Conservation leader demands ‘disciplinary action’ against anti-Semitic teachers

A conservation leader has turned on pro-Palestinian activists, as teachers report children drawing swastikas and giving Nazi salutes in classrooms and playgrounds.

Less overt incidents included the use of anti-Semitic jibes in school playgrounds. Picture: Supplied

A top environmentalist has told left-wing teachers that their “hostility’’ to Israel is blinding them to alarming rates of anti-Semitic bullying, saying education departments must “discipline’’ staff who fail to stamp it out.

The Blueprint Institute think tank warns of “democratic backsliding’’, with a survey showing that one in eight public school teachers witnessed anti-Semitic behaviour after the start of the ­Israel-Gaza war.

Its chief executive, Liana Downey, is also the Australian Conservation Foundation’s chairwoman and president, and lead author of the report warning that left-wing teachers might “struggle to recognise anti-Semitism’’. “When hostility towards ­Israel has become a feature of someone’s political identity, they may replicate anti-Semitic tropes without conscious understanding of the implications,’’ the report states. “This suggests those on the left may struggle to recognise anti-Semitism when it ­appears within its own ranks.’’

Ms Downey is a former deputy secretary of the NSW Education Department, and has advised the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on greenhouse gas abatement.

The Blueprint Institute released a survey of 510 public school teachers across Australia, conducted by YouGov, which found one in five high school teachers and one in 14 primary teachers had witnessed anti-­Semitic bullying.

A further 20 per cent of all teachers had been informed by others of anti-Semitic incidents.

“This data set suggests that there are roughly 75,000 anti-­Semitic incidents each year,’’ the institute reports. “The most prevalent form of anti-Semitism reported included the use of Nazi symbols, or otherwise invoked Nazi Germany or the Holocaust.

Jewish children in Germany’s Auschwitz concentration camp, photographed by Russians who liberated the camp in January 1945. Picture: Alamy

“A significant proportion of ­incidents were of a less overt form, including the use of anti-Semitic jibes specifically in the playground or other social setting, and the use of anti-Semitic stereotypes.’’

Anti-Semitic behaviour was twice as common in high schools than primary schools, and boys were the most likely perpetrators, the survey shows.

Teachers blamed children’s ­behaviour on “social media, parents passing down their prejudices, world events and a general ignorance to what Nazi symbology represents’’.

The survey was carried out in November, a month after the Hamas attack on Israel.

The report warns against conflating anti-Israeli rhetoric with anti-Semitism, and notes that the NSW Teachers Federation has blaming the root cause of the Gaza war on “the unjust and illegal ­occupation of Palestine’’.

“The promotion of inflammatory rhetoric has the potential to incite vilification of Jewish students and teachers, and does little to shield vulnerable groups from discrimination,’’ the report states.

The Blueprint Institute has found that Jewish children are being bullied by classmates in Australian classrooms, as social media fuels antisemitic stereotypes.

One teacher told the researchers that “if Israelis stopped treating neighbouring countries and their people so bad people might not hate them so much’’.

Another teacher wrote that ­“Israel is not a country – FREE PALESTINE’’.

“The implications of this for students are deeply troubling,’’ the report states. “Australian students are experiencing vilification and physical aggression, rationalised by disdain for the actions of a foreign government.’’

The use of Nazi symbols, or other invocations of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, was cited by 57 per cent of the teachers who reported anti-Semitic behaviour. Forty per cent of cases involved jibes in the playground or at social gatherings, and 31 per cent related to discrimination based on appearance.

Invoking anti-Semitic tropes or stereotypes around money, savings or wealth accounted for 29 per cent of reported cases, with 14 per cent involving stereotypes about Jewish control of the media, government or business.

The report raises “apathy ­towards anti-Semitism among some members of the teaching workforce and poor pedagogical approaches to teaching the Holocaust’’ as one reason children are engaging in anti-Semitism.

“When the use of anti-Semitic tropes or symbols go unchallenged by school leaders, such ­behaviour will likely proliferate,’’ the report says. “A crucial first step is to explicitly call out anti-Semitism as a form of prohibited discrimination in relevant education policy documents … and training.

“In instances where principals or staff have behaved negligently or inappropriately, (education) departments should take appropriate disciplinary action.

“Right now, these approaches are patchy across the country – they shouldn’t be.’’