By Kit O’Connell at theantimedia.org
The superintendent defended the school’s actions, insisting they were forced to investigate by an anti-bullying law that’s “one of the strictest in the nation.”
Fair Lawn, NJ — Twitter users rallied this week behind a Jewish high school student that faced possible legal action after she criticized Israel on the social media network.
is an 16-year old Israeli Jewish student at Fair Lawn High School, but she’s also accumulated thousands of followers on Twitter for her outspoken views on apartheid Israel’s treatment of Palestine. Unfortunately, she’s also found herself accused of bullying after a student apparently complained to her school about tweets she’d written over her December holiday break.
Koval was summoned to speak with school administrators on Wednesday, and tweeted out updates throughout the day on her account, @bendykoval. “Principal just called me down. I’m about to be exposed for being anti-Israel. Pray for me.” read one widely retweeted message from the incident.
Supporters quickly spread her story on Twitter, leading to the hashtag #IStandWithBenny and even pledges of support from the Anonymous hacktivist collective:
Although Koval made her Twitter account private on Thursday, Muftah, an independent news site focused on the Middle East, compiled many of her tweets from December which likely got her into trouble.
In the series of Tweets, decried the high body count of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza last summer, during which over 2,100 civilians died, most of them children. Koval defined why she believes Israel’s occupation of Palestine should be considered apartheid, and decried both the slaying of the Palestinian Dawabsheh family in an arsonand the later stabbing of a photo of the Dawabsheh’s toddler by Israelis at a wedding party in an illegal settlement. Two settlers have been charged in the slaying, Amiram Benoliel and Elisha Odess, who is a U.S. citizen.
In other tweets, Koval also celebrated a pro-Israel classmate unfollowing her, and shared that student’s name with another classmate on Twitter.
According to Nathan Tempey, writing for Gothamist, school administrators initially forced Koval to write up a written statement, then allowed her to rescind it with the intention of bringing a new statement to a follow-up meeting on Thursday. According to Annie Robbins, writing in Mondoweiss, she’s also retained the legal services of activist and lawyer Stanley Cohen.
Bruce Watson, the superintendent of Fair Lawn public schools, defended officials actions in a statement issued on Thursday, insisting that “at no time have District officials sought to censor or reprimand any pupils for their online speech” but that they were forced to take action by “New Jersey’s anti-bullying statute — one of the strictest in the nation.”
let ur followers know @bendykoval pic.twitter.com/iZW5PAqpRx
— brit (@BritneyDelMundo) January 8, 2016
This Kid should be given a medal!!!
What a pair of eyebrows!!!…
There is no freedom of speech . Yes u can said what u please but. After that u well be ponesh severely by those who don’t agre with u and they we’ll be protected by goverment officials that have no respect for the law or the constitution of the USA fanatics . I was ask my opinion on religion during a live radio interview and because I offended some religious people I was targeted by coropted police officer and they tried to frame me of child molestation of been a terrorist and of been a homosexual and they even photoshop me to frame me they have atented against my life . I am steel trying to survive . Be carefull of watt u said .
Fair Lawn is in NJ, about 10 miles from NYC.