East Brunswick High School in New Jersey is coming under fire after its yearbook replaced a photo of a Jewish student group with a photo showing Muslim students, and the section of the yearbook where the list of Jewish names was supposed to be had no names.
A member of the Jewish Student Union at the school told The New York Post, “We were shocked and disturbed when we got up to our page and saw what happened. It was disappointing, and it feels like they were trying to take our identity away from us.”
Christine Mahler and Jack Goldberg, of the East Brunswick Jewish Center, said they were “shocked and appalled.” Goldberg said, “We have a very prominent Jewish community in East Brunswick, and everyone is very upset by what happened at the high school. We’ve never had anything like this happen before.” Mahler echoed, “We stand with the mayor’s office and our fellow synagogues in demanding a response from the district. We don’t want to pre-emptively pass judgment, but we need answers.”
East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen issued a press release in which he fired off some questions, asking how it happened, who was responsible, who were the yearbook advisors and who signed off on the page, whether the mistake happened by the publisher, and how the perpetrators would be held accountable, as HotAir reported. Cohen stated, “I think the community — both the Jewish community and community at-large — deserve an answer to this quickly. It’s downright upsetting and outrageous for you not to call it out for what it is: It is an antisemitic act. It doesn’t imply who did it, not making any accusation of who did it — that’s up to the investigation.”
Brittany VanDyke, the faculty advisor for the yearbook, said it was a “mistake not caught in editing and printed unintentionally,” adding, “We know what happened, we know our truth and we are working hard to rectify this situation immediately.”
“I sent a message out to the community today saying that we’re investigating — and I wished people would give us time to investigate, not rush to judgment,” said Superintendent Victor Valeski. “I’m gonna wait to find out what the investigation finds, because it could be a legitimate mistake. So I don’t want to call it antisemitism yet.”
Valeski also offered an apology to the Muslim community, saying, “I want to offer sincere apologies to our Muslim students and families, as well. I am aware that the picture placed in the yearbook has caused pain for our Muslim students and for that I am deeply sorry. We work every day to foster an inclusive school environment for all EB students but I realize that new work needs to be done every day to make that a reality.”
East Brunswick High School, NJ – the entire Jewish Student Union has their names erased and photo replaced with Muslim students in the school’s yearbook.
Dr. Victor Valeski, Superintendent of Schools 732.613.6705 and demand an explanation! pic.twitter.com/iHdbGqBE11
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) June 5, 2024
Other 2024 yearbooks around the country have included anti-Israel material; California’s Palos Verdes High School yearbook included an anti-Israel article written by a student titled, “Whose Land Is It Anyway?” The Glenbrook South High School yearbook in suburban Chicago included a student saying she was “happy” about the October 7 Hamas terror attack, and Texas’ Bellaire High School yearbook included a “Times of Palestine” page that simply mentioned a Hamas “attack” on October 7 and said, “what happened, happened.”
