Jewish children approached by strangers shouting ‘Heil Hitler’, principals tell inquiry

5 hours ago 6

Children at Sydney’s Jewish schools are afraid to wear their school uniform and have been approached by strangers shouting “Heil Hitler”, principals have told a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism.

Moriah College principal Miriam Hasofer told the inquiry on Friday morning that a year 9 girl had been “chased” up Queen’s Park Road near the eastern suburbs school by a woman repeatedly shouting “F--- the Jews” and “free Palestine”.

Moriah College in Queens Park was one of Sydney’s Jewish schools which gave evidence to the inquiry.

“This was a child walking to school. She was terrified,” said Hasofer, adding that “what was once repugnantly un-Australian has become disturbingly routine”.

“The unacceptable has been normalised,” she said.

Hasofer said the school has been exposed to a “relentless drip-feed of hate” since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and was averaging “at least one security incident per week” this year.

The NSW Legislative Council launched an inquiry into antisemitism in NSW in February. Its purpose is to consider the “underlying increasing incidents of antisemitism across the state, and the threat that these incidents present to social cohesion”.

Hasofer revealed that, in the days after the October 7 attack, the school received an anonymous Instagram message which described the school as a “disgrace” and said: “I hope all the children, parents and staff get cancer and die a slow painful death, praise Hitler.”

In a separate incident that year, a person drove past the school gates and “gave a Nazi salute”, while in September 2024, a man driving along the road adjacent to the school yelled “F--- the Jews”, and two men “exposed themselves to our security cameras” in June, to “intimidate Jewish children”, she said.

Hasofer said the hate has had a “corrosive” impact on the school, and education was “constantly disrupted”.

“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.

Principal Linda Emms, from Emanuel School in Randwick, said the school had been forced to divert funds to security to ensure children are safe.

She said students were sometimes targeted as they travel to and from school, in public places, before and after school, online and on the sporting field, detailing an incident where an 11-year-old child was “taunted” with comments of “Heil Hitler” while playing sport.

She said students “hid their Jewish identity in public by covering their uniforms”.

“I couldn’t have imagined anything like this before taking a role at a Jewish school,” said Emms, admitting the school had to “reallocate significant funds to cover the costs of additional guarding measures”.

Moriah College’s security costs have risen from $2.1 million to $3.9 million since October 7, the inquiry heard.

A 2024 report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) found there were 2062 anti-Jewish incidents logged between October 2023 and September 2024.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.