Muslim students suspended from US school after staging sick 'Hamas kidnap' stunt on fellow pupils

Footage of the stunt went viral after Journalist Asra Nomani shared it online on Sunday.

Ms Nomani - who is Muslim - lambasted the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at the elite school for filming a video meant to "protest Israel".

She captioned the video, which she has since deleted from platform X: "Bad taste - or the outgrowth of a protest culture that's glorified Hamas?"

The act saw a student ask two of his classmates if they planned to attend the MSA meeting the next day.

The boys, using mocking voices, refused while crossing their arms and jokingly asking what the meeting was about and why they would attend.

Just seconds later, two other boys leapt out from behind a curtain.

One wrapped a keffiyeh around the student's head while the other picked up his classmate and put him in a plastic bin.

The two "kidnapped" students were dragged behind a curtain with their faces covered, and two more students stepped onto the scene.

The students were once again asked: "Are you going to the MSA meeting?" and they quickly responded: "Yes, of course."

The two "kidnappers", appearing satisfied with the new answer, nodded and walked away.

As the video came to an end, the footage moved to show the "kidnapped" students still behind the curtain, unmoving, silent and still covered.

Ms Nomani posted another similar video from the association at Langley High School in McLean, which showed members once again "kidnapping" other students when he said he was not going to attend a meeting.

Guila Franklin Siegel, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, told Fox News: "It's almost chilling to see teenagers so lively acting out something that is so horrific."

The following day, it was revealed that the MSA students had been suspended from Thomas Jefferson High School by Fairfax County Public School District.

Ms Nomani said that local parents had also been outraged and had accused the school of promoting a "culture of callousness and poor judgement" and raising students to be "so insensitive and callous".

In a statement to Fox, school district officials said: "Acting out these types of violent acts is traumatising for many of us to watch and, given world events, especially traumatising to our Jewish students, staff, and community.

"It is never appropriate to make light of such horrific acts, but it is especially callous and cruel to do so when Hamas continues to hold the bodies of deceased Israeli hostages more than two years after committing the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

"The trauma that all families impacted by the Israel-Hamas war have experienced over the past two years remains fresh.

"Making light of violence during a time of war is beyond the pale."

The district added that any pupils who broke the school's code "will be held accountable for their actions".

However, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, expressed outrage at the knowledge that several students were allegedly suspended for what it called a "playful skit".

The organisation claimed the video was like many others made by other school clubs except for the students' race and religion.

The group said: "The video mirrors a popular trend of students promoting their events on campuses across the country.

"It is apparent that any threat TJHSST perceives from the video comes from racist tropes and stereotypes about Muslims and Arabs."

GB News has approached Fairfax County Schools for comment.