A US school teacher was arrested for reportedly threatening to behead a student after she raised objections over the Israeli flag in her classroom.
Benjamin Reese, the teacher, has been charged with terror threats and cruelty to children, reported ABC News. Reese works as a seventh-grade Social Studies teacher for the Warner Robins Middle School.
The Houston County Sheriff’s Office said that the incident was reported by another teacher at the school, who saw Reese yelling at the students on Dec 7.
“I’ll kick your a**! I should cut your mother*****g head off,” said the 51-year-old Georgia teacher to students, as reported by the other teacher.
Teacher-student conversation, as per the police report
According to the police report, the student had “pointed at the Israeli flag and told Reese that she has a question about it.”
The student reportedly asked why the Israeli flag was hanging in their classroom, to which the teacher responded by saying “that he was Jewish and has family members that still live there.”
The student found the flag offensive as “Israelis were killing the Palestinians,” as per the police.
It was unclear whether the student was referring to the Israeli actions in Gaza in the ongoing war against Hamas.
The incident report cited the student as saying that the teacher “was trying to keep her from leaving and demanded to know who she was and who was her first-period teacher.”
Neighbouring classes also heard the argument, when Reese reportedly yelled, “You don’t make an antisemitic comment like that to a Jew.”
A report in The Guardian cited a police account, wherein Reese was quoted as saying to the student, “I will drag her a** into the parking lot, slit her f***** throat and kill her.”
Concerns raised by faculty members
The incident led to many students and faculty members raising concerns. However, when Reese was confronted about it, he simply denied speaking to anyone in the hallway. Later he accused the student of being “antisemitic.”
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A CCTV footage was recovered by police from the hallway but it had no audio.
Reese was later arrested and has been released on bond.
(With inputs from agencies)
