A Colorado highschool basketball coach was suspended after he was seen hanging up a Palestinian flag, and after he refused to shake fingers with the opposing coach following a recreation in opposition to a Jewish faculty final week.
Lotus College for Excellence in Aurora and Denver Torah Academy competed in opposition to one another on Jan. 22. The Lotus College advised Denver’s 9 Information that the top coach of the group, recognized solely as Coach O., introduced out a Palestinian flag earlier than the sport and hung it up.
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The Palestinian flag flying atop a flagpole in opposition to a blue sky. (iStock)
The varsity mentioned after the sport the coach reacted to the flag once more earlier than going to the handshake line. The coach reportedly did not shake fingers with the coaches of Denver Torah.
“He grabs his flag and places it round his neck,” Lotus College’s athletic director Deon Jackson advised the station. “We noticed the intent at that time.”
Emrek Bakyt, the faculty’s principal, introduced the coach was suspended together with one other assistant coach, based on the New York Put up.
“It has nothing to do with Lotus,” Bakyt mentioned. “It doesn’t characterize us, and we’re, once more, all about respect and variety. That’s what we rejoice. That’s what we take pleasure in.”
Brandon Rattiner, a member of the Jewish Neighborhood Relations Council, condemned the coach’s actions in an interview with the New York Put up.
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“I feel all people within the Jewish group may be very conscious that there’s been a rising tide of antisemitism since Oct. 7,” Rattiner, who spoke on behalf of Denver Torah, advised the paper. “And we’ve seen it in faculties right here and all all through the nation on many alternative events.”
Rattiner added that he thought the “key concern” was when the coach refused to shake the fingers of the Jewish coaches.
The coach and an assistant coach have been each suspended. (Lance King/Getty Pictures)
“The important thing concern right here is when the coach refuses to have interaction with a Jewish coach and Jewish college students just because they’re Jewish or holding them personally accountable for a battle began, not by Israel by the way in which, midway internationally hundreds and hundreds of miles away,” he mentioned.
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“Holding Jewish individuals accountable for the state actions of Israel is a textbook type of antisemitism.”
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