Rantz: Mukilteo teacher boosted fundraiser by Oct. 7 denier, antisemitic smears

A Mukilteo high school teacher, between posting virulently antisemitic memes on her public social media accounts, reportedly, helped to raise funds for a radical Palestinian cleric who denied the Hamas atrocities on October 7. It’s the latest incident to highlight the region’s antisemitism crisis in public schools.

Sobia Sheikh is a math teacher at Mariner High School. Since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel, she’s posted antisemitic memes to her Facebook page. They accuse Jews of bringing the terrorist attack on themselves, compare Israel to Nazi Germany and smear the Jewish people for creating a genocide and death camp in Gaza.

But Sheikh went one step further than merely smearing Jews and siding with Hamas. She reportedly urged a coworker to wire money to a charity led by Ali Hammuda, a cleric based in the United Kingdom. And while the Mukilteo School District said Sheikh will not use her classroom to expose students to her worldview, the teacher pledged to do the opposite.

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What antisemitic messages is this Mukilteo teacher posting on social media?

Sheikh’s Facebook page is publicly accessible. And her views of Israel and Jews are on full display, declaring in one post, “From the river to the sea. Palestine will be free.”

Most posts are shared memes from other pages. In November, she shared a post claimed Israel is murdering journalists “that expose their crimes.” Another shared post from the antisemitic account Boycott Israel compares Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and Gaza to Auschwitz Birkenau.

“Anyone who is pro-Israel on my friends list, delete me. We can’t be friends. There’s no middle ground here. Don’t tell me this is about hostages. Don’t tell me this is about Hamas,” Sheikh posted with Hamas propaganda that Facebook labeled “false information.” “Don’t tell me you’re pro-Israel but against this genocide. If you’re pro-Israel, you’re pro-killing babies. You’re pro-genocide. There are no buts.”

One post claimed Jews identifying as “G-d’s chosen people” is the same as Hitler declaring, “We are the master race.” Another post compares Zionists to Nazis.

Sheikh claimed the White House is “Israel’s other occupied territory” and another shared comic shows a Jew poking a hornet’s nest that represents Palestinians before the Jew complains about being stung by the media.

Sheikh even called antisemitic U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle,  a “sell-out” for “actively supporting Israel” because the congresswoman met with the family of a hostage and posted one condemnation of Hamas as committing terrorism.

Her antisemitic posts curiously started in November 2023. There does not appear to be a single post condemning Hamas or even acknowledging the terrorist attacks, unless it’s to blame Israel. Before this, the only posts that appear ends in July 2019. This indicates she’s either erased previous posts, put them on lockdown, or suspiciously didn’t post anything for years before suddenly posting frequently.

A short caption accompanied with the video states, “If you’re pro-Israel now…., you would’ve been pro-Germany in 1930s.”

Raising money for antisemites

According to an Oct. 27 email obtained by Parents Defending Education, the school’s counselor Teresa Hoffman asked Sheikh for suggestions on where she can “donate to support Palestinians needing emergency relief.” Sheikh responded with a link to Waqforever, Hammuda’s charity.

Hammuda has gained a reputation for his radical antisemitic views.

In a YouTube video posted in October, he said that there never was a “huge massacre” at Nova music festival. He asked, “Where is the evidence for all this? Where is the proof?”

“How is this to be understood other than to say there was no massacre of 260 people, there was no mass rape that took place at all, there was not the beheading of a single child, let alone 40 of them?” he reportedly said.

Originally reported by the Daily Mail, the video has since been removed for violating the site’s hate speech rules.

In 2014, an undercover reporter recorded Hammuda preaching to teenage Muslim boys, arguing that Islam permit them to take sex slaves. After the audio was posted, he claimed he does not hold that position and was taken out of context.

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Mukilteo school district reacts to teacher posting antisemitic views online

Is Sheikh exposing her students to antisemitic views? It’s unclear. The Mukilteo School District offered a somewhat boilerplate response to requests for comment.

“Any opinions shared by staff on their personal social media are their own and do not represent the district. We understand this conflict raises strong feelings and that Americans have the right to voice their opinions. The district has addressed the issue with all parties but will not discuss personnel matters with the media,” spokesperson Diane Bradford said in a statement to The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.

Bradford then assured Sheikh keeps her views out of the classroom.

“Staff political and religious opinions are not a part of classroom instruction. Staff and students in our diverse district have many different viewpoints, but while they are at school, they focus on teaching and learning,” she said.

It’s not clear how this is enforced or if it’s even checked. Given a statement Sheikh signed onto, there’s reason to believe students are not being protected as much as they ought to be.

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Are the hateful messages getting into the classroom?

Sheikh did not answer questions posed by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. Instead, she emailed, “I do not give you consent to my information being included in your story.” It’s unclear what information she’s referring to.

If Sheikh upholds public commitments she has reportedly offered, her hateful views may be getting to her students after all. That makes her class not just hostile towards Jewish students, but all students. Parents should not feel comfortable with Sheikh at the head of the classroom.

Parents Defending Freedom first reported the teacher’s “alarmingly antisemitic” posts after an investigation stemming from a public disclosure request. They asked for public records of teachers who signed onto an “Educators for Palestinian Freedom” statement. Those who signed the statement identify as “progressive educators who oppose racism and settler colonialism in all its forms.” Sheikh is listed as a signatory.

The statement ends with a “commitment” to use their classrooms to push their anti-Israel viewpoints by “implementing project-based learning for our students on questions of social justice, and particularly on the Palestinian struggle for liberation.”

“It is shocking that an American teacher would tell a coworker to donate to a charity run by a man who denies that the 10/7 terror attacks took place,” Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, told the Daily Mail.

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