A Holocaust survivor who had previously been barred from speaking to a group of Brooklyn students amid tensions over Israel and Gaza ultimately delivered the address, doing so without offering an apology, according to The Jewish Voice. Independent New York outlets identified the survivor as Sami Steigmann and the school as MS 447 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, where amNewYork reported the principal, Arin Rusch, had initially declined the appearance.
The outlet, which reported the development in its Feb. 6 morning newsletter, said the survivor had been kept from the engagement “after being barred over Israel-Gaza tensions” before going on to address the students. The Jewish Voice did not, in the newsletter item, name the survivor, identify the school or describe the substance of the remarks delivered to the students. According to CBS News New York, Rusch had told the survivor, “I also don’t think that Sami’s presentation is right for our public school setting, given his messages around Israel and Palestine.”
The newsletter framed the appearance as the resolution of an earlier controversy, characterizing the survivor as having “finally” addressed the students and emphasizing that no apology accompanied the talk. The survivor was later extended a formal invitation to speak, with amNewYork reporting that the school issued “an official invitation to address students at the school in February.” CBS News New York reported that Steigmann ultimately spoke at the Brooklyn middle school on Feb. 5, 2026, one day before the newsletter ran its item. The circumstances of the initial decision to bar the speaker, and the parties involved in reversing it, were not detailed in the item reviewed by Bushwick Daily.
