Brooklyn Teacher’s Antisemitic Messi Meme Draws Fire From Education Groups

A math teacher at Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn is facing criticism after posting antisemitic images on social media, including a caricature of soccer star Lionel Messi that mirrors Nazi-era propaganda.

Maysa Jarara posted the image on Facebook on July 19 under the name Maysa. It depicts a crying, groveling Messi with an exaggerated nose, wearing a yarmulke and rubbing his hands together. “The look on his face is priceless,” she wrote in the caption. The image closely resembles “The Happy Merchant,” a well-known antisemitic internet meme.

Messi, who traveled to Israel in 2013 as part of a “peace tour,” became the target of online conspiracy theories during the World Cup alleging that Jewish interests control FIFA and have quietly aided his career, according to the online antisemitism watchdog Cyberwell.

“Jarara has crossed a major line by trafficking in classic antisemitic tropes that cast Jews as greedy and scheming,” said Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers.

Jarara has also shared other posts critical of Israel, including one showing the Israeli flag covered in blood. On the third anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack, which killed more than 1,200 Israelis, she posted an Instagram illustration of a man in a keffiyeh dancing with a woman in a hijab in front of a burning pile, captioned “And we love life and we can live it in a way.”

“This is deeply disturbing. We have a teacher who is entrusted with educating children publicly sharing inflammatory, biased, and historically misleading posts about Israel and the Jewish people,” said Karen Feldman, president of the New York City Public Schools Alliance.

Jarara’s posts come amid a string of similar incidents in New York City’s public school system since the October 7 attack. A lawsuit alleges that Damian Neva, a history teacher at P.S. 77 in Park Slope, wrote “Long live Yahya Al-Sinwar” in a group chat organized around boycotting Israeli goods at the Park Slope Food Co-op. Separately, George Trim, a social studies teacher at IS 181, was reprimanded by the Department of Education after he was found hosting an antisemitic conspiracy podcast while wearing a tinfoil hat.

The pattern has coincided with a broader shift among Jewish families in the city. Thousands have withdrawn their children from public schools, and enrollment at Jewish schools in New York has risen by roughly 3,100 students, according to a study from the Teach Coalition.

Public records show Jarara earned $140,000 in 2025. She could not be reached for comment.