Texas high school principal responds to backlash over yearbook’s Times of Palestine page
HOUSTON, Texas — A high school which published a yearbook with a page dismissing the October 7 terror attack on Israel says it will print a new version without the page.
In the email to parents of students at Bellaire High School, principal Michael Niggli said he was “surprised by the content” — which dismissed the attack which claimed the lives of 1,200 and resulted in over 240 hostages being taken — as “what happened, happened.”
Of those hostages, 128 remain in captivity, according to Israel.
Niggli also said the school will be “enforcing new editorial protocols,” to ensure something similar doesn’t happen again in the email, sent Sunday.
“Although the yearbook staff and their sponsorship are charged with editing the content of the publication as they have been for many years, as principal of Bellaire High School I will need to make some adjustments to that process.
“We will be enforcing new editorial protocols for all student publications in the coming weeks as we prepare for 2024-25,” Niggli wrote to parents.
The school featured the page as an Arab student’s “account of the Israel-Gaza conflict” in the original printed version of the yearbook.
“Would Palestine have ended up differently if October 7 didn’t happen? Everybody would want to change the past, but what happened happened,” the unidentified student was quoted saying in the page.
“Many movements started right after then that were pro-Palestine after that attack, which motivated me and my friends to also take a stand. We had to show the world that we wouldn’t stop fighting for our freedom.”
Palestine is not recognized as a self-governing state by the US or many other major world powers.
A photo of the original yearbook page was shared by concerned Bellaire High School parent Yafit Bar, who told The Post that the issue is “personal for her” because her brother Leon Bar was ambushed and killed in Israel in the wake of Hamas’ October terrorist attack.
Leon was voluntarily shuttling injured civilians in his car to the hospital in southern Israel on October 8 when killed by a Hamas terrorist.
In a later statement, the school said it will “provide a revised yearbook to any student who would like them.”
In a later statement, Principal Niggli said: “The Bellaire High School community is one of the most diverse schools in Houston Independent School District. That diversity is one of our greatest attributes – it makes us stronger.
“The Carillon, our nationally acclaimed yearbook, is a source of pride for everyone at Bellaire High School, and when it was released last Thursday, many in our community were disappointed to see that it included content that reflected only one perspective of a very complex issue.
“I’m disappointed that one of our most celebrated traditions might divide our community instead of bringing it together. But more than anything, I deeply regret that this created a circumstance where some of our students didn’t feel safe and supported in our school. We will work to prevent this from happening again.”
During the Oct. 7 attack, brutal Hamas terrorists committed acts of sexual violence, including gang rape against civilians, United Nations experts have concluded.
In response to an Niggli’s email, an Instagram page entitled “protest.bellaire.now2024” also posted Sunday urging students to walk out of class May 10 to show their opposition to the principal’s response, saying his action “undermines” student “voices … and hinders free speech.”
