A Brooklyn middle-school principal, Arin Rusch, has denied a request for a Holocaust survivor to speak to students about anti-Semitism, claiming the speaker's alleged pro-Israel views are not appropriate for a public school audience.
Principal Arin Rusch refused to allow a Jewish Holocaust survivor to speak to students at MS 447 in Brooklyn about the Holocaust.
— End Jew Hatred (@EndJewHatred) December 3, 2025
Why? Because she rejected his identity as a proud Jew who supports Israel’s right to exist.
Every minority group has the right to its own narrative.… pic.twitter.com/C8OEOkKyvN
“In looking at his website material, I also don’t think that Sami’s presentation is right for our public school setting, given his messages around Israel and Palestine,” Rusch said. “I’d love to explore other speakers,” she said — insisting that lectures about the Holocaust — the Nazis’ slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II — and combating antisemitism are still welcome."
The 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, Sami Steigmann, does not have any information regarding the war between Israel and Hamas on his website or in his bio.
He promotes nothing but a positive message on his homepage, and no doubt valuable to middle schoolers. His website says he is "dedicated to reaching as many young people as he can, nationally and internationally, promote tolerance, and, hopefully, they will make it a better world for themselves, their children, and their grandchildren."
His advice to young people is:
NEVER GIVE UP. NEVER LOSE HOPE and enjoy the life you’ve been given. NEVER BE A PERPETRATOR (anyone that hurts another, intentionally and repeatedly, is a perpetrator). But most importantly, NEVER, EVER BE A BY-STANDER. The greatest tragedy in human history, the Holocaust and all the genocides, happened because the world stood by and did nothing.
As a bystander, you are part of the problem. He wants you to "BE PART OF THE SOLUTION."
Moshe Spern, the president of the United Jewish Teachers, was furious, and in an email to Brooklyn District 15 Superintendent Rafael Alvarez wrote that the denial of the speaker “begs the question of, ‘Are we now censoring Holocaust survivors for their views of Israel?’ ”
The city Department of Education defended the principal’s decision, with a spokesperson saying:
We do not shy away from teaching history in our classrooms, and we are proud to have welcomed many Holocaust survivors into our schools, including MS 447, to share their stories. We thoroughly evaluate every classroom speaker and are careful to ensure speakers maintain political neutrality, especially on contentious current events, as required in a public school setting.
Mayor Eric Adams' office did so as well, claiming that the speaker “wasn’t the right fit.”
“Mayor Adams is dedicated to ensuring all New Yorkers — particularly our students and young adults — hear stories from the genocide and oppression of the Holocaust, so we never again perpetrate such evil,” a City Hall spokesman said. “While this speaker wasn’t the right fit, we will continue to ensure our students hear from the living survivors of this history into the future.”
Steigmann told the New York Post that Principal Rusch "didn’t even have the courtesy to call," and that he doesn't discuss Middle Eastern politics in schools. He said that if he had been asked not to discuss the current conflict, he would have instantly agreed.