A Brooklyn public-school teacher is under investigation by city education officials after praising slain Hamas leader Yahya al-Sinwar in a group chat, according to a new lawsuit.
Damien Neva, 48, who began teaching at PS 77 in Park Slope this school year, posted “Long live Yahya Al-Sinwar” in a Signal group of anti-Israel members of the Park Slope Food Coop in November 2024, the legal filing alleges. The message surfaced in a lawsuit brought by Jewish members of the grocery cooperative after its board voted to ban Israeli goods following a years-long dispute.
Neva, described in the filing as a leader of the boycott movement at the coop, also wrote in the chat that “That lot does not have the votes to block our campaign,” referring to pro-Israel and Jewish members, according to the lawsuit.
Before entering education, Neva worked as a photographer, videographer and social-media director at Next Management, which represented major names including Karlie Kloss and Kate Upton. He also held positions at Ford Modeling and Calvin Klein, and told Business of Fashion that he advised incoming models about social media best practices. He became a teacher because of an “enforced career change,” according to a now-deleted social media post.
His online presence included a post showing a sticker with Israel being shredded, another depicting the Star of David painted over the Statue of Liberty, and a comparison of Warsaw in 1944 to Palestine in 2024.
“Meet Damien Neva, a newly hired teacher at Brooklyn’s PSK77,” the Jewish civil-rights group StopAntisemitism posted on social media. “Neva reportedly posted ‘Long live Yahya al-Sinwar,’ praising the former Hamas leader and architect of the October 7 massacre. His social media also features a crossed-out image of Israel. Roughly 157,000 Jewish children live in Brooklyn. Imagine being one of them in Neva’s classroom.”
Sinwar served as Hamas’ chief enforcer before taking leadership of the militant group, and admitted to strangling a Gazan man to death with his own keffiyeh. As Hamas leader, he is believed to have been the main architect of the October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,139 people in Israel and resulted in 251 hostages taken to Gaza. Israeli forces killed him in Gaza in October 2024 after months of hiding in tunnels.
Dov Hikind, a former Brooklyn assemblyman who founded Americans Against Antisemitism, called for Neva’s termination.
“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.”
When a reporter from The Post attempted to reach Neva for comment at his Brooklyn home Sunday, he called the police on the journalist.
Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels’ office responded swiftly to the allegations. “Antisemitism and support for terrorist organizations have absolutely no place in our school system,” a Department of Education representative said. “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.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office deferred comment to the schools chancellor’s office.
The lawsuit that revealed Neva’s messages stems from a prolonged battle at the Park Slope Food Coop, where tensions between pro-Israel and anti-Israel members escalated over a boycott campaign. Jewish members filed suit last week after the board’s vote to ban Israeli goods, arguing the move discriminated against them and fostered a hostile environment.