'Relentless drip-feed of hate': Principals reveal horrific incidents of antisemitism at Sydney's Jewish schools as children taunted by strangers shouting 'Heil Hitler'
On Friday morning, the inquiry heard from multiple principals that strangers were approaching Jewish school kids and tormenting them with chants of ''Heil Hitler'', "F*** the Jews'" and "free Palestine".
Moriah College principal Miriam Hasofer said a Year 9 girl was "chased'' up Queen's Park Road by a woman repeatedly shouting abuse at her.
"This was a child walking to school. She was terrified," Ms Hasofer said.
"What was once repugnantly un-Australian has become disturbingly routine.
"The unacceptable has been normalised."
The principal said the eastern suburbs school, which has experienced at least one security incident per week, has been exposed to a "relentless drip-feed of hate" since the Israel-Gaza war.
Ms Hasofer said the school received an anonymous Instagram message after the October 7 attack which labelled the school as a "disgrace".
It included a message reading: "I hope all the children, parents and staff get cancer and die a slow painful death, praise Hitler."
Ms Hasofer spoke on a separate appalling incident which occurred in 2024 when two men "exposed themselves" to the school's security cameras in an attempt to "intimidate" Jewish children.
"Our teachers are drained. Our wellbeing team is overstretched. Our leaders are operating like a counterterrorism unit, and this has become our normal," she said, adding the antisemitism has had a "corrosive" impact on the school.
Emanuel School principal Linda Emms said students would hide their Jewish identity in public by covering their uniforms to avoid any harassment while travelling to and from Randwick school.
"I couldn't have imagined anything like this before taking a role at a Jewish school," she said.
Ms Emms said the school had to "reallocate significant funds to cover the costs of additional guarding measures".
Earlier in the year, the National Children's Commissioner raised the alarm about the impact of rising antisemitism on the wellbeing of young Jewish people in Australia.
The Commissioner revealed the heightened abuse is forcing Jewish families to now move their children to non-denominational schools to protect their safety.
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