A national Jewish legal rights group is calling on the Trump administration to probe the city Department of Education over reports parents are pulling their kids out of public schools because of rampant antisemitism.
The National Jewish Advocacy Center filed a request with the Department of Justice Monday, citing evidence outlined in Post stories beginning in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel.
Enrollment at Jewish schools or yeshivas has increased while the student population in public schools has declined in recent years, said the letter sent to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Parents of Jewish children who attend, or were driven from, the Board’s [NYC Board of Education/Department of Education] schools, and Jewish employees of the Board, are prepared to be interviewed,” said the complaint, addressed to Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
There are two pending federal probes regarding the Big Apple’s public school system.
In April, the Trump administration’s Education Department launched a civil rights probe into the city DOE concerning a pro-Palestinian group of educators, NYC Educators for Palestine, for organizing a series of Israel-bashing lessons “focused on ‘Palestine, Zionism, and Resistance.’”
“No child should be taught by his or her teachers to hate their peers,” said US Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey at the time.
Another federal civil rights “shared ancestry” investigation into the DOE was initiated in November 2023.
The letter calling for another probe cited a report by United Jewish Teachers, a group of Jewish educators employed by NYC Public Schools, in August claiming at least 250 antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents in the schools since Oct. 7, 2023,
It also pointed to recent cases, citing Brooklyn PS 77 Park Slope teacher Damien Neva, who brazenly posted in a 2024 Signal group chat, “Long live Yahya al-Sinwar,” according to a new legal filing against the Park Slope Co-Op. Al-Sinwar is the Hamas leader who orchestrated the 10/7 massacre.
Meanwhile, George Trim, a social studies teacher at IS 181 in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, was disciplined for allegedly telling students that World Trade Center owner Larry Silverstein knew the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were coming and did nothing to stop them.
The letter noted that enrollment in Jewish day schools and yeshivas in New York State rose by 3,115 students in the 2025-26 school year, and in the city alone by 1,587, while nonpublic enrollment fell.
Mark Goldfederr, CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, said the Justice Department’s power is needed to clamp down on Jew hatred.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said, “The Department takes allegations of antisemitism seriously and is committed to enforcing federal civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination.”
The city DOE and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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