A New York City public school teacher was identified among protesters who disrupted a Manhattan vigil last week commemorating victims of the Oct. 7 attack in Israel. The demonstration included chants such as “globalize the intifada” and expressions of support for Hamas, according to video and a complaint reviewed by The Post.
Mia Kurzer, a special education teacher at The Heritage School in East Harlem, was reportedly filmed at the Union Square gathering, where some demonstrators carried flags associated with Hamas and Hezbollah. The allegations were outlined in a complaint submitted to the Department of Education and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.
The complaint’s author, a Jewish activist and educator, is calling for an investigation into whether Kurzer’s conduct contributed to what he described as a hostile environment for Jewish students and school employees.
“Last night, pro-Palestinian demonstrators overran an October 7 vigil in Union Square organized by Israelis for Peace, drowned out the reading of the names of people killed, and took over chairs reserved for participants, including Comptroller Brad Lander and Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” Moshe Spern wrote in the formal complaint, dated Oct. 8.
Spern said video from the event showed Kurzer sitting among protesters while mourners were heckled. He also cited reports that demonstrators shouted “globalize the intifada” and praised those responsible for the attack.
Spern said he submitted video that he believes places Kurzer at the vigil.
“She was comfortable sitting among the Hamas flags and Hamas chants,” he told The Post on Sunday.
The complaint also alleged that Kurzer arrived at school earlier that day wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Middle Eastern scarf often associated with Palestinian identity and activism.
Spern said the garment made some staff members and students uncomfortable and amounted to a display of political activism inside a New York City public school.
He further accused the Department of Education of failing to respond to an earlier complaint concerning Kurzer’s alleged participation in protests outside Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue.
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“A year ago I notified you that Ms. Kurzer participated in both protests outside Park East Synagogue on November 19, 2025, and May 2026, at which demonstrators chanted ‘intifada revolution,’ ‘globalize the intifada,’ and ‘death to the IDF,’ and Jewish congregants were obstructed from entering their house of worship,” Spern wrote to the chancellor.
He noted that the demonstrations were condemned by several public officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, who characterized them as intimidation directed at Jewish New Yorkers outside a synagogue led by a Holocaust survivor.
Spern argued that the allegations, considered together, point to what he called an ongoing pattern of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hostility involving Kurzer.
“Taken together, the synagogue protests at which intifada was chanted, an unanswered OEO [Office of Equal Opportunity & Diversity Management] referral, disruption of an October 7 vigil, and wearing a keffiyeh in school on 10/7, this is not an isolated incident,” he wrote. “It is a continuing course of conduct by a DOE employee that creates a hostile environment for Jewish students and staff and is incompatible with the Department’s obligations under Chancellor’s Regulation A-830, A-421, and Title VI.”
The complaint asks the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management to investigate or refer the matter to the Special Commissioner on Schools Investigation.
“Jewish students and staff are entitled to a school that does not employ someone who joins mobs outside synagogues and then marks October 7 with a political symbol in the building,” Spern said.
Kurzer’s involvement in anti-Israel demonstrations reportedly began during her college years.
In a 2024 CNN interview, Kurzer discussed taking part in anti-Israel protests while attending the University of Wisconsin. She said she was Jewish and had attended Hebrew school as a child, though critics questioned her Jewish identity because of her activism and called her “not a real Jew.”
Kurzer was reached by phone but declined to comment.
The Post reported last week on another teacher, Damien Neva, who allegedly wrote “Long live Yahya al-Sinwar” in a group chat. The message praised the Hamas leader identified in a lawsuit as an architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Neva is now under investigation by city education officials.
