Rabbi Hayim Leiter, a 1996 graduate of Cheltenham High School, published today an Opinion piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer regarding calls for the removal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Class of 1967) from Cheltenham School District’s hall of fame.

On Friday, news surfaced that a petition signed by more than 200 students was received by Cheltenham’s alumni association last month. The request for his removal reportedly involves his indictment on corruption charges and an arrest warrant issued for him by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Rabbi Leiter’s piece, titled “Now more than ever, Benjamin Netanyahu belongs in Cheltenham High’s Hall of Fame”, asserts that the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history “represented a different kind of hero” among the school’s hall of famers. The author notes that he is a third generation CHS graduate and a current resident of Israel.

An excerpt:

None of this is to say Netanyahu is faultless — no politician is. I understand those who have concerns about his ongoing corruption trial, and the arrest warrant that has been filed against him in the International Criminal Court due to the war in Gaza.

But there’s one thing I’m certain of: The prime minister is doing everything in his power to protect us and the entire free world. And for what he’s done to make us all safer from threats by Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, he deserves the highest praise, not the shame that removing him from Cheltenham’s Hall of Fame would bring.

If the Cheltenham Alumni Association caves to the pressure of the vocal minority, as so many others have, then I’m tearing up my diploma.

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