Carmel School Trustee Under Fire Again for Controversial Remarks
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Carmel Board of Education member Jim Wise has come under scrutiny again for remarks he made in June at a pro-Palestinian rally at the Carmel Courthouse.
Four Hudson Valley lawmakers penned a letter Aug. 8 to New York State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa requesting that Wise be removed for “blatant and dangerous antisemitic rhetoric.”
At issue is Wise uttering the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine should be free.” Critics view the phrase as inherently antisemitic, historically a call for the elimination of the state of Israel. Defenders contend it is just expressing support for Palestinian liberation.
“Our public school officials are entrusted with the education and protection of all students. It is simply unacceptable, and there should be zero tolerance, for a school board trustee to be spreading and defending ignorant antisemitic slogans,” U.S. Rep Mike Lawler (R/NY-17), State Senator Rob Rolison (R/Poughkeepsie), and assemblymen Matt Slater (R/Yorktown) and Anil Beephan (R/Dutchess) stated in the letter to Rosa.
“This phrase has widely been understood as an explicit call to eliminate the state of Israel and to exterminate the Jewish population within it,” the officials continued. “For any elected official, let alone a sitting School Board member who is tasked with helping create a welcoming educational environment for students, to use and defend this blatant antisemitic slogan is appalling. It must be condemned in the strongest possible terms, and those who engage in this antisemitic behavior must be held accountable.”
During a five-hour meeting July 9, the Board of Education passed a resolution condemning Wise after the district received “several” complaints that his June 22 remarks “could be considered or interpreted as antisemitic.”
Wise, who is Jewish, said the board’s action “shows a degree of cowardice.” He also said he rejected “absolutely” that the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free,” which he admitted saying, was antisemitic.
Last week, he remained steadfast in defending his remarks, stating in an email to Examiner Media, “At heart, it is absurd to accuse a Jewish man of antisemitism for holding a position shared by the majority of American Jews.”
He blamed the backlash on a “concerted smear campaign targeting myself and other community members within the Carmel Central School District with charges of antisemitism for our support of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and of equal human rights for Israelis and Palestinians.”
“Those in our community know that before settling on this issue, the same people behind this campaign had called for my resignation due to my support for the rights of LGBTQ students within our schools, my opposition to banning books, and my support for Black and brown students traumatized by the racist videos which targeted the George Fischer Middle School last year,” Wise stated. “This campaign is no different, and is equally in bad faith. Their values are not Carmel’s values.”
Several parents and residents who attended the July meeting called on Wise to resign from the board since he also admitted saying, “U.S. is a terrorist state” at the protest. A petition calling for the same was also circulating.
Despite Lawler, Slater, Rolison and Beephan’s claims in their letter that he “is not fit to continue in this important and valued role within our community,” Wise, who was elected to a three-year term in the May 2023 election, said he had no plans to resign.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
