Scopus Students praised for dignified response

Mount Scopus Memorial College Principal Dan Sztrajt has praised his Year 5 students for their dignified response to an antisemitic attack at Melbourne Museum.

But he’s expressed serious concerns about the failure of supervising teachers from the other school involved to act.

Speaking to The AJN, Sztrajt revealed disturbing details about Thursday’s incident, in which Year 7 students from another school subjected 10- and 11-year-old Jewish children to chants of “Free Palestine” and called them “dirty Jews” along with other antisemitic slurs.

“Our staff stepped in immediately to move our students away,” Sztrajt explained.

“Our staff went and engaged with the staff from the other school. [but] they were disappointed with the response. My understanding is that [there was] a comment along the lines of, ‘Well, if that’s how our students feel, there’s nothing we can do about it’, which obviously majorly rattled our staff.”