A New York City math teacher posted a doctored image of soccer star Lionel Messi loaded with classic antisemitic symbols, and the school system has yet to say what it plans to do about it.
Story Snapshot
- A Park Slope Collegiate teacher allegedly posted a Messi image featuring an exaggerated nose, a yarmulke, and a hand-rubbing gesture tied to the antisemitic “Happy Merchant” meme.
- The New York Post identified the teacher as Maysa Jarara and reported the post went up July 19 on Facebook.
- Jewish educator and parent advocacy groups say the post fits a pattern of anti-Israel content on her account, including a bloodied Israeli flag image.
- New York City schools have logged at least 250 antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents since the October 7, 2023 attacks.
- No investigation, charge, or disciplinary finding against the teacher has been publicly confirmed.
Teacher’s Facebook Post Draws Fire
The New York Post reported that Jarara shared a crying, groveling image of Messi on July 19. The picture showed the soccer star with a super-sized nose, wearing a yarmulke, rubbing his hands together. That combination of features mirrors “The Happy Merchant,” a well-known antisemitic internet meme built on old stereotypes that paint Jewish people as greedy and scheming.
United Jewish Teachers President Moshe Spern did not mince words. He said Jarara “crossed a major line by trafficking in classic antisemitic tropes that cast Jews as greedy and scheming”. That’s not a vague complaint from an anonymous critic. It’s a named leader of an educators’ group calling out specific imagery with a documented history tracing back to Nazi-era propaganda.
Pattern of Anti-Israel Posts Raises Concerns
The Messi image was reportedly not a one-off. The New York Post said Jarara “regularly reposts messages denigrating Israel,” including an image of an Israeli flag covered in blood. On the three-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, she allegedly posted an illustration showing a man in a keffiyeh dancing with a woman in a hijab in front of a burning pile. Taken together, the posts paint a picture of a repeated habit, not a single lapse in judgment.
Karen Feldman, president of the New York City Public Schools Alliance, called the pattern “deeply disturbing.” She said the city has “a teacher who is entrusted with educating children publicly sharing inflammatory, biased, and historically misleading posts about Israel and the Jewish people”. Parents trust teachers to educate their kids fairly. When a teacher’s public feed is filled with content like this, that trust takes a direct hit.
Broader Problem in New York City Schools
This case does not stand alone. A separate New York Post investigation found at least 250 antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents in city public schools since the October 7, 2023 attack. Those incidents reportedly include biased teaching, harassment involving antisemitic tropes, and staff posting troubling content online. The sheer number suggests a systemic problem inside the nation’s largest school district, not an isolated bad actor.
Jarara could not be reached for comment, according to the New York Post. No public record so far shows that the Department of Education opened a formal investigation, filed a disciplinary charge, or reached any conclusion about her conduct. Parents and advocacy groups are left waiting for the school system to respond to a pattern that critics say speaks for itself.
Where Teacher Speech Rights Meet Accountability
Teachers, like all public employees, keep some free speech protection for political views shared off the clock. Courts have generally protected public employee speech on matters of public concern, so long as it does not disrupt the workplace or the employee’s job duties. But that protection has limits, and courts have been less forgiving when postings cross into clearly offensive or disruptive territory, including cases involving bias against religious or ethnic groups.
Conservative parents and taxpayers have watched public schools drift from basic education toward politically charged messaging for years. A teacher’s personal account filled with imagery drawn from antisemitic tradition, posted while she holds a position of trust over children, is exactly the kind of conduct that demands a clear, public answer from school leadership, not silence.
"NYC teacher posts antisemitic meme of Lionel Messi" https://t.co/3sHnu8jnfx pic.twitter.com/98czvHPJCE
— H. 💫🇩🇿 #HangPerez (@AMHam1m1d) October 18, 2026
Families send kids to public school expecting an education free of political indoctrination and hateful stereotypes. When evidence points to a teacher repeatedly sharing content built on centuries-old antisemitic tropes, city officials owe parents transparency about what happened and what comes next.
