Last week, Jewish students at Langley High School were stunned to see the image of a U.S. flag that a classmate had drawn in Room 1406 during a meeting of the Muslim Students Association, replacing the stars on the flag with swastikas and the message “Free Palestine!” in between squiggles for stripes. The image circulated quickly at school, as pro-Palestine students staged a “walkout” on Friday, carrying another sign with swastikas on it and chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call-to-action that Jewish groups have decried as an anti-semitic war cry to destroy the state of Israel.

Now, Jewish students and parents are shocked to learn that Langley administrators this week suspended not only the Muslim student who drew the swastikas on the U.S. flag but also an Asian American classmate whom school officials accused of leaking the photo to the public. Local Jewish community members and their allies plan a rally on Nov. 17, at 11 a.m., at Fairfax County Public Schools’ Gatehouse headquarters, which they have renamed “Hatehouse,” to protest the retaliation against the Asian American teen and the lack of school district action on anti-Jew hate…

For several years, parents have expressed their concerns that administrators at Fairfax County Public Schools are ignoring antisemitism, said Rebecca Schgallis, cofounder of the group United Against Antisemitism. “Fairfax County Public Schools has emboldened students to become even more aggressive in their open antisemitism where they explicitly express support for Hamas and include swastikas in their signage. Jewish students have been threatened at these walkouts, and yet FCPS is falsely claiming to the community that they are peaceful and orderly.