Whenever
I think that the Zionists have just about sunk as low as they can get, they surprise
me and dredge the sewer even deeper! Bethany
Koval, a 16 year old teen in New Jersey was called in to the Principal’s office
to see Fair Lawn High School’s Assistant Principal, Frank Guadagnino.
Guadagnino then intimidated her into signing a statement,
threatening legal and other action against her, unless she stopped tweeting her
criticism of Israel’s murderous actions in Gaza.
 |
It seems that not satisfied with trying to suppress
free speech on university campuses the Zionists and their willing dupes are now
trying to do the same in high schools too.
Soon they will asking to vet the use reading material in nurseries and
kindergartens.
It’s not for nothing that the USA is known as the land of the free!
The school’s defence is here
Tony Greenstein
New Jersey teenager threatened with legal action by high school over pro-Palestine activism
Annie Robbins on January 7, 2016
Bethany
Koval, a remarkably brazen and aware 16 year old teenage activist from Fair
Lawn, New Jersey studying at Fair Lawn High School was targeted for her political activism yesterday. What began over Koval’s commentary of
the Gaza beach bombing: “I spoke of the death tolls and called Israel’s
govt a terrorist“, resulted in her
being called down to the principle’s office, intimidated, threatened with legal action, and coerced into signing a statement.
 |
| Fairlawn's pathetic defence |
As
Koval tweeted her experience all day throughout the process, activists on
social media swiftly rallied in support and started a hashtag, #IStandwithBenny.
News of her harassment spread like wildfire nationally and internationally.
It’s already gone viral.
Principal just called me
down. I'm about to be exposed for being anti-Israel. Pray for me.
“I
have a right to speak” begins Koval’s coerced written statement, photographed
(below), and tweeted out to the world. “Mr. Guaginino intimidated me into
writing this without an attorney”, referencing Fair Lawn High School
Assistant Principal, Frank Guadagnino.
She’s
smart and defiant. “I expressed my political opinions online recording the
Israeli government, and I will continue to do so. I will not be silenced by
fear. I will not be intimidated into submission.”
Eleven
days before on December 27, Bethany Koval started an extended information thread
on her twitter feed consisting of numerous tweets explaining in simple clear
terms why Israel is an apartheid state. She began somewhat benignly, like this:
Israel is an apartheid
state. Here's why, in simple terms: coming from an Israeli Jew.
[THREAD]
“Apartheid”
can be defined as segregation on grounds other than race. Some say this term
doesn’t apply to Israel due to fair voting rights. But “segregation” can
be defined as “the enforced separation of different racial groups in a country,
community, or establishment”.
Then
she linked to the Times of Israel‘s Ex-Shin Bet chief calls for West Bank road
segregation, articles in Haaretz, as well as
the horrendous and now infamous settler wedding knife dance video exposing the
stabbing of Ali Dawabshe’s image, the 18-month old Palestinian baby burned alive on July 31. The entire extended thread is available here
and Muftah republished many of the tweets in How a New Jersey Teenager Was Railroaded
by Her School for Being Pro-Palestine.
Here
is the full statement she was coerced into writing after clearly stating “I
don’t want to make a statement” and stressing “I believe I have a right to an attorney“.
I was denied my right to an
attorney. I was forced to make a writer statement, but I begged them to revoke
it. pic.twitter.com/izgyLANgMJ
During
her holiday break on December 22, Koval was engaged in a conversation about Palestine/Israel and the viability of a 2 state solution, the
discussion turned to Hamas. Koval tweeted she didn’t think Hamas was extreme; “Hamas is just painted that way Hateful
rhetoric against Hamas is what allowed the Gaza bombing”. Another student at
her school took offense to her tweets and began discussing them with friends.
It occurred to Koval she could get in trouble and that her opinions could be
construed as “hate speech“.
She
explained in her statement to the authorities “A girl…told her friends I had no
right to speak on this, and erased my Jewish ethnicity”. Unfortunately
challenging the ethnicity of Jews who expose Israel’s atrocities is not
uncommon. Koval wrote she retaliated by writing a tweet about it, a
“general message”. Hence, students reported her and she was accused of being a
bully, a charge that is punishable by suspension and/or expulsion (pdf) in the
state of New Jersey.
“Why
I am accused of “bullying”, I think because I wish for a Free Palestine. The
freedom of speech is chained and beaten in this school.”
Renowned
scholar Steven Salaita tweeted out “Zionists are now going after teenagers. No
surprise.” News of her predicament was translated
into Arabic and spread fast through social media:
Screenshot
Activist
from all over the world inundated the school and the district communicating
their displeasure, resulting in Koval requesting all communication to the
school stop.
Although
support has been pouring in from all over the world. Benny tweeted her parents didn’t support her views.
Both of my parents disagree
with me
After
reading an alarming tweet that her parents were “REALLY mad” and concerned about her situation at home, I spoke
with Bethany Koval. She’s now retained New
York attorney Stanley Cohen and
evidently Cohen has put her nervous mom at ease, “He spoke with her and she
really calmed down”.
It’s
a lot to handle having your child the focus of so much attention over such a
heated controversy, but her mom’s warming to the situation, somewhat.
I
asked Bethany if she was prepared for celebrity.
“No,
not really. I don’t want to be the face of the movement, I want
Palestinians to be the face of the movement. It’s not right when privileged
people get credit for what under privileged people have been saying for a long
time.”
Have
you been contacted by any mainstream publications?
“The
New York Times”
Do
you feel like you are raising the consciousness around you, at school perhaps?
“It’s
going to be odd to go back, I see the divide between friend groups. Some
students in my school have contacted me and let me know they’re listening,
letting me know they are supportive. I didn’t expect, I didn’t see this
coming.”
Meanwhile,
online she’s swiftly becoming a role model for free speech pro Palestinian youth activists. Smart, moral, politically savvy, conscious, and classy too:
When Zionists expect me to
be in favor of the Palestinian genocide because I'm an Israeli Jew pic.twitter.com/ixgCfE3Rua
—
benny (@bendykoval) January 6, 2016
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