Graffiti targeting Muslims and Palestinians was scrawled on Walt Whitman High School, igniting fear and anger on campus and in the broader community.

School officials on Friday morning discovered the words “F** Muslims, Nuke Palestine,” along with a Star of David, on the outer wall of the building.

“This profoundly offensive, threatening, anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic hate speech is completely unacceptable, hurtful, and will not be tolerated at Walt Whitman High School or any school in Montgomery County,” Principal Gregory Miller wrote in a message to families.

Maintenance workers are removing the graffiti and the Montgomery County Police Department is investigating the incident. Miller said that counselors are available to students who need help after the incident.

School administrators said they will review security camera footage to assist in the investigation. If the graffiti was left by a student, Miller pledged that there would be consequences.

The district’s code of conduct prohibits “using language or displaying images or symbols that promote hate.” Breaking the rules can lead to suspension or expulsion.

“Incidents rooted in hate and bias contradict who we are and who we strive to be,” Miller wrote.

Fear for families

Whitman father Aiman Shalabi, who is Muslim, said his first reaction after learning about the graffiti was fear. What if the person who harbored those hateful thoughts was in the same building as his son? he wondered.

“My second reaction was, ‘Gosh, I thought we were getting through this nasty hatred,’” Shalabi said. “But it’s obviously still there, and it’s real, and we need to really take this as an opportunity to engage and educate the community.”

His son’s experience at Whitman has been positive, and the community is largely supportive. Friday’s incident is “an outlier,” Shalabi said. “We need to manage those outliers.”

“It’s all about education and starting that dialogue with each other as humans,” he said.

Past troubles

Montgomery County schools have witnessed rising tensions since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which marked the beginning a war with a deep humanitarian toll in Gaza. Campuses across the country recorded a spike in both antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents, with cases targeting Jewish and Palestinian students.

In 2024, there were 291 school-related bias incidents in Montgomery County, averaging more than one incident per school day, according to the Police Department’s most recent report. Graffiti accounted for many of those cases.

Roughly three years before the anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic graffiti was found, Walt Whitman High was tagged with an antisemitic message: “Jews Not Welcome.”

Religious groups, politicians react

Muslim and Jewish groups, as well as county leaders, condemned Friday’s vandalism.

The Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, along with the Montgomery County Muslim Council, offered support to Whitman families.

“Our schools must be places of learning, not fear,” said Asif Husain, president of the Montgomery County Muslim Council. “No child should be intimidated or made to feel unsafe because of their faith or identity.”

Alan Ronkin, the American Jewish Committee’s regional director, echoed that sentiment.

“This is horrible,” he said of Friday’s incident. “Everybody needs to stand up and say so.”

He took issue, too, with the inclusion of the Star of David as part of the graffiti’s message.

“To represent in this vandalism that somehow Jews or Israel is in favor of what this calls for is wrong and is incendiary,” Ronkin said.

Montgomery County Public Schools officials have pledged to investigate all allegations of hate-bias that occur on school property.

County Councilman Will Jawando said it is “unacceptable for any child to walk into a place of learning and be met with calls for the obliteration of their people or their faith.” He called for a full and transparent investigation.

Councilman Evan Glass said: “The anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate displayed outside Walt Whitman High School is deeply disturbing and unacceptable. Montgomery County is a community built on respect and inclusion, and hatred toward any group has no place here.”

Councilman Andrew Friedson said: “I was horrified to learn early this morning about Islamophobic hate at Whitman High School, which I condemn in the strongest possible terms.”

This is a developing story.