Damien Neva, a 48-year-old teacher at PS 77 in Brooklyn’s upscale Park Slope neighborhood, posted “Long live Yahya Al-Sinwar” in a group chat in November 2024—praising the Hamas leader who masterminded the October 7, 2023 massacre. City education officials have launched an investigation.
Neva, a former fashion photographer turned teacher, made the comments in a chat linked to a local food co-op, according to a lawsuit related to the cooperative. Described as a leader of the boycott movement, Neva also said “this group doesn’t have the votes to block our campaign”—referring to pro-Israel and Jewish members.
Neva’s social media accounts featured sharp anti-Israel posts, including a sticker of Israel being torn apart, an image of a Star of David painted on the Statue of Liberty, and a post comparing Warsaw in 1944 to ‘Palestine’ in 2024. When a New York Post reporter tried to reach him at his Brooklyn home, Neva called the police.
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, was known for his brutality long before taking the reins of the organization. He was responsible for killing many ‘Palestinians’ suspected of being informants, and admitted to strangling one Gazan to death with his bare hands. He’s considered the chief architect of the October 7 attack, in which 1,139 people were murdered in Israel and 251 were kidnapped to Gaza. Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in October 2024, after months of hiding in tunnels.
Dov Hikind, a former Brooklyn assemblyman and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, called on the Department of Education to fire Neva. “Sinwar designed what happened on Oct. 7 — the massacre, the barbarism, the rapes and cruelty,” Hikind said. “The idea that anyone connected to education — who believes Sinwar is a hero — could be teaching in the classroom is incomprehensible. How would we react if a teacher said Adolf Hitler was a great leader? This teacher needs to lose his job. He needs to be fired — period.”
The office of Schools Chancellor Kamer Samuels called for an investigation. A Department of Education spokesperson said, “Antisemitism and support for terrorist organizations have absolutely no place in our school system. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and welcoming environment for every student and member of our school community. This allegation has been reported and referred for investigation, in accordance with Chancellor’s Regulations.”