Illustrative: Pro-Palestinian protestors at University of Michigan. Photo: Brendan Gutenschwager/Twitter

The assemblies on March 14 at Bloomfield Hills High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, were billed as “No Place for Hate.” Unfortunately, one of the speakers, approved by school officials, was Huwaida Arraf, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian organization that supports “legitimate armed struggle” against Israel. She was also “chair of the Free Gaza Movement.”

Rather than sticking to the agreed upon talking points, Arraf launched into anti-Israel tirades at all four assemblies. Jewish students were rightfully shocked. They were able to feel the same emotions that some of their great grandparents felt before abandoning Europe for America. Thanks to Arruf, there was a place for anti-Jewish hate at BHHS, and it grew. Students on Instagram invited other students to wear the colors of the Palestinian flag on March 17. Some students waved Palestinian flags in the parking lot while chanting “We love Kanye West.”

Once word got out, Jewish students learned that it wasn’t just at high school that hatred of Israel and Jews was tolerated. Some adult reactions to Arraf’s displays of antisemitism demonstrated that Jews also don’t count much in the real world.

The school district’s superintendent, Pat Watson, sent out two letters of apology. In one, he pledged to “implement staff training to identify antisemitism and Islamophobia  … These and other forms of hate must be addressed.” We’ve seen this before. Antisemitism, the world’s oldest and most malleable hatred, can never be fought on its own. It must always be tied to the coattails of some other bigotry.

The coverage by local Detroit area news sources was worse. Every one of them gave Arraf large portions of their reports to respond, while giving minimal attention to her approval of violence against Israelis. Click on Detroit gave her a minute and a half of a 3.5 minute video to spew her anti-Israel libels and insist she opposes antisemitism. She repeated the typical, overused, strawman argument of people conflating legitimate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Another Click on Detroit report allowed Arraf to claim, “certain interest groups are now harassing the BHHS administration and student organizers over my participation … the same forces that have been working to shut down Palestinian voices.” The report also pointed out that Amnesty International shares Arraf’s view, without giving full voice to why these clams aren’t true. That is propaganda.

Nobody was given time to explain why Arraf’s comments were antisemitic. There was one admission that, yes, Jewish students are being harassed. One report featured a short interview with a local leader, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, who did his best to be diplomatic rather than strong.

Muslim and Jewish parents were able to express concern at a March 20 emergency board meeting. Muslim speakers, in the majority, claimed that Muslim students were being intimidated, and “dismissed by the administration because they hold views on a topic that may run counter to the narrative, as it is portrayed by pro-Israeli or anti-Palestinian constituencies.” Some Jewish parents’ valid concerns were met with rolled eyes and laughter by those who were much more organized and ready for confrontation.

Two weeks later, fallout from the assemblies continues, along with minimization of Jewish students’ concerns. Superintendent Watson admitted to “17 admitted hate incidents since the assembly,” one being referred to the police. According to one Oakland Press article, “Middle Eastern students have complained that since the assembly, they’ve been harassed or bullied and forbidden from expressing pro-Palestinian views.” Further down in the article, and given less space: “Jewish students also felt fearful,” and “the staff is undergoing training to recognize antisemitism and Islamophobia.” There is no mention as to who is doing the training. There has also been no mention as to whether an honest speaker will be brought in to teach about Israel.

This was printed in a later Oakland Press article: “… the high school has long had issues with racism, intimidation and discrimination, affecting not only Jewish, Middle Eastern and Muslim students, but also students who are homosexual and others.” The number of hate incidents in this article was raised to 20, and the principal was placed on leave. Muslim and “Middle Eastern” students were again given more space than Jews.

It’s clear that BHHS, a high school in Michigan’s wealthiest city, a city that “consistently ranks as one of the top 5 wealthiest cities in the United States consisting of over 1,000 households” has problems that money can’t solve. It’s also clear that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are dividing students into warring camps and turning schools into hostile environments for Jewish students. While this evolution has been going on for years on university campuses, it has now been brought down to the high school level.

While collegiate Jew hatred, promoted as Israel/Zionism hatred, has faced minimal pushback, this attack on Jewish high school students must be fought with much greater vigor than we’ve shown. We can’t wait until Huwaida Arruf is teaching kindergarten students.

Harry Onickel is a longtime Detroit-area Israel advocate.