City Official To Keep Job After Harassing Jewish Family, Given ‘Cultural Sensitivity Training’

A New Haven, Connecticut city official was disciplined with “cultural sensitivity training” after chanting ethnic cleansing slogans with a megaphone, and encouraging others to do the same, outside a local Jewish family’s home.

Thabisa Rich, New Haven’s Community Outreach Coordinator for the Department of Arts, Cultural, and Tourism, caused a scene outside the home of a local rabbi last month because of a pro-Israel yard sign.  according to a video obtained by The Daily Wire. Her social media also had several anti-Semitic posts since Israel was attacked on October 7 by terrorists, including stating she does not “condemn Hamas” for its murder of more than 1,000 Israelis, and others that invoked tropes about Jewish money and power.

The city says, however, that while Rich did violate the city’s code of conduct, she will keep her job.

“A formal letter of reprimand was provided to Thabisa Rich … for violations of the City’s Code of Conduct regarding her actions on February 11th and several statements posted on social media,” the office of New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement, according to the Hartford Courant. “The letter of reprimand was also accompanied by a coaching statement and corrective action requirements, including the need to attend cultural sensitivity training.”

VIDEO: A New Haven, Connecticut city official chanted ethnic cleansing slogans with a megaphone outside a Jewish family’s home, according to video of the incident obtained by reporter @KassyDillon.

The city tells us it is "reviewing the matter"https://t.co/JQTx9mduDc pic.twitter.com/0tIaLcsyhd

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) February 15, 2024

The city added that she may face more disciplinary action including termination if she fails to follow the code of conduct in the future.

In a “Counseling Discussion Plan” accompanying the letter of reprimand, the City alleges Rich’s actions have “impaired her ability to perform” in her job and that she has “done significant damage to her professional reputation and ability to work with a wide spectrum of individuals and groups in the city.”

Thabisa Rich was hired last year by New Haven and given the responsibility of managing $1.2 million in federal funding for the city under the America Rescue Plan Act, according to the New Haven Register. At the time, Director of Cultural Affairs Adriane Jefferson said Thabisa Rich was hired because they were “looking for someone who can be a bridge builder,” the local news outlet reported.

In videos posted of the incident by Rabbi Elchanan Poupko and Rich herself, the city official can be heard repeatedly shouting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a chant often used by pro-Palestinian radicals that is seen as a call for ethnic cleansing of the Jewish and other non-Arab populations that live in Israel. She was eventually joined by her husband Charlie Rich, who, wearing a mask, defended her actions and pressed the Jewish resident Poupko to denounce Israel.

“We were very shaken,” Poupko said. “It turns out they are both very prominent members of the community who came to harass us because of our ‘stand with Israel sign.’”

In a livestream after the incident, Rich encouraged others to come back to the street with her.

“You tell me when you want to come back and ask for a ceasefire and ask for this people to stop their hate because they think that they are white and privileged and that they think that their religion is superior than the rest,” she stated. “I need people to show up to this very same street. We need to find a time to come back and show up in numbers and say no, enough is enough.”

The letter thanked Rich for removing the posts from her personal Facebook, including one where she accused people of not speaking out about the war because they have Jewish bosses.

Thabisa Rich invoked anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish power and said she would not condemn the terrorist group Hamas in now-deleted posts to her Facebook.

“Your silence is starting to signify complacency,” she wrote. “I promise I understand that some of y’all have your pockets lined with bosses who are Jewish.”

During the Super Bowl on Sunday, Rich said she was “sick of these Jew focused ads [sic].”

“We have been witnessing Jewish folks inflicting hate,” she said in another post the same day. “It’s not made up.”

In her response to the reprimand, Rich wrote that her social media posts were “taken out of context” and were intended to “shed light on the propaganda and misinformation surrounding the true impact of the conflict on the people of Palestine.”

Moving forward, Rich is required to refrain from protests with abusive conduct, not make statements or social media posts targeting an entire race or religion, and state explicitly that her opinions are her own and not the city’s, according to the Counseling Discussion Plan.

“While city employees can have different and strongly held views on important issues, there is an appropriate time, place, and manner in which to express them – and incidents and statements of this nature will not be tolerated,” the mayor wrote in the statement.

After the incident, Rich’s husband was placed on employee administrative leave by his employer, The Hopkins School, located a few houses away from Poupko’s home.