NYC Public School Teacher ‘Crossed a Major Line’ with Antisemitic Messi Post

A New York City public school teacher is facing criticism from Jewish education advocates over a Facebook post that used an antisemitic caricature to mock Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi. Maysa Jarara teaches math at Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn. On July 19, she shared a picture depicting Messi with a distorted face and a Jewish skullcap, the New York Post reported. The drawing shows him crying and rubbing his hands, with an enlarged nose. Jarara posted it through an account named “Maysa.” “The look on his face is priceless,” she wrote. The Post identified similarities between the picture and the “Happy Merchant” meme, which uses an exaggerated Jewish figure to promote stereotypes about dishonesty and financial manipulation. Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, said Jarara’s post repeated familiar forms of anti-Jewish prejudice. “Jarara has crossed a major line by trafficking in classic antisemitic tropes that cast Jews as greedy and scheming,” Spern told the outlet. Jarara’s social media activity also included material attacking Israel, according to the report. One image displayed an Israeli flag marked with blood. Another post appeared on Instagram on October 7, three years after the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel. It showed two people dancing near a fire: a man in a keffiyeh and a woman wearing a hijab. The caption read, “And we love life, and we can live it in a way.” Karen Feldman, who heads the New York City Public Schools Alliance, questioned Jarara’s conduct as an educator. “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,” Feldman told the Post. Jarara’s 2025 annual wages totaled $140,016, according to a public payroll listing published by GovSalaries. The database identifies her position as teacher and her employer as the Department of Education. Messi had already become a target of antisemitic posts during this year’s World Cup, according to CyberWell, a nonprofit that tracks anti-Jewish content online. In findings published July 14, CyberWell described false allegations that Messi’s performance and favorable refereeing decisions resulted from Jewish control over soccer. Some users falsely claimed he was Jewish, while others portrayed him as acting under Jewish direction. Jarara’s actions drew online criticism, with commenters questioning whether she should be teaching and what example she sets for students.