‘Cancel him!’ Principal slated for asking pupils not to discuss Mideast crisis

The leader of the Al Jama-ah party, Ganief Hendricks, has called for the immediate suspension of the principal of an upmarket private school who asked parents to stop their children discussing the Middle East war on campus.

Hendricks submitted written questions to basic education minister Angie Motshekga on Tuesday asking her whether she will be taking action against Joseph Gerassi, the executive headmaster of Redhill School in Johannesburg, after a letter he wrote to parents on Friday.

Gerassi wrote: “At the outset, let me say that I do not believe that this issue should not be discussed and debated. However, given the emotions currently surrounding this crisis and the age of our children, I do not believe that there is anything to be gained from having them argue and debate with each other.

“At such a sensitive time, emotions tend to run high and assumptions tend to be made about people based on their religion and ethnic backgrounds.”

He urged families “to encourage their children not to discuss this issue [flare-up of violence in the Middle East] at school and to desist from cancelling any other student on social media”.

At such a sensitive time, emotions tend to run high and assumptions tend to be made about people based on their religion and ethnic backgrounds.

—  Joseph Gerassi, executive headmaster of Redhill School

Gerassi went on: “However strongly you as a family feel about the conflict and who may be right or wrong, this does not give anyone the right to bully, be unkind or discriminate against anyone else.”

Hendricks asked Motshekga whether her department would issue a directive to all educational institutions “to refrain from issuing threats to learners, parents and teachers who wish to address any crises of humanitarian matters”.

“Students are banned from discussing the tragic events in Gaza and the Al-Aqsa precinct. This is in contravention of our constitution on freedom of speech,” he told Motshekga.

Popular broadcaster, political analyst and writer Eusebius McKaiser tweeted that Gerassi “shouldn’t even run a crèche”.

“How on earth is the best pedagogical response to divisive conflict to ban your students from talking about it? Use it as a learning moment to role model, as staff, how to engage effectively,” he said on Twitter.

In a News24 opinion piece on Tuesday, William Shoki, a former debating coach at Redhill School, wrote: “I was shocked to learn that the school is discouraging any discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian violence.

“The move is equivalent to encroachment on students’ rights to freedom of expression. This is unconstitutional. If Redhill is worried about the possibility of bullying and harassment, the responsibility rests with it to prevent and manage this rather than prohibit discussion.”

Shoki wrote: “Why, for example, does Redhill deem itself capable of discourse on complex topics such as South Africa’s apartheid past, but cannot provide for discourse on what is going on in Israel and Palestine?”

The national executive committee of the Association of Muslim Schools said while it is of the view that it is important for pupils “to understand the background to the alarming scale of death and destruction in Gaza”,  they were not privy to the details that prompted Gerassi’s decision.

Stuart Diamond, from the Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies, said they could not respond as their offices were closed because of the religious holiday of Shavuot and would only reopen on Wednesday.

Mandla Mthembu, chairperson of the National Alliance of Independent Schools Associations (Naisa), said each private school had the right to prescribe and implement its own policies.

“Naisa has no jurisdiction in prescribing policies for its member schools. As a result, it’s very hard for us to even comment on whether their censure or ban on certain topics within the school premises is right or wrong.”

When it became apparent that there had been instances of negative debates, name calling and ‘cancelling’ students on campus, I needed to intervene to protect the wellbeing of all our pupils.

—  Joseph Gerassi, Redhill School

Responding to an e-mail from Sunday Times Daily, Gerassi said the school endorsed freedom of speech, but “when it became apparent that there had been instances of negative debates, name calling and ‘cancelling’ students on campus, I needed to intervene to protect the wellbeing of all our pupils”. 

“I would never ban any of my students from discussing any issue. I can discourage them from debating it in a negative manner on campus until such a time that we can create safe spaces for them to constructively do so.”  

He said the school is urgently preparing for these important discussions.

“Anyone who is familiar with Redhill School can attest to how progressive we are in terms of having ‘courageous conversations’ on a variety of subjects and encouraging students to question everything, challenge their own thinking and that of their particular upbringing, and looking at an alternative points of view.”

But he said they did not want to see anyone “who seeks to understand or have a voice being forced to ‘pick a side’ or run the risk of being ‘cancelled’”.

Gerassi said that he was Jewish had nothing to do with his decision to discourage pupils from discussing the conflict.

“My concern is for the safety and social and emotional wellbeing of all my students. My concern was not only for the two apparent ‘sides’ of the conflict, but also for those students who may feel coerced into adopting a view.”

He said that it was heartbreaking for him to hear last Friday that “some of our students were scared of coming to school because of their religion or association with a religion”, many of whom were too young to fully understand the history behind this devastating crisis.