Palestinian-American Student Expelled Over Mom’s Online Support for Gaza
Jad Abughamda was forced out of his private school after his mom, who also worked there, said on Instagram that the war on Gaza began before Oct. 7.
Screenshot: CBS News Miami Justice palestine
A Palestinian-American student named Jad Abughamda has been expelled from his private high school, Pine Crest School, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida because his mom posted support for Gaza on social media, the school confirmed this week. Maha Almasri, a Palestinian-American woman and the 15-year-old’s mother, also worked at Pine Crest as a math tutor. Her son’s expulsion comes after he was suspended over her posts around Thanksgiving. Abughamda has been barred from attending school for the last month.
Per local news station WTSP, Almasri’s posts, which she made on her personal social accounts, haven’t been made public by her or the school. But the school says it took particular issue with posts that said Israel’s war on Gaza began before October 7, as well as posts that included “an image of a soldier pointing a machine gun at an infant inside of an incubator.” According to WTSP, the school said these posts threatened to disrupt the school’s learning environment and accused Almasri of inciting violence and threatening campus safety.
Israeli forces have killed at least 18,787 Palestinians in Gaza and injured at least 50,000 more since October 7, when Hamas attacks killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 240. According to local media, Almasri’s posts invoked the history of conflict between Israel and Palestinians, which includes 15,000 Palestinians killed and 750,000 displaced from their homeland by Israel in 1948. Almasri’s post that allegedly showed a soldier pointing a machine gun at a baby in an incubator seems to reference reports that preterm babies in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital died as a result of Israel’s blockade and siege on the hospital. Six preterm newborns died last month as a result.