Hundreds of students rampaged through the halls of the Hillcrest High School in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York on November 20, 2023, after they discovered that a Jewish teacher had attended a pro-Israel rally, making her hide in a locked office while they tried to push their way into her classroom.
Students saw the teacher’s Facebook profile photo showing her at a pro-Israel rally on October 9 where she was holding a sign that said “I stand with Israel,” which prompted the students to organize what they called a “pre-planned protest”— where they rampaged through the halls for two hours while chanting, shouting, damaging school property, and waving Palestinian flags and banners.
Jamaica, Queens has a large Muslim population (link), and it is also where the extremism-linked Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is located (link, link, and link).
Students recorded the rioting and posted videos of it online, with some of it set to Arabian music. Some of the videos also showed a picture of the teacher. Most of the comments on the videos applauded the rioters, such as calling her a “cracker ass bitch.”
The students also discovered her personal information such as where she lives and her phone number, and a student at the school claimed that students were calling her and leaving hostile messages.
The clips also showed damage that was caused to the school, such as a water fountain that was ripped out of the wall in the hallway and shattered tiles in the men’s bathroom.
The NYPD sent dozens of police to the scene as well as a counterterrorism task force.
The police eventually escorted the teacher out of the building, and students were reported as saying that she was followed and spat on, but that was disputed by a teacher.
A week before the riot, the students were also recorded beating a security guard, which has been revealed by a New York City Council woman Vickie Paladino, who stated that the school had been attempting to cover up that situation as they had been trying to cover up the rioting incident.