A Georgia teacher has been arrested after allegedly shouting 'I should cut your motherf*****g head off,' at a pupil who criticized his Israeli flag.
The 7th-grade social studies teacher Benjamin Reese reportedly made the comments on December 7 at Warner Robins Middle School.
The alleged incident occurred after a Muslim student told Reese, 51, she found the Israeli flag in his classroom offensive.
Reese asked the unnamed female student if it had anything to do with Judaism, according to a police report seen by WMAZ.
She reportedly answered that she wanted to know why it was hanging there, and Reese told the student he was Jewish and had family members who lived in Israel.
The 7th-grade social studies teacher reportedly made the comments on December 7 at Warner Robins Middle School
The student allegedly told her teacher she found the flag offensive 'due to Israelis killing Palestinians.'
Reese then told the student she was being anti-Semitic, the police report stated.
Several witnesses later told the authorities they heard Reese shout at the student that 'he would kick her f*****g a**, slit her god***n throat and drag her a** outside and cut her head off.'
A faculty member said she heard Reese say: 'You don't make an anti-Semitic comment like that to a Jew.'
An on-campus deputy spoke to several witnesses and reviewed security tape that showed Reese yelling down the hallway and heading back into his classroom.
The deputy then alerted the school's principal, Brett Wallace, to the alleged incident.
They spoke to Reese in his classroom together, according to the police report.
Reese denied making offensive comments but grew angry and 'kicked the door stopper in an aggressive manner.'
Benjamin Reese, 51, was arrested on felony terroristic threat and misdemeanor cruelty to children charges on December 8
He then invoked his civil rights and did not wish to answer any further questions.
Reese was arrested on felony terroristic threat and misdemeanor cruelty to children charges on December 8.
Following his arrest a judge set Reese's bond at $2,500 for the terroristic threat charge and $5,000 for the charge of cruelty to children.
Houston County Schools told 13WMAZ 'All employees of the Houston County School District are required to follow the Code of Ethics for Educators.
'If there is a violation or accusation of a violation, we investigate and respond appropriately.
A spokesperson added: 'While we are not able to discuss specific personnel matters, we can share that Mr. Reese has not been on the campus of Warner Robins Middle School since Dec. 7, 2023.
'Safety and the well-being of our students and staff is our number one priority.'
The outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war following Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7 has led to a sharp rise in both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes in the US.
Education institutions across the country have scrambled to respond to rising tensions and reported incidents.
The presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT were called before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce earlier this month.
Upenn President Liz Magill later resigned from her post following her disastrous testimony in which she failed to assert that calls for genocide against Jews on campus would definitively constitute harassment.
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