"Whoever died at Nova was fat" said a Physical Education teacher in a Tel Aviv school, along with other statements about politics and October 7 to his students during class, according to Israeli news reports on Wednesday.
A PE teacher at a high school in Tel Aviv told his students during one of the classes that "the leftists are to blame for what happened in October and the people who died at the Nova party died because "They were fat and didn't have the strength to run."
It was also reported that the teacher said "Death to the Arabs," and "Kahana tzadak" (Kahana was right,) according to student testimonies.
According to reports, the statements caused mass discomfort among the students in the class, and their parents. One of the teachers who heard about the incident, reported to the administration. The teacher was reportedly reprimanded by the principal, apologized and then allowed to keep his position.
The school explained, according to the report, that not all of these quotes were said, but only the statement about the Nova music festival, and it was said in order to encourage the students to exercise in class.
Authorities responded after complaints by students and parents
The Tel Aviv Municipality told Israeli news sources, "The municipality takes such statements very seriously. The teacher was reprimanded by the school principal and apologized according to the students for the outrageous statement."
Later, the Education Ministry released a statement, saying, "These are extremely egregious statements, which have no place in any society whatsoever, and certainly not from an educator. The Ministry will contact the local authority, which employs the teacher, demanding that they schedule him for a hearing as soon as possible."