Anti-Israel posts got a Montreal high school student suspended. She says she's being censored
CBC
Warning: This story contains unedited language from an anti-Israel social media post that uses profanity.
A Montreal high school student says she was unfairly suspended for criticizing the state of Israel on her private Instagram account.
The high school, Royal West Academy, which is public, said in a letter addressed to the teen's mother that the commentary was "offensive/inappropriate regarding another country.”
At issue are two statements the student wrote over the last month where she expressed outrage against Israel’s actions and shared a conspiracy theory regarding the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
“I wasn't targeting anyone. I wasn't going after an individual or a group of people. I was criticizing a corrupt government for a genocide," the student told CBC.
CBC agreed to not to name her as she is concerned about further academic repercussions.
The most recent post was made following Israeli strikes in Gaza last week. The parties had agreed to a ceasefire earlier in October though both sides have traded blame for violating it. The airstrikes killed 104 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
"Out of rage and disbelief I posted just a black screen that said 'Fuck Israel holy shit,'" said the student.
On Monday, she was called into the vice-principal's office to be told her post, and the language in particular, had "negatively impacted the school environment," she says.
Students had flagged that story and another one, posted about a month ago, where the teen shared a reel by comedian and news commentator Lee Camp.
The reel shows an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier purportedly stating that on the day of the Oct. 7 attacks, his team was ordered not to patrol the Gaza border between 5:20 a.m. and 9 a.m.
At the bottom of the screen, the student wrote: "Israel allowed Oct. 7 to happen so that they would have an excuse to rain all hell upon Gaza."
An internal inquiry by the IDF has identified multiple intelligence breakdowns on the day of the attacks. No investigation has suggested that Israel intended for the attacks to happen which led to the deaths of about 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage to the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli figures.
"I was stating a kind of conspiracy theory, and I'm allowed to do that," said the student.
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