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20 | MARCH 30 • 2023 

PARENTS EXPRESS CONCERN
Longtime Holocaust Memorial Center 
Docent Andrea Benkoff said the district 
needs to take immediate steps to correct a 
situation that has stirred animosity in the 
student body. 
“We must deal right now with the sit-
uation that was created by someone that 
unfortunately left the situation after she 
caused a great conflict. It was pointed out 
that the children were getting along well 
before this, and now they’re not. There 
needs to be another mandatory program 
that is set up to deal exclusively with 
antisemitism and Islamophobia and noth-
ing else.” 
Another Muslim father of Palestinian 
descent, who has lived in the United States 
for 15 years, said he enjoys living in a com-
munity where his next-door neighbors are 
Jewish and Christian. 
“This is the community that we live in 
and enjoy,” he said. “I have been to Poland, 
and I have visited Auschwitz because I 
was raised to learn one way but I wanted 
to learn in a different way. I do appreciate 
the inclusion committee, though mistakes 
were made. Whether or not we agree 
with the speaker is beside the point. We 
ignored the opportunity to ask why cer-
tain students felt the way they did, why 
they thought it was hurtful and build a 
bridge … instead the (school) dropped the 
ball and let the students create divisions 
between themselves. The school needs to 

be held accountable. In the future, mis-
takes will always happen, but how are we 
going to heal from it?”
Jennifer Freedland was met with laugh-
ter and jeers from some meeting attendees 
when she stated that anti-Israel rhetoric 
promotes antisemitism and, therefore, is 
“very against Jewish people.”
She decided to share with the public a 
very hateful message her daughter received 
on Instagram from possibly another stu-
dent she did not know. It said: “Hi. KYS 
(Kill Yourself). Free Palestine. Hitler was 
Right.” The matter is under police investi-
gation at the current time. 
“The other panelists stayed true to 
the prompt,” she added. “They didn’t tell 
someone else’s story or point fingers at an 
individual group. 
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is 
way too complicated and political to be 
addressed and understood by even most 
adults let alone highly impressionable high 
school students,” she continued. “What has 
occurred now is unsettling discord and 
verbal threats within our school commu-
nity. None of which has been addressed 
or publicly condemned by administration, 
making parents and students once again 
feel unsafe, unsupported and, frankly, 
ashamed to be part of this very broken 
community. How are we supposed to move 
forward and trust our school leaders?”
Bloomfield Hills resident and Zionist 
Organization of America Michigan 

President Sheldon L. Freilich described the 
diversity program as deeply flawed. 
Freilich said one way to resolve this 
was to adapt the International Holocaust 
Remembrance Alliance’s definition of 
antisemitism that includes singling out 
Israel, holding the country to a double 
standard and equating Zionism to Nazism. 
The definition has been adapted as policy 
in over 30 countries, including the United 
States. 
“The ZOA recommends bringing in 
another qualified speaker to give a more 
accurate picture of Israel, which is a 
vibrant democracy that supports equal 
rights policies to the 20 percent of its 
population who is Arabic.” 
Jay Kozlowski, the father of three 
Andover High School graduates and the 
child of a Holocaust survivor, wished 
there had been more balance of Jewish 
voices and opinions, as the public com-
ment meeting opened with two state-
ments from the Muslim Unity Center. 
“I was waiting for some balance from 
at least more Jewish voices here, and I 
acknowledge that (Rabbi Lopatin) did 
speak and it was an eloquent presenta-
tion,” he said. “I’d like to ask my Muslim 
brethren here what their response would 
have been had the speaker been a pro- 
Israel activist. We all have sensitivities 
and need to consider the other side. And 
now this has become a tinderbox and is 
scary to me.” 

OUR COMMUNITY

David Victor, an Andover High 
School graduate and former 
national AIPAC president, told 
attendees: “There is a distinction 
between criticism of Israel and 
demonizing the country to the 
point of where it should not 
exist. Crossing that line equates 
to antisemitism ... criticism of 
Israeli government and policies is 
not antisemitic, but having Arraf 
speak to the high school was 
inappropriate ...”

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