As reports of hate crimes against both Jewish and Muslim people in the U.S. increase another shocking incident was reported last week in Georgia. A middle school teacher allegedly told a 13-year-old Muslim girl he would behead her.
CNN – citing police reports from the Houston County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia – said the teacher, 51-year-old Benjamin Reese was arrested on charges of making terroristic threats and cruelty to children in the third degree after the incident. More than 20 witnesses were listed in the report that revealed he threatened to behead the girl after she said she was offended by an Israeli flag hanging in his classroom, per the outlet.
She said that when she told him she found it offensive, he became angry. When she tried to leave he attempted to prevent her and asker her to give him information about her name and homeroom.
The student claimed she left the classroom due to the situation becoming “heated and uncomfortable,” but Reese tried to prevent her from leaving and demanded her name and homeroom teacher, which she gave him.
She said he continued to yell at her and her friends as they walked away down the hallway, the report says.
An incident report was written by a sheriff’s deputy who was on duty at the school, said CNN. Witnesses cited in it said they heard Reese shouting profane threats at three female students. These included: “You motherf****ing piece of s**t! I’ll kick your a**! I should cut your motherf****ing head off!”
After an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, a terrorist organization, Israel declared war and fighting has engulfed the Gaza strip since. Last month, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported an unprecedented increase in complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias. Previously, CAIR reported a decrease in anti-Muslim incidents in 2022.
According to the White House, there has been an “alarming rise of reported Antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents at schools and on college campuses,” in the U.S. since the Hamas attack. It announced actions to address the attacks were announced Nov. 14.
“For too long, Muslims in America, and those perceived to be Muslim, such as Arabs and Sikhs, have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks and other discriminatory incidents,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier that month. “We all mourn the recent barbaric killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian American Muslim boy, and the brutal attack on his mother in their home outside Chicago.”
According to CNN, Reese was arrested Dec. 8 and has since bonded out of jail. In a statement, Warner Robins Middle School, said it was not able to discuss specific personnel matters.
“We can share that Mr. Reese has not been on the campus of Warner Robins Middle School since December 7, 2023,” the statement said. “Safety and the well-being of our students and staff is our number one priority.”
Another teacher at the school also heard Reese call a student “my antisemitic friend,” per the CNN report. That teacher also said Reese started yelling that students disrespected “his flag” and were ignorant and that he repeated the threat about cutting a student’s head off as he walked back to his classroom.
“A separate adult witness reported to the deputy she heard Reese yell at the student: “You don’t make an antisemitic comment like that to a Jew,” and said he would slit her throat. Video that did not have audio showed Reese following the students down a hallway.
Staff from the principal confronted Reese about the incident and he was initially defensive, said CNN. He said he called the student antisemitic but denied saying “anything racist,” said the report.
Reese then became angry and kicked a door stopper when asked to discuss the incident further, it said.
“We welcome the swift action against Benjamin Reese including the charges and arrest in connection with the horrific threats he allegedly made to a child,” said Azka Mahmood, executive director of CAIR-Georgia, said in a statement cited by CNN. He also said the group hopes the Board of Education makes sure that Reese is not allowed back in a classroom.