After months of litigation, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) successfully resolved its federal lawsuit against Cherry Hill Public Schools in New Jersey.
In partnership with attorneys Jeffrey Schreiber and Stephen Meister of the law firm of Meister Seelig & Fein PLLC, the ZOA filed suit on behalf of a Jewish student at Cherry Hill High School East and his parents after the student – a proud and vocal Israel supporter – was repeatedly threatened and nearly physically assaulted by other students after he documented on social media the provocative, dangerous, pro-terrorist Hamas conduct of fellow students. Just days after Hamas massacred over 1,200 Jews on October 7, 2023, a group of Cherry Hill students walked through the halls of the high school enthusiastically waving Palestinian Arab flags, wearing keffiyehs, and shouting, “Free Palestine.”
The complaint alleged that school and district officials not only failed to protect the Jewish student from the repeated threats he received and reported. They also retaliated against him – the victim – and harshly, undeservedly and outrageously punished him in violation of their own rules and policies, while ignoring and downplaying the conduct of his attackers.
Under the settlement negotiated by the ZOA and its partners, the school district was required to (1) expunge the information and evidence related to the disciplinary action taken against the Jewish student; (2) continue to provide antisemitism education as part of its mandatory Holocaust instruction; (3) commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 24, 2025, and commemorate it annually thereafter; and (4) during the week of April 21, 2025, maintain a table of books in the district’s libraries that commemorated Jewish history and survival through the centuries.
The settlement also required the school district to issue and post on its website a detailed statement providing data about the “skyrocketing” rise in antisemitic incidents in New Jersey and affirming that the district would “not tolerate antisemitism in any form.” The statement promised that all perpetrators of antisemitism, both staff and students, would be held accountable by the district. In addition, the statement emphasized that understanding how antisemitism can be expressed “is critical for effectively addressing” the problem and provided much-needed information to the community about the many forms of antisemitism: Included in the district’s statement was a definition of antisemitism almost identical to the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition, including the examples related to Israel.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein and the director of ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice, Susan B. Tuchman, Esq., expressed their satisfaction with the terms of the settlement, stating, “We are pleased and gratified that we were able to achieve the result our clients were seeking and that justice was served. The school district took much-needed corrective steps. It also educated its community about the many forms of antisemitism and made it clear to the community that the district would have zero tolerance for all of it. It was a privilege to work again with the law firm of Meister Seelig & Fein PLLC to fight the ongoing battle against the ugly surge of Jew- and Israel-hatred in our K-12 schools.”