Teacher disciplined over anti-Israel rap
A PUBLIC school teacher has been disciplined after The AJN revealed that she played an anti-Israel song to her students in Parramatta, NSW.
A PUBLIC school teacher has been disciplined after The AJN revealed that she played an anti-Israel song to her students in Parramatta, NSW.
Arthur Phillip High School casual teacher Heidi Claus played Long Live Palestine, by British-born rapper of Iraqi descent Lowkey, to her students and then boasted about it on Facebook.
The song claims that the conflict between Israel and Gaza has nothing to do with land. “We will never really know how many people are dead, they drop bombs on little girls while they sleep in their beds,” the rapper states.
Claiming to view the situation from a “truly human perspective”, the singer raps that Israel has blocked the United Nations from delivering food to civilians in Gaza.
“How many more resolutions have to be violated, how many more children have to be annihilated?”
Lowkey is a prominent activist who has declared that “nothing is more anti-Semitic than Zionism”; that “Israel is every bit a terrorist state”; and that “Zionism is about colonialism, imperialism and ethnic cleansing”.
A video clip, which Claus posted on Facebook, shows images of terrified children running from explosions and dead bodies being carried through the streets of Gaza.
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson told The AJN that the teacher has been counselled and disciplined. “The teacher is extremely apologetic,” the spokesperson said.
“The school principal has reinforced to all teaching staff the controversial issues in school policy as well as the Code of Conduct.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said the Department of Education’s response to this issue was professional and responsible. “Such strident partisan political views are out of step with the expectations of both parents and students,” he said.
JOSHUA LEVI
British rapper Lowkey.
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