Snapchat hate: Sydney Jewish students targeted in antisemitic attack
NSW Police have been called in after students from a Sydney boys’ high school posted a video performing the Nazi salute and other antisemitic messages to a Jewish group chat.
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Sky News obtained the video and messages, which ECAJ Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin has labelled “deeply disturbing” and “extremely harmful.”
In the footage, a boy from Marcellin College Randwick can be seen performing the Nazi salute and mimicking Adolf Hitler’s moustache while wearing full school uniform and standing on a chair in a classroom.
The video is among a number of antisemitic messages aimed at Jewish students, posted earlier this month by Year 10 students from the Catholic school in Sydney’s east.
Sky News indicated that the Snapchat group was started by children from Moriah College earlier this year and gradually grew to about 200 members, including students from the nearby Catholic school.
Among the other offensive messages are images of the Nazi flag, “Jewish c*s,” “f*ing Jews, yuck,” “Heil Hitler,” and symbols of silver coins and gas pumps, presumed to be references to the antisemitic trope of money-hungry Jews and concentration camp gas chambers.
Jewish students were goaded to meet at a location on Saturday night, where one boy taunts, “I’ll steal all your f*ing money, Jewish c*s.”
A spokeswoman for NSW Police said officers attached to Eastern Beaches Police Area Command were notified about the group chat on Monday, and its youth liaison officers are now investigating.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin says the messages are “horrific.”
“To see young people growing up in Sydney viewing the Holocaust and the genocide of the Jews as a punchline, it’s deeply disturbing,” Mr. Ryvchin told Sky News.
“It speaks to what’s happening in our society more widely—the fact that antisemitism is becoming more normalised, becoming a point of humour, of dark memes, and that’s totally unacceptable.
“These are extremely harmful concepts, and to normalise Nazism is to normalise racism, hatred, genocide, and antisemitism in its most violent, extreme forms.”
He says antisemitic bullying in Australian schools has “exploded” since the October 7 terror attacks on Israel, exposing failures within both the education system and society more broadly.
“To see in our society, our supposedly enlightened society, young people being educated and brought up to believe this sort of thing, to think that it’s okay to joke about—it shows colossal failures, and it’s something we have to address urgently,” Mr. Ryvchin said.
“Clearly, there needs to be disciplinary action taken to send a clear signal to the boys involved and society at large that this sort of thing cannot become normalised.”
A Sydney Catholic Schools spokesman would not confirm whether the students said Marcellin had acted immediately to identify and discipline the students involved in posting “antisemitic,” “inappropriate” content.
“While specifics of student discipline will not be discussed, the school is working with students, their parents, and relevant authorities to address such an egregious breach of its values,” the spokesman said.
Moriah College principal Mira Hasofer emailed parents late Tuesday, commending the students who had brought the exchange to the school’s attention and reassuring families that the matter is being handled with the “utmost care and seriousness.”
“We appreciate that the other school has recognised this as an egregious breach of its values by the students involved,” Ms. Hasofer said. “We are confident that the situation will be resolved to the satisfaction of both schools.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO, Michele Goldman stated: “We were made aware [of this incident] several days ago”….”We have been liaising with Marcellin and Moriah to ensure an appropriate response.”
“Marcellin responded swiftly with disciplinary action, and activities are planned to build greater understanding among the students. The conditions that enable such antisemitic hate speech and behaviour need to be tackled.
“Concerningly, this is not an isolated issue—antisemitic behaviour in schools is a growing problem. This is not the first school to be exposed, and it won’t be the last.”
The controversy follows the expulsion and suspension of several students from the elite Sydney boys’ school Knox Grammar in September 2022, after antisemitic and misogynistic messages posted to a private chat room were revealed. Around the same time, incidents of anti-Jewish bullying and a video of a student performing a Nazi salute were reported at Cranbrook, another Sydney private boys’ school.
Affirmed Ms. Goldman, “Schools must take decisive action to stop [this behaviour], or risk becoming environments where hate is tolerated.”
A constructive approach is needed to address why this happened – starting with what caused the culprits to have such an attitude and how hurtful it is to be on the receiving end.
Hitler hijacked the official Olympic salute unfortunately.