Mobile billboards are targeting Central Bucks, Philly teachers accused of antisemitism
The mobile billboards were sent to the educators’ homes and schools by a GOP-backed group called Accuracy in Media and also featured messages promoting school choice.
An activist group backed by GOP donors sent mobile billboards to the schools and homes of two teachers in the Central Bucks and Philadelphia school districts this week, saying it aimed to expose their “antisemitic statements” and “vile beliefs.”
The group, Accuracy in Media, targeted Ismael Jimenez, director of social studies curriculum for the Philadelphia district, and Youssef Abdelwahab, a Spanish teacher at Central Bucks West High School. Billboard trucks parked outside Philadelphia district headquarters Tuesday and Central Bucks West on Wednesday displayed their names and faces, describing Jimenez as a “leader of hate” and Abdelwahab as a “leading antisemite.”
The other sides of the trucks featured a different message: calls for school choice. “No one should be forced to send their kid to a geographically assigned school with an antisemitic educator,” said Adam Guillette, Accuracy in Media’s president, who previously launched Florida’s chapter of the conservative Americans for Prosperity group and served as vice president at Project Veritas, which has targeted progressive groups with hidden-camera videos.
Accuracy in Media — which between May 2022 and April 2023 received most of its money from billionaire GOP donor Jeff Yass, a school choice proponent — sent billboard trucks outside the University of Pennsylvania’s campus in December, calling for the resignation of then-president Liz Magill after she testified before Congress that calls for the genocide of Jews wouldn’t necessarily violate Penn’s code of conduct.
The trucks deployed in Philadelphia and Doylestown this week listed web domain names with each teacher’s name; on Wednesday, they routed to the same website, which noted that the U.S. Department of Education is investigating allegations of antisemitism in both the Philadelphia and Central Bucks districts.
The website includes a form letter addressed to Gov. Josh Shapiro that reads: “Antisemitism is embedded into Philly and Bucks County schools. … After seeing the federal investigation into Philly schools, it is now clear that the only solution is to expand school choice.”
The acting superintendent in Central Bucks, Jim Scanlon, called the billboards a “political ploy.”
“Right now, our focus needs to be on students graduating, and not this political protest,” he said in an interview.
In a message to the community Wednesday, Scanlon said Central Bucks did “not condone hate speech of any kind,” referring to a previous statement condemning antisemitism and Islamophobia. He noted that the messages cited by Accuracy in Media were “the subject of a legal matter” that “has been discussed publicly, at length, at our school board meetings.” Scanlon also said all Central Bucks staff are taking an online antisemitism course.
Abdelwahab’s social media presence has been a source of controversy for months in the district; he runs a business, AragApparel, that sells keffiyeh-inspired durags and posts frequently on an associated social media account in opposition to Israel. Three days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, he posted: “When people are occupied, resistance is justified!” The mobile billboard from Accuracy in Media said: “On October 10th, Youssef Abdelwahab posted in support of Hamas.”
Abdelwahab — who previously told The Inquirer he “would never advocate violence toward anybody” — advises Central Bucks West’s Muslim Student Association. The federal civil rights complaint accusing the district of antisemitism cites posts by Abdelwahab as well as the club, including a prayer for Ramadan shared by the club that read “Oh Allah, deal with the usurping Jews and the treacherous Zionists.”
Abdelwahab said a student had accidentally shared the Ramadan post and took it down, though critics have objected to other posts, including one by Abdelwahab that said Israel was “ethnically cleansing Christianity from Gaza,” and another from the club that said “the birthplace of Jesus is getting bombed on Easter.” The complaint alleged Abdelwahab and the club were using blood libel — a centuries-old false accusation claiming Jews murder Christians for ritual purposes.
Scanlon said Abdelwahab’s posts are a First Amendment issue. While he said in April that Abdelwahab hadn’t violated any district policies, Scanlon said Wednesday that the district had “investigated since then,” and “we’ve taken appropriate action, which I can’t discuss.” He did not comment on what policies may have been violated or any disciplinary measures. “The teacher has done what we’ve asked him to do,” he said.
The district is moving to change its policies around social media accounts for student clubs, Scanlon said — though the school board hasn’t been able to agree on what extent the district should regulate those accounts. Students from the Muslim Student Association have also protested potential changes as restrictions on their speech, and say they’ve been subject to unfair levels of scrutiny and harassment from adults in and outside the community.
Abdelwahab declined an interview request this week, but noted that Muslim and Jewish students in the district recently collaborated on a joint event and offered details about his experience with the mobile billboard.
The Spanish teacher said in a text message that the billboard truck was at his home in Germantown when he returned from work Wednesday, “speaking to everyone passing by saying that I discriminate against Jews … Then when I pulled up they rushed towards me and got as close as possible to my home without stepping inside.” He said a neighbor told them to “stop harassing our Muslim brother.”
Another mobile billboard this week targeted Jimenez, Philadelphia’s director of social studies curriculum. Accuracy in Media, on its online prompt to contact Shapiro, said that Jimenez “has posted on social media that educators should focus on advancing their agenda rather than following the rules.”
Jimenez didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The federal complaint accuses the Philadelphia district of alleged incidents ranging from a swastika drawn on a door to fliers describing Israel’s military campaign against Gaza as genocide and a map of the Middle East handed out to Baldi Middle School sixth graders that replaced the name of Israel with Palestine.
Christina Clark, a spokesperson for Philadelphia schools, said that “acts of discrimination, hate speech, and harassment are unacceptable whether by, or against, students and staff. The district takes all complaints of bullying, harassment, and discrimination seriously, including allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia, and will take appropriate action to both investigate allegations and prioritize the well-being of all students and staff.”
Baldi Middle School and Northeast High, where there have been allegations of antisemitism, are both diverse schools, a point of pride for the district, Clark said in a statement. ”If we all work to build bridges of empathy and understanding, and demonstrate respect, our young people will follow and will create a community where everyone feels valued and heard,” Clark said.
Guillette said that Accuracy in Media would continue to be active in the Philadelphia region. He said the group, which uses “hidden-camera investigative journalism,” had been inside more than 250 school districts across the country, and had just completed an “investigation” into Pennsylvania schools.
The group has purchased 500 domain names for people it has targeted as antisemitic, Guillette said. “They only have to apologize,” and the group will remove their names, he said.