“We’ve seen a surge in religious bullying that’s happening of Jewish students,but particularly in the eastern suburbs,” Bark said.
“It’s obviously devastating to the students,but it has this broad effect on families as well,especially for descendants of Holocaust survivors.”
The eastern suburbs is home to most of Sydney’s Jewish population. In the 2021 census,less than 1 per cent of residents of Greater Sydney answered Judaism on thereligious affiliation question,but this figure was 16 per cent in the Waverley local government area,14 per cent in Woollahra,and 4 per cent in Randwick.
Various reports suggest anti-Semitism has been rising globally,and Australia is no exception. Figures put out by the Board’s Community Security Groupshow 490 anti-Semitic incidents in Australia in 2021,a 38 per cent rise on 2020. More than half of these incidents occurred in NSW.
Bark said the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to arise in cyber-bullying,as reported byThe Sun-Herald, and this was now spilling over into the playground.
However,he said both students and parents were sometimes reluctant to report because of a “snitches get stitches” culture.
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Professor Suzanne Rutland of the University of Sydney and Professor Zehavit Gross of Bar-Ilan University in Israel last week launched the results of a four-year investigation of Australian government schools,which found widespread religious bullying affecting Christian,Muslim,Hindu and Jewish students.
The anti-Semitic bullying uncovered by the academics included throwing money on the ground and taunting Jewish students to pick it up,and waving scissors around in the classroom and asking Jewish boys if they “want another brit” (circumcision).
The Board of Deputies has chosen not to name the schools because the problems were widespread and they were engaging with schools directly over specific incidents.
The headmaster of the private school said,in an anonymous statement provided toThe Sun-Herald via the Board of Deputies,that “this pernicious activity” must be tackled and eradicated.
“I can confirm actions taken so far have included strengthening our formal and informal education on the matter,briefing staff and students,and building alliances with external organisations such as yourselves,” he said.
However,the student at the private school whose family made the complaint reportedly said the behaviour was continuing even after the school recently held a session explaining to the year group that the behaviour was grossly inappropriate and would not be tolerated.
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He told his parents he felt “upset and powerless and sick of it”. He said everyone in his year group who knows he is Jewish spoke to him this way,except for his close friends,while they do not target anyone who is not Jewish. He had spoken to other Jewish students in his year and they were all receiving the same treatment.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said it was concerned about the reported behaviour of religion-based racism in any school and would take strong disciplinary action against any student or staff member found to be engaged in racist or discriminatory behaviour.
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