Jewish Primary school students targeted with anti-Semitic slurs on class excursion

The year-five students were targeted by a group of high school students during an educational visit to the Melbourne Museum.

The Melbourne Museum in Carlton. Picture: Tony Gough

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Year-five students from a Jewish primary school have been subjected to anti-Semitic slurs while attending a class excursion at the Melbourne Museum.

The 10 and 11 year-old children were allegedly verbally abused with anti-Semitic and political slurs by older students from Gladstone Park Secondary College who were also at the museum on Thursday, Mount Scopus Memorial College principal Dan Sztrajt wrote in a letter to parents, seen by The Australian.

“Our understanding from discussions with our students and the accompanying staff is that the comments included ‘Free Free Palestine’, ‘Dirty Jews’ and ‘Free Hezbollah’,” the letter, sent on ­Friday, reads.

“One of our accompanying staff members immediately confronted an educator from Gladstone Park asking them to address the behaviour of their students.

“Unfortunately, it appears that their educator did not respond ­appropriately, allegedly claiming this is ‘just their beliefs’ and asking ‘what do you want me to do about it?’, among other comments.”

Mr Sztrajt said he had spoken with the principal of Gladstone Park Secondary College.

“She conveyed her sincere regret, apologised on behalf of her school, and expressed a willingness to work collaboratively with Mount Scopus,” he wrote.

Mount Scopus Memorial College.

Victorian Minister for Education Ben Carroll said he had spoken with Mr Sztrajt and conveyed his “disgust at the anti-­Semitic attacks”.

“I have offered every support possible to help them through this incident,” Mr Carroll said.

“It is unacceptable that students or staff feel unsafe in the community where they learn, work and play.

“Hate has no place in Victoria. Our strength is our diversity.”

A statement from Mount Scopus said it was “deeply concerned and disappointed by the incident”.

“Of particular concern was the report of inaction by one of the other school’s educators when asked to stop his students from vilifying the Mount Scopus students,” it read.

A spokesperson for Museums Victoria said racism, discrimination and hatred had no place at its museums and that it was “deeply sorry” the incident had occurred at one of its venues.

“We have contacted the parties involved and appreciate they are handling this matter privately and respectfully,” the spokesperson said.

“Museums Victoria is committed to creating an accessible, inclusive, and safe environment for all members of the community regardless of cultural background.”

Parent Tristan Sternson wrote on social media that the excursion had been a “terrifying experience” for his 10-year-old son and his classmates.

“They were tapped on the shoulder and then chanted at by these 16- and 17-year-old students ‘free Palestine’ and then, as they walked away, were called ‘dirty Jews’ and other racist comments,” Mr Sternson wrote on LinkedIn. “This is not a political debate; this is pure, unadulterated anti-Semitism and hate.”

Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Alex Ryvchin

Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the high school students involved had “brought disgrace to themselves, their school and their country”.

“Where would Australian high school students learn this behaviour? Form the belief that it is OK, even righteous to see a Jewish symbol on the uniforms of eight- and nine-year-olds and subject them to chants about Palestine?” Mr Ryvchin wrote on X.

“It comes from a certain moral collapse brought about by nearly two years of normalised abuse and violence, where anyone who holds an opposing view on the war is a Nazi and a baby-killer, where anything done to Jews living peacefully on the other side of the world is justified, or if impossible to defend, it’s a false flag.”

Zionist Federation of Australia CEO Alon Cassuto said the incident spoke to “a deeper sickness, where Jewish identity becomes a provocation, and anti-Semitism is excused as activism”.

“Ten-year-olds on an innocent excursion were harassed and targeted not for what they did, but for who they are,” Mr Cassuto said.

Lynda Ben-Menashe, president of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia, said a member’s 10-year-old granddaughter was “among the Jewish children publicly accosted and vilified for actions taking place thousands of miles away”.

Gladstone Park Secondary College declined to comment and referred questions to the Department of Education. It’s understood the department is investigating the incident.

It follows a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Melbourne, including the attempted firebombing attack on the East Melbourne Synagogue and the violent storming of ­Israeli restaurant Miznon in the city’s CBD earlier this month.

In May last year, Mount Scopus’s Burwood campus was targeted with anti-Semitic graffiti, with the words “Jew die” scrawled on its fence.