communities, or online.”
