Robert Carter
Press TV, London
As millions of people have vented anger at the Israeli regime crimes against the Palestinians over the past few weeks, an astonishing anti-Palestine trend has hit British schools. Teachers up and down the UK are being condemned after attempting to punish Muslim students who express solidarity with Palestinians over the past few weeks, ever since Israel’s regime began its indiscriminate attacks on Palestinians starting last Ramadan.
Examples include Rochdale’s Oulder Hill Community School; where a teacher accused a young teenager of having “racist views” for wearing a Palestine flag face mask.
In Leeds, the Head Teacher at Allerton Grange School was forced to apologize after claiming the Palestinian flag was a symbol of anti-Semitism.
And in Manchester, Pars Wood High School defended its decision to suspend a student for chanting “free Palestine” in class, while another student is being investigated for cutting down an Israeli flag at Birkshire’s Maiden Erlegh School.
Muslim defense groups are worried about students being reported to counter extremism police just for being pro-Palestine.
The situation remains tense as more and more students feel unable to contain their feelings of solidarity for Palestinians, but as the British education system continues to thought police Muslim students, some are concerned about what appears to be rampant institutional Islamophobia in Britain’s education system.