Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 4, 2021

Jewish News of Greater Phoenix via JTA An antisemitic tirade at a school board meeting in suburban Phoenix last week has spurred an extensive response among local officials and Jewish leaders some of whom say they were distressed that board members did not rebut the comment at the time.

During the public comment portion of the meeting of the Chandler Unified School District board, a woman who identified herself as Melanie Rettler spoke for over a minute about critical race theory and vaccines topics not listed on the meeting agenda but at the center of heated public debate nationwide.

Her comment crescendoed with an antisemitic claim drenched in the language of right-wing conspiracy theories.

Every one of these things, the deep state, the cabal, the swamp, the elite you cant mention it, but I will there is one race that owns all the pharmaceutical companies and these vaccines arent safe, they arent effective and they arent free, Rettler said. You know that youre paying for it through the increase in gas prices, the increase in food prices youre paying for this and its being taken from your money and being given to these pharmaceutical companies and if you want to bring race into this: Its the Jews.

The incident was the latest in a nationwide series of school board meeting disruptions, of the sort that the US Justice Department is seeking to curb. But what happened next has spurred the most discussion locally.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories

After Rettler walked away, Barb Mozdzen, the board president, addressed everybody in the room. Comments really need to be related to what the school board can do something about, and this was not something we can do something about, she said. So please have your comments with something that is within our jurisdiction.

An individual, who identified herself as Melanie Rettler, accuses the Jews of being responsible for COVID vaccines and running a shadow government, in public comments to the Chandler Unified School District governing board. (Screenshot by Nicole Raz/Jewish News of Greater Phoenix via JTA)

Some Jewish organizations expressed outrage that Mozdzen and other board members didnt respond more strongly to the antisemitism.

The Arizona chapter of the Israel American Council said it wrote to the Chandler board requesting that in the future the board members themselves speak up the very moment such hateful lies are expressed.

Our history teaches us that allowing such racism to pass unchallenged only invites more of the same, the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to the board and each member expressing concern about the remarks and called the district to publicly demonstrate in the strongest possible way their commitment to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate.

The group added, The lack of response from board members to last nights public speaker who used blatant antisemitic tropes and stereotypes to promote anti-vaccine and anti-CRT views is simply appalling and dangerous.

Exactly what school board members can do about comments like Rettlers is unclear. Terry Locke, a spokesman for the school district, told the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix that it would be a violation of Arizonas open meeting law for board members to discuss items that are not on the agenda.

Board members in Arizona are allowed to respond to criticism, but what constitutes criticism is not clear, and board members tend not to engage speakers extensively, a spokeswoman for the Arizona School Boards Associationtold the Arizona Republic.

The response after the meeting was more decisive. After Chandlers interim superintendent, Franklin Narducci, learned about what had happened, he got in touch with representatives of the Jewish community.

Paul Rockower, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix, praised the districts outreach to and collaboration with the Jewish community. So did Rabbi Michael Beyo, CEO of the East Valley Jewish Community Center in Chandler, who said he is pleased and grateful that Narducci sought to collaborate.

An ignorant person made an antisemitic comment. Thats not newsworthy, Bevo said. What is important is that the superintendent canceled all of his meetings [Thursday] in order to deal with this.

Narducci collaborated with Beyo to craft a statement that condemned hate speech and denounced the antisemitic statements.

The district reaffirms its commitment to use its influence as a public educational institution to teach students the value of an inclusive community and give them the tools to engage in our increasingly diverse society, the final statement read. Chandler Unified School District denounces hate speech at all levels.

Beyos statement applauded the district governing board, administration and Narducci for leading by example and speaking out against the hatred of all people.

A version of this article originally appeared in theJewish News of Greater Phoenixand is republished with permission.

What's Hebrew for 'fierce'?

In Streetwise Hebrew for the Times of Israel Community, each month we learn several colloquial Hebrew phrases around a common theme. These are bite-size audio Hebrew classes that we think you'll really enjoy.

This month, we're learning phrases on the topic of strength and power. Ready to get tough with us?

Youre serious. We appreciate that!

Were really pleased that youve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

Thats why we come to work every day - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we havent put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Read this article:

Its the Jews: Antisemitic tirade unchallenged at Arizona school board meeting - The Times of Israel

Category: Jewish
Tags: