California becomes first state sued over ‘unchecked antisemitism’ in K-12 schools

A Los Angeles boy transferred schools after being beaten unconscious during gym class by students shouting, “Let’s get the Jew,” but he was unable to escape the antisemitic climate permeating the California public school system.

At his new school, his honors chemistry class featured a “Free Palestine” poster and another with the Palestinian flag. When the boy’s parents complained, the school said it was unable to persuade the teacher to remove the displays and instead had the student enroll in a non-honors online chemistry course.

“When the teacher set that tone, it signaled to students that hostility toward Jewish identity was acceptable — and that is exactly what happened as other students joined in,” Mike Rosenthal, the boy’s father, said in a statement. “No child should ever be put in a position where they feel they must hide who they are in order to feel safe.”

His case was among those cited in a lawsuit brought Thursday by a half dozen parents and two Jewish groups accusing California of allowing “unchecked antisemitism” to fester in K-12 public schools in violation of the state constitution and anti-discrimination laws.

Ten California school districts are already the subject of federal Title VI investigations, but the lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles represents the first time a U.S. state has been sued for antisemitism.

Kenneth Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said California’s education system “is teaching the state’s children that Jewish Americans and Israelis are racists, White supremacists, oppressors, and baby killers who should be shunned.”

The Brandeis Center and the pro-Israel group StandWithUs, joined by veteran plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Sherman, led the lawsuit against the state, the California Department of Education, the California State Board of Education and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond.

“The result is not surprising: Jewish children and children perceived as Jewish are bullied and excluded by their peers and harassed by their teachers, who silence, mock and even segregate them if they speak out,” Mr. Marcus, a former U.S. assistant secretary of education, said in a statement. “School officials have done little or nothing at all to help these children.”

On paper, California affords students myriad anti-discrimination protections. The state constitution guarantees the right to a free and equitable education, and state laws prohibit public schools from discriminating on the basis of nationality, race, ethnicity or religion.

In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 715, a measure aimed at combating surging antisemitism in public schools after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, which prompted Israel to declare war.

In 2024, Mr. Newsom cited a report showing that hate crimes against Jews made up 62.4% of all reported hate crimes involving religious bias in 2022, even though Jewish residents make up 3% of the state’s population.

“The problem — and the reason that Plaintiffs require relief from this Court — is that these numerous and lofty guarantees of equality are not being enforced by the State, including its relevant agencies, departments, or leaders,” the 46-page lawsuit said.

The school districts cited in the motion include those in Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Campbell Union, Berkeley, Fremont, Etiwanda and Oakland.

StandWithUs and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights filed a major lawsuit against the state of California and its education department, exposing horrific antisemitic HARASSMENT AND violence in public schools where Jewish students were beaten unconscious to chants of… pic.twitter.com/7VQDPHxewV

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) February 26, 2026

The examples provided point to a pattern of school districts dealing with antisemitic incidents by separating Jewish students from teachers, classrooms and other students.

For example, Melissa Alexander said her 12-year-old son was targeted for behavioral and academic discipline, despite being a straight-A student, by a teacher who posted “virulently antisemitic and anti-Israel content” online and bragged about participating in the anti-Israel encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The school responded by transferring him to a different class. The boy no longer wears his Star of David necklace or Jewish summer camp T-shirts to school, and the family is seeking to enroll him in a private school.

Ilana Pearlman said her ninth-grade son’s art teacher at Berkeley High School boasted about his latest work, “an image of barbed wire fences in the shape of a Star of David with a giant fist punching through it,” and promoted a pro-Palestinian walkout during class time.

“The walkout that followed was filled with chants that included ‘F—- the Jews,’” said the complaint. “When Ms. Pearlman reported her concerns about the teacher’s conduct, the school did not address or correct the teacher’s in-class antisemitism. Instead, the school punished Ms. Pearlman’s child: Administrators removed [the student] from his classroom, segregated him from his classmates, and banished him to the library and student health center.”

Other examples include a 12-year-old girl who was taunted by classmates as a “Jew” and told “We want you to die” after she was singled out as Jewish by a teacher, high school students hearing calls of “kill the Jew” and “eliminate Israel” in the hallways, and a girl who was choked by another student who told her, “Shut your stupid Jewish a— up.”

In addition, teachers have promoted anti-Israel propaganda. The Oakland Education Association’s unapproved curriculum includes links to the book “P Is for Palestine,” which includes a page saying that “I is for Intifada,” as well as a slanted history of the founding of Israel.

The Oakland teachers union held an unauthorized teach-in in December 2023 with sample worksheets that asked students to draw pictures of “the Zionist leaders of Israel receiv[ing] money and support to conduct” a “two-tiered (unfair) system where Palestinians are mistreated and attacked.”

In addition, dozens of school districts are working with vendors “who openly vow to bring the biased antisemitic content into the classroom,” often through ethnic studies courses.

“With full knowledge that antisemitic indoctrination is taking the place of required education, Defendants are allowing it and enabling a hostile environment to persist against Jewish children in California public schools through biased curricula and instruction,” the lawsuit said.

The complaint asked the court to order “monitoring of schools where antisemitism is a problem, elimination of antisemitic curriculum and instruction, prohibition on segregation of Jewish students, [and] mandatory antisemitism training for teachers and administrators.”

In addition, the lawsuit seeks “limits on school funding for schools that fail to enforce nondiscrimination complaints.”