NYC Teacher Sparks Outrage After Disrupting Vigil for Hamas Massacre Victims
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A New York City public school teacher crashed a Manhattan vigil last week honoring victims of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, alongside other protesters who cheered on Hamas and chanted violent messages such as “globalize the intifada,” The Post has learned.Mia Kurzer, a special education teacher at The Heritage School in East Harlem, was among the protesters videotaped at the event in Union Square, where some carried flags of terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, according to a complaint filed with the Department of Education and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.Mia Kurzer, a special education teacher at The Heritage School in East Harlem, disrupts a vigil for victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre. The Heritage School NYCA Jewish activist and educator who filed the complaint is demanding Kurzer be investigated for creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty at her school.“Last night, pro-Palestinian demonstrators overran an October 7 vigil in Union Square organized by Israelis for Peace, drowned out the reading of the names of people killed, and took over chairs reserved for participants, including Comptroller Brad Lander and Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” Moshe Spern wrote in his formal Oct. 8 complaint.“Video from the event shows Ms. Kurzer among those occupying those seats while mourners were being shouted down. Chants reported at the scene included ‘[globalize] the intifada’ and praise for the attackers.”Spern said he had video evidence that the teacher was at the event.“She was comfortable sitting among the Hamas flags and Hamas chants,” he told The Post Sunday.Earlier in the day, Kurzer came to school wearing a keffiyeh, Spern’s complaint alleged.Counterprotesters supporting the Palestinian people demonstrate during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post“That choice made staff and students uncomfortable and signaled political activism inside a New York City public school,” he said.Spern also complained that the Department of Education ignored a prior complaint he made about Kurzer attending protests outside the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan.“A year ago I notified you that Ms. Kurzer participated in both protests outside Park East Synagogue on November 19, 2025, and May 2026, at which demonstrators chanted ‘intifada revolution,’ ‘globalize the intifada,’ and ‘death to the IDF,’ and Jewish congregants were obstructed from entering their house of worship,” Spern told the chancellor.“Those demonstrations were widely condemned, including by Governor Hochul, as intimidation of Jewish New Yorkers at a synagogue led by a Holocaust survivor.”The Jewish educator argued that the sum of Kurzer’s actions shows a pattern of hostility towards Israel and Jews. Mayor Mamdani attends a candlelight vigil for the victims of October 7, 2023, in Union Square in New York on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post“Taken together, the synagogue protests at which intifada was chanted, an unanswered OEO [ Office of Equal Opportunity & Diversity Management] referral, disruption of an October 7 vigil, and wearing a keffiyeh in school on 10/7, this is not an isolated incident,” he wrote in the document. “It is a continuing course of conduct by a DOE employee that creates a hostile environment for Jewish students and staff and is incompatible with the Department’s obligations under Chancellor’s Regulation A-830, A-421, and Title VI.”Spern demanded an investigation be conducted by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management or a referral made to the Special Commissioner on Schools Investigation.“Jewish students and staff are entitled to a school that does not employ someone who joins mobs outside synagogues and then marks October 7 with a political symbol in the building,” he said.The teacher’s anti-Israel protest work dates back to her college years.In 2024, Kurzer was interviewed by CNN about her participation in anti-Israel protests at the University of Wisconsin, where she was a student at the time. She said she was Jewish and attended Hebrew school as a child, but critics slammed her as “not a real Jew” for partaking in the protests.Kurzer, reached by phone, had no comment.Last week, The Post reported on another teacher, Damien Neva, who brazenly posted, “Long live Yahya al-Sinwar’’ — praising the Hamas leader who was the architect of the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre — in a group chat, according to a lawsuit.Neva is now under investigation by city education officials.
