The family of a student in Newport Beach is outraged after they claim he was suspended for saying “Free Palestine” to another student.
Video posted to social media by one of the student’s family members shows the 8th grader’s mother asking if what her son said was worthy of being suspended for three days.
A school official is heard in the video saying that he could not comment on the matter due to not knowing the full story.
The post indicated that the boy had told a girl “Free Palestine” and that she responded by calling him a “terrorist.”
Paperwork signed by Jacob Haley, the principal of Corona del Mar Middle and High School, shows that the school says the student made “threatening remarks to a young lady in class.”
A book titled “Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth” was seen on the principal’s desk while the student’s mother was picking her son up, the family member’s social media post indicates.
The family, who is Palestinian, says that two weeks before his suspension, their son was bullied and told to “go back to where he came from.”
Additionally, one month ago, swastikas were written on the locker of a Jewish student at the school.
A letter sent to parents from the school district over the weekend said reports on this story were “inaccurate” and “incomplete,” but they did not elaborate much further on the incident, citing the need to protect the student’s privacy.
KTLA has reached out to the student’s family for comment but have not heard a response.
