Jewish NYC school board member targeted over pro-Israel views

According to the New York Post, a pro-Israel member of the city Panel for Educational Policy was reportedly targeted for condemning Hamas. He was also cursed at by a fellow member and bashed by an X account that claims he has somehow "justified the slaughter of children."

The development is just the latest in rising tensions playing out in NYC schools.

A Queens parent rep — Ephraim Zakry — was apparently harassed during a PEP meeting that took place on November 29, when he tried to explain why slogans such as "From the river to the sea" and "Long live the Intifada" are offensive to Jewish people.

Zakry said that "[a]ny Jew interprets that, whether you mean it or not, as genocide of Jews." However, after he made this comment, some walked out of the Long Island City High School auditorium.

A fellow PEP member, Thomas Sheppard, who has described himself as an "equity champion" stood up and left the stage after the comments were made.

On December 20, following a four-and-a-half hour meeting, Zakry apparently approached Sheppard to "wish him happy holidays," and Sheppard reportedly responded: "Get the f*** away from me."

Zakry went on to claim Sheppard was a "hypocrite ... for talking in that meeting all about restorative justice and yet he's not willing to practice what he's preaching."

Zakry continued by saying Gavin Healy, a member of Manhattan's Community Education Council 2, had cursed at him, but Healy denied the claims.

Jumaane Williams — a staff member for Public Advocate — got in on the action, claiming Zakry had harmed special-needs kids. However, specifically how Zakry allegedly harmed the kids was not revealed in the report by the Post.

Zakry shared with the Post that it is "sad that some people have no scruples and stoop so low because they are not happy with how I vote on the PEP."

During the meeting, Zakry had voted for more NYPD involvement in schools, which Sheppard and others opposed. Zakry also voted in favor of revisions to a Chancellor's Regulation on school safety.

The prevalence of violence in NYC schools has soared this year, with some suggesting that a "broken windows" policy needs to be reintroduced.

Fox News Digital recently spoke with Naomi Shaefer Riley, who suggested a "broken windows" policy could prove valuable amid in-school violence in the Big Apple.

"A lot of schools really, especially during COVID, they were not only locked down, but even after they came back, we started not worrying about attendance," Schaefer said.

"We started not worrying about small behavioral infractions. We started not worrying about grades. We started not worrying about dress codes."

"All of these things, I think, really combine to create an atmosphere where larger kind of behaviors are really being tolerated more and more. And students are getting the message that nobody really cares about what the atmosphere in the school is."

"We need to start paying attention to attendance. We need to start paying attention to the dress code," she continued.

"We need to start paying attention to whether kids are disruptive in class. And once we start sort of saying, look, we're not going to tolerate these small things … especially when you do this in the younger grades. … It will have a long-term impact on the way they think about school and the environment there."

Additionally, a new X account was created that targeted Zakry, demanding his removal from the PEP. The account accused Zakry of "justifying the slaughter of children," adding that "students, teachers, and parents deserve so much better than this."

Zakry noted in November that the reason why so many people were killed in a Gaza hospital is because Hamas has used children as human shields.

He went on to say that "[t]he students, many of them don’t really know what’s going on, they’re supporting things that they don’t understand, and many adults also don’t really understand what’s going on.”

However, the mysterious X account ripped Zakry for the comments, writing: “Panel member Zakry berated parents as ‘ignorant,’ but he’s the one who’s ignorant of international law and basic human decency.”

A second commenter wrote: “Killing children is hideous, and there shouldn’t be a PEP member trying to excuse it by saying children are being used as human shields to justify their MURDERS!”

The Post has reached out to the Department of Education, but it did not immediately respond.

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