Less than twenty-four hours after a young Jewish couple were executed by a “Free Palestine” supporter in Washington D.C., a senior at Glenbard South High School’s graduation ceremony strode across the stage to accept her diploma with a large keffiyeh draped over her graduation gown and a “Free Palestine” flag around her neck. After she accepted her diploma, she turned to the families gathered in the school gym in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and unfurled the flag. What did the administrators and faculty members present do? Nothing.
They did nothing as the student sat waiting, as she stood in line, as she strode onstage swathed in a controversial political message made even more controversial by the murderous anti-Semitic act committed just hours earlier.
A young Jewish man from Israel, Yaron Lischinsky, and young Jewish woman from Kansas, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, both Jewish and about to become engaged, were shot at point-blank range outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. by a man shouting “Free Palestine … there’s only one solution, intifada revolution.”
This sanctimonious, divisive Glenbard South Muslim graduate chose to grandstand at a graduation ceremony—a time for unity—thereby ruining the event for many, and the “leaders” did nothing.
To many Americans—including especially Jews—the keffiyeh and the “Free Palestine” flag are notorious symbols of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic sentiments. A graduation ceremony for students of diverse backgrounds is a wildly inappropriate venue for the display of symbols that many justifiably view as anti-Semitic.
Just a reminder that Hamas could have ended the nightmare in Gaza the day after they slaughtered innocent men, women, and children. They could have surrendered, released all hostages, and turned over all the savages to Israel.
Prior to that, Hamas could have chosen not to steal humanitarian aid from its own people. Hamas could have used all the years it controlled Gaza to make the area livable rather than make tunnels as they planned to slaughter Israeli babies. Hamas could have stationed their butchers away from women, children, and the sick.
And maybe Israel wouldn’t have had to pursue the extermination of Hamas if just after the Oct. 7 massacre, Hamas leaders hadn’t threatened to repeat the massacre over and over and over again until Israel no longer exists.
According to leftists, when conservatives say cross-dressing men who wish they were women don’t belong in women’s private spaces, they—conservatives—are culpable for any harm done to cross-dressing men. When, however, leftists on campuses explicitly call for intifada against anyone who supports Israel, they have no culpability for murderous actions committed against Jews. Both the keffiyeh and the Free Palestine flag proudly displayed at Glenbard last night are associated with calls for Intifada.
This is not the first outrageous act Glenbard South families have suffered at a graduation ceremony. Four years ago to the day, then-retiring principal Sandra Coughlin led students and their families in the Pledge of Allegiance but notably omitted the words “of the United States of America” and “under God,” generating audible outrage from attendees and creating division in what should have been a time of unity and joy.
As I wrote at the time, “This was not an act of ‘inclusivity.’ It was the rhetorical equivalent of giving every American of every race, ethnicity, nation of origin, and religion who loves this country and its principles the middle finger.”
Last night, a graduating student, Glenbard South administrators, and faculty did the same to all Jewish people and all other decent people in attendance.