Occasional Observations of Traveling Technology Coach

The NYCDOE has a diverse student body, including many Muslim students, and offers Halal meals in a number of sites. The meals have to have a Halal certificate to be acceptable.

The organization that the DOE has contracted to oversee the Halal certification is called the Majlis Ash-Shura, The Islamic Leadership Council of New York.

Unfortunately, in addition to certifying Halal meals, the Majlis Ash-Shura also issues inflammatory propaganda and lies about Israel. Recent press releases refer to “settler colonial ideologies of Zionism” and “Zionist settler-colonial ethnic cleansing” and “avoid interfaith gatherings with Zionist organizations.”

Majlis Ash-Shura deny that Jews are indigenous to Israel, and that Zionism is a movement to return Jews to their ancestral homeland. Most Israelis are Sefardi (from the Middle East and North Africa); they were expelled from their Arab residences (e.g., Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, etc, etc) in 1948 and emigrated to Israel. The Majlis Ash-Shura openly equate Zionism with racism and white supremacy, despite the reality that most Israelis are not of white, European descent, but are actually North African Sefardis.

It is shameful that the NYCDOE could not find a Halal certifier that is not also a hate certifier.