NEWTON, Mass. — A Brookline resident asked the Newton School Committee on Monday to carry out the recommendations of the Massachusetts Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism, saying people in Newton who raise concerns about antisemitism are being drowned out and attacked.

Lisa Schatz, who said she had spoken at the committee's Sept. 14 meeting, told members during the public comment period that she has since "noticed a pattern in Newton."

"Concerns about anti-Semitism are overshadowed by arguments about Israel, while those raising them are vilified," she said.

Schatz said the Newton Beacon portrayed Israel's response to the Oct. 7 attack as retaliation without mentioning the Israeli hostages or Hamas threats of further attacks, and reported a United Nations commission's genocide finding "without acknowledging that the accusation remains highly contested." She said an editorial then singled her out as a Brookline resident and linked critics of a teacher hiring decision with targeting teachers and threatening their livelihoods.

"I never targeted this teacher, questioned her right to her views, or called her for her dismissal," Schatz said. "My concerns were about academic standards and teaching controversial subjects fairly." She did not name the teacher or describe the hiring decision in detail.

She also objected that a speaker at the committee's Sept. 28 meeting cited organizations accusing Israel of genocide without noting that the charge is disputed. But she said she was not asking the committee to settle the war or "dismiss Palestinian suffering," adding, "Even if one accepts the genocide accusation, it doesn't diminish our responsibility to protect Jewish children in Massachusetts."

Schatz said members of the state commission presented findings Oct. 27 documenting harassment, bullying, discrimination and intimidation of Jewish children. "But harassment of Jewish children in Massachusetts is happening here," she said. She asked the committee to adopt the commission's recommendations, including protecting students from harassment, taking complaints seriously and making sure educational standards distinguish established facts from contested claims.

No other speaker addressed the dispute Monday, and committee members did not respond. At the start of public comment, the chair said members do not respond during that period but are listening and considering the feedback. Other speakers raised the end of field trips at Mason Rice Elementary School, leaking ceilings at Newton South High School, special education budgeting and a state climate program.