Roger Cook orders review after teacher promoted Hamas in WA public school

WA’s Education Department is refusing to reveal if it has sanctioned a public school teacher after it emerged on Friday that she had displayed a tribute to an assassinated Hamas leader in her classroom.

Roger Cook ordered the department to reconsider its response when the shocking incident came to light.

The teacher reportedly wrote in Palestinian colours the words “rest in peace I.H. you were a great leader” on a classroom board at Fremantle school John Curtin College of the Arts.

The message was displayed soon after the death of Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of Hamas, who was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran by an Israeli attack in July.

Hamas, which carried out the October 7 attacks in 2023 in which 1200 Jewish people were slaughtered and 250 hostages seized, is designated a terrorist group by the Australian government.

The West understands the incident left a Jewish student feeling intimidated. The student was moved to another class.

The Premier declared the teacher’s behaviour was “absolutely unacceptable”.

“These sorts of views have no place in our classrooms,” Mr Cook said. “Any teacher who thinks those sentiments are appropriate for a classroom needs to rethink their career.

“I expect the Education Department would revisit their response to this matter.”

But the Education Department refused to reveal what action, if any, was taken to investigate the teacher’s actions or whether she had received a reprimand.

Mary Brown, executive director of professional standards and conduct, said any form of intolerance or discrimination had “no place” in public schools.

“Any employee who breaches the code of conduct or relevant standards is counselled and reminded of the department’s expectations and requirements regarding conduct and the consequences if these are breached in future,” she said.

It comes after The West revealed the Education Department had warned all school staff not to express personal views on anti-Semitism.

The department sent a memo to its 45,000-strong workforce as teachers returned for the new school year, reminding staff they should adhere to its code of conduct by remaining neutral on political issues.

“We must also refrain from expressing personal views in our public schools regarding international conflicts of a polarising nature, such as recent incidents of anti-Semitism in Australia,” the memo said.

Jewish Community Council of WA president Geoff Midalia and vice-president Steve Lieblich said they were aware of the incident at John Curtin College of the Arts.

“I would imagine that incident would have motivated the department to issue that memo,” Mr Lieblich said. “I’m also aware that the teacher continues to teach and I’m very concerned about that.”

Earlier on Friday, Mr Cook insisted the memo had not been sent out in response to any particular incident.

He praised the Education Department for reminding teachers of their obligations.

“This is an important reminder to all teachers ... that we want classrooms to be places where kids feel safe, and obviously, we don’t want views or any of those sort of events to be distorted in a way which makes kids feel unsafe,” he said.

“There’s a lot of conflict in the world today. There’s a lot more coverage than ever in terms of world events, and these kids will be confronting all kinds of information and misinformation on social media.

“So it’s important that teachers can play a role to allow these kids to digest, understand and process this information for them to continue to learn from it.”

The Jewish leaders were also concerned the school memo expressly told teachers not to discuss recent incidents of anti-Semitism.

They wanted to see teachers given better education about anti-Semitism and how to handle it.

“We do not want teachers to be gagged from discussing foreign affairs, but we wanted to be clear that they do not bring their personal biases into the classroom, particularly if those biases support terrorism,” Mr Midalia said.

“If one teacher could do that, how do we know there aren’t several teachers around WA doing the same thing?”

Mr Lieblich believed it was not an isolated incident of a teacher bringing their political opinion into schools.

“I’m hearing from various parents of teachers of children in public schools concerned about the safety of their kids,” he said.

Perth Hebrew Congregation chief Rabbi Daniel Lieberman said the memo’s wording was “strange” because he would have hoped teachers would be discussing anti-Semitism to help older students form a balanced and objective view.

“I can understand why people will say that if you are going to discuss such a thing, then you should do so in a respectful manner to prevent conflict and to maximise the opportunity for learning,” he said.

“But to ban something completely just shows a lack of trust.

“I’m actually taken aback that this has come out of the Education Department.

“From an educational point of view, it doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand what a memo like that is trying to achieve.”

Holocaust Institute of WA education director Judith Lawrence said it was important to continue to work with the Department of Education and the Minister to give teachers and students the tools to talk about anti-Semitism.

“We do have to recognise forms of bias and prejudice and we have to have the tools to have these difficult and sometimes confronting conversations,” she said. “We can’t be indifferent, we can’t turn a blind eye.”