Cheltenham High’s controversy over Benyamin Netanyahu

The statue banners are back, with a red-faced enraged minority lowering its sights to a high-school honor bestowed on the Prime Minister of Israel, and his photograph in the school’s hall of fame.

About 14% of students, some 200, of the school presented a petition to delete alumnus Benyamin Netanyahu from its hall of fame, and controversy ensued.

First, let’s praise the minority for taking steps to present their virtue signaling in a calm and orderly way, even though (according to Cheltenham High School officials) there seems to be no legal, authorized way to delete 1967 graduate Netanyahu from the wall. (He was preceded on the wall by his brother, Yonathan, who died in Israel’s thrilling 1976 rescue of hostages from Entebbe, Uganda. He was also preceded by MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who is Black, and who told The Times in 1993 that he was made to feel “like a second-class citizen” at the school.

The students’ complaint is two-fold, I believe, based on reporting in The New York Times.

“When students see these alumni on the wall of fame as we walk past every day, we understand that these are people we should look up to, and we strive to be like them one day,” two of the students wrote when they submitted the petition last month, according to The Times. They added, “As such, we feel it is not right for him to continue to be recognized in our school.”

Cheltenham Director of Communications Kevin Kaufman was contacted, but did not reach me before deadline, and alumni officials deferred comments to him. This is a game of hot potato that no one wants.

Issues are believed to be, No. 1-  Netanyahu, or Bibi as he is known, is under indictment in Israel for corruption. There has been no trial. 

2- The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes in Gaza (along with Israel’s defense minister, and the head of Hamas.) There has been no trial,  nor any finding of guilt. The United States does not recognize the legitimacy of the court and Netanyahu has hotly denied the accusations. 

So we are left with accusations, but no finding verdicts. No doubt the agitated 14% of Cheltenham students have not yet learned that everyone in America has the presumption of innocence. They would flip the script to punishment before adjudication. 

That is not the American way. Yielding to them amounts to something called the heckler’s veto, allowing a small number of loud voices to change policy.

Their feelings are understandable, because most American Jews do not approve of Bibi. That was shown in a Jerusalem Post story, that revealed antipathy toward Israel itself, due to its right-wing government.

Almost 70% of U.S. Jews vote, or lean, to the Democratic Party.  

They have visceral problems with Bibi, and his fervent supporter, President Donald J. Trump. Cheltenham has a substantial, but unspecified Jewish population.

With that as background, there should be no surprise some want to cancel Bibi — removal being a favorite tactic of the left, ranging back to Josef Stalin who made many former comrades disappear from history without a trace. In our century, scores of statues have been pulled down, or threatened —  from Confederate generals, to Abraham Lincoln, to Teddy Roosevelt, to Christopher Columbus, to Frank Rizzo, to Kate Smith.

Alumni association and school officials met Friday for discussions. Predictably, they reached no conclusion, according to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer,  that quoted  Kevin Kaufman, a Cheltenham School District spokesman. He declined to comment on whether the district would continue to consider the removal request. 

Other alumni association officers declined comment, deflecting to Kaufman.

The alumni association’s secretary told The Times that the group was inclined “to keep Netanyahu up, but maybe with an update on his biography."

I could not independently confirm that, but wonder if they would also “update” Reggie Jackson’s bio to include his feelings of being treated like a “second-class citizen“ at the school.

Comments on the alumni association’s Facebook page were mixed, with comments following a story in the Glenside Local  very much favoring Bibi, while comments following an Inquirer story much more harsh.

I could find no statement there from the association acknowledging the controversy. 

Netanyahu lived in Cheltenham twice, from 1956 to 1958 when he was in elementary school, and from 1963 to 1967 when he was in high school, while his father taught at a local Jewish studies institute. This explains his flawless command of English.

At Cheltenham,  he participated in soccer, debate and chess clubs and reportedly skipped his graduation ceremony to return to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces, according to the Times of Israel. 

The bottom line is this: Due process, that nearly all Jews and most Americans recognize, is absent.

Netanyahu has been convicted of nothing, other than having a bad public image.

That’s a thin excuse for removing an honor, even one as insignificant as this one.