Keziah Ridgeway

Overview

Keziah Ridgeway is a Philadelphia high school teacher and activist who reportedly threatened violence against Jewish parents. She has expressed support for Hamas war crimes, celebrated a terrorist, spread anti-Semitism, called for Israel’s destruction and promoted hatred of Israel and America. Ridgeway also showed support for the pro-Hamas encampment at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).

Ridgeway further engaged in anti-Israel activism as a high school teacher in 2024 when she campaigned to get School District of Philadelphia (SDP) teachers to teach anti-Israel material. She also taught anti-Israel material in her social studies class at Philadelphia’s Northeast High School. The incidents were part of a larger SDP anti-Semitism scandal in 2023 and 2024, which is detailed below.

As of August 2024, Ridgeway was an organizer with the anti-Israel Racial Justice Organizing Committee (RJOC), one of two local groups she worked with to push an anti-Israel agenda in Philadelphia public schools. The other group was the Philadelphia Educators for Palestine (PEFP), which Ridgeway co-created.

Ridgeway is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and engaged in activism with anti-Israel groups like Philly Palestine Coalition (PPC), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

As of August 2024, Ridgeway’s LinkedIn profile said she had been a teacher in the SDP since 2016. In July 2024, she posted a photo on Facebook indicating that she participated in a conference representing Northeast High School.

As of September 2024, a Northeast High School staff roster listed Ridgeway as a social studies teacher. Her website said she taught African American history and social and cultural anthropology.

However, also as of September 2024, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported that Ridgeway was “reassigned offsite” from the Northeast High School while an investigation was conducted into a complaint about a staff member who “made statements on social media that may violate school district policy.”

Also as of August 2024, Ridgeway’s LinkedIn said she graduated from Saint Joseph’s University (SJU) with a master’s degree in secondary education in 2011.

As of the same date, Ridgeway’s LinkedIn said she was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Threatening Violence Against Jewish Parents

In September 2024, the National Post reported that Ridgeway threatened the parents of Jewish students, according to a legal complaint lodged by the Deborah Project, a public interest law firm, on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

In an August 31, 2024 post, Ridgeway posted [p. 7] a graphic that read: “Ain’t no fun when the

got the

,” making a reference to a gun.

In a September 3, 2024 post, Ridgeway wrote [p. 8]: “Black owned

shops in or near Philly? Asking for a friend.”

The complaint also took issue with Ridgeway naming previously anonymous SDP Jewish Family Association leaders on social media. In one post, Ridgeway wrote (p.6): “Part 1. I asked y’all nicely to leave me alone. I asked y’all nicely to keep my name out y’all mouth. Now I’m taking my gloves off…”

Support for Hamas War Crimes

On October 9, 2023, two days after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, Ridgeway shared [slide 31] on Instagram Stories Highlights (“Solidarity”) a statement from JVP titled: “THE ROOT OF VIOLENCE IS OPPRESSION” that justified Hamas’ October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel.

The JVP statement referred [slide 3] to Hamas terrorists as “Palestinian fighters” and claimed [slide 4] “Israeli apartheid and occupation - and the United States complicity in that oppression - are the source of all this violence.”

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation.

Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, approximately 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.

A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.

For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

Celebrating a Terrorist

On December 14, 2023, Ridgeway shared [slide 16] on Instagram Stories titled: “Stay Informed” a photo of terrorist Sadia Abu Ghazaleh holding a firearm. The post called Ghazaleh a “Palestinian revolutionary and resistance fighter” and one of the “original members” of the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, a bomb-maker for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was involved in many attacks against Israel. She was killed when a bomb she was preparing in her home for an attack in Tel Aviv accidentally detonated.

Among anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” is a euphemism for terrorism and is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.

Anti-Semitism

Ridgeway spread anti-Semitism in a 2024 Instagram post, according to a tip submitted to Canary Mission in July 2024.

Ridgeway shared on Instagram a post that read: “Absolutely no moral difference between gas chambers & incineration in intent & scale. Israel’s systematic annihilation of Palestinians…is worse than gas chambers. Gaza is a concentration camp.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.

Anti-Israel activists refer to Gaza as a “concentration camp” because of the UN-approved [pp. 39–41], Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. The blockade was implemented in 2011 to stop Hamas from acquiring more sophisticated rockets.

Anti-Israel activists compare Israel to Nazi Germany to insinuate that the plight of Palestinians has eclipsed Jewish suffering during the Holocaust.

Ridgeway spread anti-Semitism in another 2024 Instagram post, according to a tip submitted to Canary Mission in July 2024.

The post read: “Does it not scare you? The choke hold that zi*n*sm has not only in Palestine...but over the biggest of institutions and people. What does this tell you of the level of decay and corruption? How many of you reading this now are hurt but unable to speak because you have mouths to feed?”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.

Calling for Israel’s Destruction

On October 28, 2023, Ridgeway posted [slide 1] on Instagram a video from an anti-Israel rally and wrote: “From the River to the Sea…Palestine will be free.”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

In November 2023, Ridgeway led [slide 4] the crowd at an anti-Israel rally in Washington, D.C., in chanting [00:00:03]: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!”

Hatred of Israel

Ridgeway spread hatred of Israel in a 2024 Instagram post, according to a tip submitted to Canary Mission in July 2024.

Ridgeway shared on Instagram a post that read: “From today, I stop using the term Israel and instead refer to that country as the Occupied State of Palestine. [OSP]. Lets us all change the narrative and delete their name forever.”

On October 28, 2023, Ridgeway shared [slide 2] on Instagram a photo of a door sprayed with graffiti that read: “F**K THE IDF [Israel Defense Forces].”

Hatred of America

Ridgeway expressed hatred of America in a 2024 Instagram post, according to a tip submitted to Canary Mission in July 2024.

Ridgeway shared on Instagram a post that read: “I don’t think that there’s a more violent country on this planet than America. This country was born in blood. It’s success is predicated on the blood and labor of Native Americans & Black people.”

Support for the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Penn

Ridgeway showed support from the pro-Hamas encampment at Penn in a 2024 Instagram post, according to a tip submitted to Canary Mission in July 2024. Ridgeway wrote: “Wow!!! So brave!!” in response to a post that said: “BREAKING: / STUDENTS TAKE OVER / FISHER BENNETT HALL…”

On May 18, 2024, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that 19 protesters, seven of whom were Penn students, were arrested after trying to take over the Fisher-Bennett Hall building at the University of Pennslyvania. The protesters’ decision to take over the university building came after the university administrators allegedly failed to meet their demands, including divestment from Israeli companies.

The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.

Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.

For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

Anti-Israel Activism in Teaching & Anti-Semitism Scandal

As of August 2024, Ridgeway was an organizer with RJOC. Ridgeway further promoted the Teach Palestine Project online during a May 2024 webinar at which she spoke. She also co-created the anti-Israel PEFP, “a collective comprised of educators, parents, and community stakeholders from Philly.”

Ridgeway’s activism and an anti-Israel class assignment she gave to her students were part of a larger controversy in SDP for the 2023-2024 school year.

In November 2023, after Hamas terrorists murdered nearly 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, SDP offered teachers an anti-Israel professional development course. The curriculum claimed that Israel was carrying out the “colonization of Palestine” and that Israel’s war against Hamas was a “genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The course was titled: “Decolonizing the Curriculum: Brief History of Palestine and the Creation of Israel: Contextualizing the Current Conflict and Genocide.” A summary on the SDP portal said teachers would be “better equipped to have conversations and facilitate lessons with their students” about Israel. After local news sites publicized the course, SDP removed it from the portal.

SDP continued to come under pressure from activist groups to teach anti-Israel material in K-12 classrooms, including groups representing teachers and parents. Two such groups were the Racial Justice Organizing Committee (RJOC) and the Philadelphia Educators for Palestine (PEFP), led by SDP high school teacher Keziah Ridgeway.

RJOC organized anti-Israel “teach-ins” in late 2023 and throughout 2024. RJOC also provided “Educator Lesson Plans” for teachers, listing as a resource the Teach Palestine Project, a pro-terror and anti-Israel teaching resource. In May 2024, PEFP called on SDP to meet six demands. Among them were: “to unequivocally condemn the ongoing genocide waged on the Palestinian people” and “to release a ceasefire resolution [with regard to Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists].”

SDP had been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights since April 2024, after a group of over 200 parents filed a complaint against the district. The complaint alleged there was “persistent harassment and bullying of Jewish students” and “inflammatory anti-Jewish and anti-Israel messages on social media and even in the classroom” by teachers and administrators at schools across Philadelphia.

In February 2024, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Ridgeway gave her students a class assignment called: “Examine a modern-day group of indigenous or oppressed people’s use of art as an act of resistance and connect it to enslaved Black people’s use of spirituals.”

Two students then created a video, titled “Oppression Art Podcast,” which drew [00:00:15] “parallels between the experiences of enslaved African Americans and the ongoing situation in Palestine and Israel.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Ridgeway gave these students an “A” and chose their video for “entry into the school’s Black History Month assemblies.”

After Jewish parents expressed outrage over the video’s anti-Israel content, district officials ordered the video’s immediate removal.

AMP

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian as a vehicle to generate mainstream support in the United States for the Palestinian national cause.

On its website, the organization lists Bazian as the chairman of its national board and describes itself as “a national education and grassroots-based organization, dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused AMP of promoting “extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans” about Palestinians. The ADL further stated that AMP is directly involved in campus-based anti-Israel activity through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Prior to founding the AMP in 2006, Dr. Bazian created SJP together with fellow UC Berkeley Professor Snehal Shingavi in 2001. The close working relationship between AMP and SJP has been documented several times over the years by several organizations, including NGO Monitor and StandWithUs.

In addition to providing financial, public relations and legal assistance to SJP, AMP has also been accused of having connections to Hamas. The AMP national board includes former members of both the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) and Holy Land Foundation (HLF), both of which were found liable for aiding and abetting Hamas. The IAP was founded by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas.

JVP

JVP was founded in Berkeley, California in 1996, as an activist group with an emphasis on the “Jewish tradition” of peace, social justice and human rights. The organization is currently led by Rebecca Vilkomerson and its board members include Israel critics Naomi Klein, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky and Tony Kushner.

JVP, which generally employs civil disobedience tactics to disrupt pro-Israel speakers and events, consists of American Jews and non-Jewish “allies” highly critical of Israeli policies. A staunch supporter of the BDS movement, JVP claims to aim its campaigns at companies that either support the Israeli military (Hewlett-Packard) or are active in the West Bank (SodaStream).

Although several Jewish groups critical of Israeli policies, like J Street and Partners for a Progressive Israel, make efforts to operate within the mainstream American Jewish community, JVP functions outside. The group is often criticized for serving as a tokenized Jewish voice for the pro-Palestinian camp and is widely regarded as the BDS movement’s “Jewish wing.”

JVP denies the notion of “Jewish peoplehood” and has even gone so far as to refer to its own Ashkenazi (Jews who spent the Diaspora in European countries) leadership as “white supremacy inside of JVP.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused JVP of being “the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States,” and said the group “exploits Jewish culture and rituals to reassure its own supporters that opposition to Israel not only does not contradict, but is actually consistent with, Jewish values.”

The ADL also claimed that “JVP consistently co-sponsors rallies to oppose Israeli military policy that are marked by signs and slogans comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, demonizing Jews and voicing support for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.”

According to the ADL website, JVP “uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.”

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.