Pennsylvania: Muslims tell Jewish high school students: ‘Jerusalem is ours’

Pennsylvania school district in hot water after Muslim student group allowed to operate booth at culture fair promoting rejection of Israel, claiming Jerusalem “is ours.”

By World Israel News Staff

Jewish parents in a Pennsylvania school district expressed outrage last week after a Muslim student group promoted anti-Israel rhetoric at a cultural fair.

On Monday, Wissahickon High School held the fair on campus, inviting students to set up booths representing various cultural groups.

However, a booth set up by members of the Muslim Students of America (MSA) group drew criticism over its anti-Israel imagery, including the slogan “Jerusalem is ours.”

The MSA booth, while ostensibly representing Muslim culture, focused heavily on the Palestinian cause and rejection of the State of Israel.

The student operators of the booth handed out keffiyehs – headscarves used as a symbol of not only the Palestinian cause but also of the intifada – and held contests with cash prizes.

Some students and their parents expressed dismay that teachers and administrators took part in the MSA booth’s activities, and in some cases were photographed wearing keffiyehs.

Mwenyewe Dawan, superintendent of the Wissahickon School District, and Assistant Superintendent Sean Gardiner both posed for photos wearing the Palestinian symbol.

“My child came home shaken and unsure of whether it’s even safe to speak up as a Jew at school,” Lynn Simon, a local parent, told Fox News.

Critics noted that the school’s principal, Dr. Lynne Blair, was not only photographed wear a keffiyeh; she also posted the images to her official school social media account before removing the photographs following the backlash.

“When the principal is posting pictures of students wearing slogans like ‘Jerusalem is ours,’ and the superintendent is encouraging illegal minor-led games of chance, while visiting and taking photos with politically charged booths dressing students up in keffiyehs, that’s not education—it’s indoctrination,” a letter penned by dozens of angry parents to the school read.

“We don’t send our kids to school to be marginalized. We demand accountability, not photo ops.”

The North American Values Institute, which monitors antisemitism on the far-left, blasted the school district over the incident.

“The Wissahickon administration continues to set the gold standard for educational malpractice,” said NAVI’s Philadelphia director, Steve Rosenberg.

“The blurring of lines between culture and radical political propaganda — facilitated by staff, celebrated by leadership, and normalized for students — is both an embarrassment and a warning sign. School should be a place for critical thinking, not cultural intimidation and performative activism masquerading as diversity. The district owes its students better.”