6 days ago
Year 5 Mount Scopus Memorial College students receive vile antisemitic abuse during trip to Melbourne Museum
Vile abuse was hurled at a group of Jewish primary school students from Mount Scopus Memorial College during an excursion to Melbourne Museum, marking the latest escalation in a string of antisemitic attacks across Australia.
The year 5 students, aged between 10 and 11, were called "dirty Jews" by high school students from a different institution as they shouted chants of 'free, free Palestine'.
The abuse occurred on Thursday while the two groups were taking part in an activity in a shared space at the Melbourne Museum.
Mount Scopus Memorial's deputy principal Greg Hannon told parents in a letter seen by the Herald Sun that he would be contacting the head of the other school.
'Our group leader immediately confronted the senior school educators to address the behaviour of their students,' he said.
'Upon returning to the college, we conducted a wellbeing check on all students to ensure they felt safe and supported.'
The incident has outraged families of the young students, with one parent saying on social media that his son had been called a "dirty Jew", and labelled the act "pure, unadulterated antisemitism".
'Today, my 10-year-old son went on an excursion to the Melbourne Museum,' he said.
'What should have been a day of learning and culture turned into a terrifying experience when he and his classmates were targeted by high school students from a different school.
'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.'
'This is not a political debate; this is pure, unadulterated anti-Semitism and hate.'
This is not the first time Mount Scopus has been the target of antisemitic abuse.
Last year the leading Jewish school was defaced with hateful graffiti inciting death upon Jews, with parents keeping their children at home out of fear.
The words 'Jew die' were daubed in black spray paint on the school's white fence.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, is pushing for an investigation into the ''chilling'' Melbourne Museum incident from the Department of Education.
'What happened at the Melbourne Museum is unforgivable and chilling,' Dr Abramovich said.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief executive Alex Ryvchin also criticised the high school students for bringing 'disgrace to themselves, their school and their country'.
'Where would Australian high school students learn this behaviour?' he said.
'Form the belief that it is OK, even righteous to see a Jewish symbol on the uniforms of 8 and 9 year olds and subject them to chants about Palestine?'
'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 down to Jews living peacefully on the other side of the world is justified, or if impossible to defend, it's a false flag.'
There has been a rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks since the Israel-Hamas war gripped the world on October 7, 2023.
The Labor government's response to the escalation in antisemtic attacks has been widely criticised by the nation as well as Israeli officials.
It comes as Australia's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal vowed to call out the Albanese government if they don't support her in battling antisemitism in Australia.
Ms Segal handed down a major report earlier this month, outlining a series of measures to combat antisemitism she claimed had 'reached a tipping point that threatens social harmony, undermines trust in institutions and marginalises Jewish Australian citizens'.
Pressure is mounting against Mr Albanese to implement 49 of Ms Segal's recommendations in the report, which advises stripping funding from universities and artists if they fail to act against antisemitism.
The Labor government has not yet committed to the recommendations, but Mr Albanese indicated he was open to parts of the plan.
