Jewish Groups Call Out Philly School District After Administrator Blames Israel for Oct. 7
11th July 2025
Jewish leaders on Thursday called on the School District of Philadelphia to take action against an administrator who they say has “rationalize[d]” Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks against Israel.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other Jewish groups wrote in a letter to the school district that they are “deeply troubled by a recently circulated video clip of Ismael Jimenez, Director of the Social Studies Curriculum for the School District of Philadelphia” in which he “appears to rationalize the Hamas-led massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.”
“In a time of heightened threats to Jewish communities, school leadership must take seriously any endorsement or rationalization of hate-fueled violence,” the letter continued. “To the School District: At what point does inaction become complicity?”