A former Seattle-area high school student has filed a lawsuit against Seattle Public Schools alleging that administrators failed to protect her from what the complaint describes as a pervasive culture of antisemitic harassment and intimidation following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel. The lawsuit is at least the second legal action filed over alleged antisemitism at Nathan Hale High School in recent years.
The latest lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court by former Nathan Hale High School student Alexandra Greenstein, accuses Seattle Public Schools of religious discrimination, negligence, and outrage stemming from repeated incidents of alleged antisemitic bullying during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.
According to the complaint obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Greenstein says the atmosphere at Nathan Hale High School became increasingly hostile toward Jewish and Israeli students after the Hamas October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.
The suit alleges that antisemitic harassment at the school included racial slurs, online intimidation, swastika graffiti, and repeated verbal attacks directed at Greenstein because of her Jewish identity. One of the incidents specifically described in the complaint involved Greenstein allegedly being called a “baby killer” and “Islamophobic” by fellow students.
The lawsuit also alleges that Greenstein was publicly accused in a senior English class of supporting “ethnic cleansing and genocide” because she is Jewish. According to the filing, the accusation “greatly disturbed” her.
The complaint claims antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric became commonplace throughout the school, alleging that swastikas were scrawled on walls and left uncovered by administrators.
Greenstein alleges she became so fearful of revealing her background that she stopped telling classmates she had lived most of her life in Israel, instead saying she was from California, where she was born. “She quickly began to fear revealing her Jewish identity to classmates out of fear for her safety,” the complaint states.
The suit further alleges that Nathan Hale High School promoted Middle Eastern and Arab culture through school-sponsored events and support for the “Free Palestine” movement while excluding Jewish and Israeli representation.
According to the complaint, anti-Israel posters, fliers, and stickers were distributed with the approval of school administrators and even handed out by Seattle Public Schools employees.
Greenstein says she repeatedly reported the harassment to teachers and school administrators, but alleges that her complaints were “dismissed, denied, or minimized.”
The complaint also describes an alleged incident involving another Jewish student at Nathan Hale who was assaulted by antisemitic bullies. Despite that incident, the lawsuit claims Seattle Public Schools “took no steps to protect Jewish students from foreseeable harm.”
Greenstein alleges that when she sought help from a school social work intern, Lyndsey Johnson, Johnson acknowledged that antisemitism at the school was “pervasive.” However, the lawsuit claims no meaningful action was taken afterward. Part of the description for the field work internship that Johnson is participating in includes “diverse culture and ethnic populations” and “social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion” as general areas of practice. According to the website, the job entails helping to “design and implement school-wide programs that promote racial, gender, and socioeconomic equity to ensure an inclusive environment for all students.”
According to the complaint, the alleged harassment caused Greenstein severe emotional distress and worsened a pre-existing anxiety disorder. The filing states she began exhibiting trauma symptoms and ultimately missed much of her final years of high school because she no longer felt safe on campus.
The lawsuit alleges Seattle Public Schools failed in its duty to protect students from foreseeable harassment and failed to adequately train staff to respond to antisemitic bullying. The complaint seeks damages for emotional distress, medical expenses, attorneys’ fees, and other costs to be determined at trial.
Seattle Public Schools had not yet publicly responded to the allegations at the time of filing.
The allegations in Greenstein’s lawsuit come amid broader scrutiny surrounding antisemitism allegations at Nathan Hale High School. In a separate lawsuit filed in 2025, another Jewish student alleged she endured months of escalating antisemitic harassment at the same school, including death threats, swastika graffiti, being told “Hitler’s plan should have worked,” and an incident in which roughly 20 students allegedly surrounded a classroom while shouting threats until a teacher locked the student inside for protection. That lawsuit similarly accused Seattle Public Schools administrators of failing to intervene despite repeated warnings from the student’s family.
NEW: The Bellevue, WA School District is facing backlash for including Dr. William Jackson, named in a lawsuit alleging he ignored antisemitism on campus as principal of Nathan Hale HS, in its listening session on antisemitism
Jackson was named WA State Principal of the Year pic.twitter.com/xlVVqYcAQl
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) November 25, 2025
The earlier lawsuit specifically named then-Nathan Hale principal Dr. William Jackson and other administrators, alleging they were repeatedly informed about antisemitic threats, swastika graffiti, cyberbullying, and safety concerns but failed to take meaningful action. According to the complaint, school leadership allegedly did not preserve security footage, adequately discipline students involved in the harassment, or issue broader condemnations of antisemitic incidents occurring on campus. In the year the incidents allegedly began, Jackson was named WA State Principal of the Year.
Jackson later left the district and went to work in the nearby Bellevue School District. Bellevue received backlash when parents discovered that Jackson was tasked with overseeing a listening session on antisemitism after the allegation of ignoring the antisemitism at Nathan Hale was revealed.
🧵NEW: The Muslim Student Association at Nathan Hale High School was named in a lawsuit by a Jewish student against @SeaPubSchools for targeting the 14 year old girl because of her religion
The club has called for the genocide of Jews & raised money for terrorist groups https://t.co/InPexJ13mG pic.twitter.com/F4qv1CsOhu
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) June 27, 2025
The Muslim Student Association at Nathan Hale High School was named in the lawsuit for targeting the 14-year-old girl because of her religion. The club has called for the genocide of Jews in Israel and raised money for groups with links to terror.
Attorney Aubrey Scheopner, who represented the student in the earlier lawsuit, said at the time that Seattle Public Schools “failed at every level to protect this student,” alleging administrators repeatedly ignored warnings from the family while allowing antisemitic harassment to escalate unchecked.
