From the Sproul Plaza sit-ins of the 1960s to the anti-apartheid divestment of the 1980s, Berkeley has famously been a birthplace for national protests and anti-war movements — and sometimes a hotspot in debates over blurred lines between free speech and censorship. Controversial topics, such as the Palestine-Israel conflict and the question of whether or not it should be taught or protested in schools, have many people divided.
The conflict rose to the forefront of national conversation on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas, an Islamist militant movement, launched an attack against Israel that killed over 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages, according to the Global Conflict Tracker. Palestinian human rights advocates such as Jewish Voice for Peace and the Middle Eastern Children's Alliance contextualized the attack, describing it as a “reaction” to decades of violence against Palestinians including an Israeli siege of Gaza since 2007. Israel then commenced a war that has killed at least 74,000 Palestinians, over 20,000 of which have been children, according to the European Union.
Over 3,700 pro-Palestinian protests days have occured at hundreds of public and private schools nationwide since Oct. 7 2026, a 2024 Harvard study by the Ash Center found. This response has resulted in thousands of arrests, suspensions, and expulsions by many colleges, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Some schools, like Columbia University and the University of Michigan, have justified the responses to the protests by claiming that the protests target Jewish students.
Over the last few years, the Palestine-Israel conflict and how it should be discussed in schools — if at all — has been debated by parents and students at Berkeley High School. On Jan. 27, 2026, Jackets for Palestine — a BHS club that is dedicated to Palestinian rights — organized a teach-out, a protest where students led discussions to educate about an issue. A student who is connected to the Jackets for Palestine club and helped organize it, but wished to remain anonymous, said, “We held the teach-out last school year because there was an overwhelming need from students to learn more about what was happening in Palestine.”
One student was pictured at the teach-out by the BHS yearbook holding a sign reading, “October 7th was a response, not an attack. Do your f---ing homework!” The photograph was published in the 2025-26 yearbook spread under the heading of “Social Justice,” alongside other images of various demonstrations.
The photograph concerned some BHS parents who saw it in their children’s yearbooks. One such parent, Stacey Zolt Hara wrote in a Times of Israel article on the issue, “A school publication should not include messaging that legitimizes or excuses an act of terrorism. This is where responsible faculty oversight and clear school district publication guidelines should come in.” Zolt Hara declined to comment on this article.
According to Berkeleyside, a letter was sent to Berkeley Unified School District from Jewish parents calling for “a public apology and acknowledgment of the photo’s impact, and a meeting with concerned community members, in addition to recalling the book.” A request for the complaint and the response were filed with the Public Records Office under the California Public Records Act, but no response was given. On Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, the California Department of Education (CDE) released a decision (No. 2026-0358) ruling that BUSD did not adequately respond to the yearbook controversy and including the photo created a discriminatory environment for Jewish and Israeli students. Anti-discrimination training, with emphasis on anti-semitism, for the yearbook adviser was mandated as part of the ruling.
Responses to the decision have been mixed. Ruven Freedberg, a BHS sophomore who identifies as a reformist (liberal/progressive) Jew, disagreed with the pushback from the photograph, saying, “I think under the ‘Social Justice’ heading, you should have pictures (representing) lots of different opinions.”
Hannah Slattery-Weisberg, BHS senior and the Berkeley School Board student representative, stated that, “(The sign was) encouraging people to contextualize one event, and to emphasize the importance of understanding the history that comes with current events.”
On the other hand, Cid Frydman, a BHS senior and self-identified Zionist Jewish student, thought an apology from the district on behalf of the yearbook was warranted. “It's all right to have different opinions, but I think to publish something that hateful, and that factually incorrect, and something that deliberately supports a terrorist organization was extremely wrong,” she said.
The yearbook controversy is one of several recent disputes over allegations of antisemitism within BUSD schools. On Aug. 13, 2026, Case Matter No. 2026-0259 was released, finding that Berkeley schools have discriminated against Jewish people by sympathizing with Palestine, according to the CDE. Posters reading, “Standing with Muslims Against Islamophobia & Racism,” “Berkeley Educators for Palestine,” and “Stop US/Israeli Genocide in Palestine” in Berkeley schools made some Jewish students “feel extremely uncomfortable,” according to the CDE report.
Four days later, in Case Matter No. 2026-0271, the CDE issued a separate ruling concerning student-led assemblies organized by the South and Southwest Asia and North Africa club (SSWANA) at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. The CDE upheld BUSD’s findings that the assemblies constituted unlawful discrimination, but determined that the district’s corrective actions were insufficient, and mandated additional anti-discrimination education, administrator training, and review procedures for future student assemblies. These cases have raised debates about the distinction between political expression and discrimination within BUSD schools.
Frydman agreed with the CDE’s Aug. 13 ruling, saying that the posters “create an extremely hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students.”
Slattery-Weisberg saw the decision differently. “It's really important to differentiate criticism of a country, or a government, or an army, from criticism of a religious group. I think that by aligning the two, we allow for more antisemitism. So I really hope that people are able to understand that advocating for a Palestinian liberation doesn't mean advocating against Jewish safety,” she said.
The Aug. 17 CDE decision raised concerns about the SSWANA assemblies' references to a "Palestinian genocide," finding "insufficient evidence that other viewpoints or context were provided about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Frydman said, “To (state that) there is a genocide in Palestine is extremely one sided, extremely biased, for such a controversial topic.” The United Nations classifies the violence in Palestine as a genocide, but some argue that Israel’s intention is not to “destroy the Palestinian people,” but rather to defeat Hamas, according to the American Jewish Committee.
While students differ on whether certain discussions about the Palestine-Israel conflict are hate speech or acceptable protest, many recognize the importance of free speech — a right guaranteed to Americans by the First Amendment. Frydman said, “I'm a full supporter of the Constitution. Freedom of speech is ... extremely important, especially in this country.” Freedberg emphasized that freedom of speech was a “human right” that “everyone should have.” He continued, “I might get mad (if you say something I disagree with), but I'm not going to ... attack you. This is America. Our country is built on the right of free speech and it doesn't matter if you're a student.”
According to the Supreme Court, public school students “have the right to speak out, hand out flyers and petitions, and wear expressive clothing in school” as long as they don’t disrupt the functioning of the school or violate school policies. In the landmark Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) case, the Supreme Court ruled that public school students do not “shed” their First Amendment rights “at the schoolhouse gates.”
But Freedberg noticed seeming exceptions to free speech around posters specifically relating to Palestine. “There's never been a problem until it's about Palestine and I think that's weird, because my teachers have anti-Trump, ‘No Kings,’ and anti-ICE policies posters, and all of those are controversial,” he said.
BHS Principal Juan Raygoza stated in an email to the Jacket that “The District does not have a practice of regularly reviewing classroom displays. However, the District is obligated to investigate all complaints received about classroom displays from our students and families. Posters addressing charged issues that can be connected to students’ protected characteristics require particular care in their presentation, to ensure they do not convey discriminatory messages or contribute to an environment in which students feel targeted because of their identities.”
How to teach about the conflict in class has also been debated. Frydman expressed that she believed it was too difficult to balance the strong opinions on both sides. “If schools were able to teach controversial topics like the Israel-Palestinian conflict without being biased, that would be great, but it's unfortunately not realistic, especially in Berkeley,” she said.
Stephanie Schaudel, a BHS history teacher, thinks bias cannot be avoided in the classroom, but that it’s not necessarily bad. “I reject the premise that teachers never bring bias in the classroom. We do, and by bias, I don't mean prejudice, (or) discrimination, which is the way a lot of students hear that word, but (I mean) our worldview, our political view, kind of what's shaped us,” she said, “One of the things I really value about teaching at BHS is we have historically had so much academic freedom, which is essential to democracy, full stop. To be able to discuss all different kinds of issues, including issues that get put in the category of controversial, like Israel and Palestine.”
