Racist threats on Sydney Jewish school bus
Eight youths boarded a specially charted school bus carrying students from Sydney Jewish schools Moriah College and Mt Sinai College taunting the students with antiSemitic remarks and threatening to slit their throats.
Moriah College
One of the students told The Daily Telegraph ” Just after our first stoop we stopped for some unusual reason and eight teenage boys got and we didn’t know who they were”. She said she thought they were between 16 and 18. She said the boys asked her and one of her friends to come “and sit next to us”. The student said she ran to the front of the bus telling the driver that the bus were “not meant to be here”.
She told the newspaper that they were mouthing anti-semitic rants accusing them of ruling Palestine and invoking Hitler’s name. The student said that it was a targeted attack as she had seen them trying to board another bus ahead of theirs by trying to kick in the back door. That bus driver would not let them in. However on the bus in which the student was travelling, the driver allowed the youths to board. The 12-yr-old said she purposely missed her stop and got off the bus after the youths had left. She had borrowed a mobile phone to contact her mother.
One of the girls’ mothers told the Telegraph that her daughter had called her saying that the youths had said that they wanted to cut their throats.
Moriah prinicpal John Hamey said: “The College provides access to support services for all students, parents and staff requiring assistance regarding any matter that affects their wellbeing. We have formal structures in place in the College to facilitate this, including access to fully qualified Psychologists, who are available on campus to work with our students and families if required. Parents who feel that their child needs additional support are encouraged to contact their child’s Year Coordinator, Class Teacher or a school Psychologist.”
NSW Police have issued the following report:
“Police are appealing for public assistance to find a group of teenagers who threatened a bus full of children in Bondi today.
About 3.50pm (Wednesday 6 August 2014), a group of children aged between five and 12 years were on a bus travelling along Darley Road, Randwick.
A group of about eight teenagers then entered the bus after it pulled up at a bus stop.
Police have been told as the bus continued through Randwick towards Bondi Junction, the children were the subject of physical and racial verbal threats by the teenagers.
The group of teens left the bus at Bronte Road, Bondi Junction. Parents of the children were notified, who contacted police.
Officers attached to Eastern Suburbs Local Area Command attended and commenced investigations.
No children were harmed during the incident.
While the event is not believed to be targeted, police have confirmed appropriate action will be taken against the alleged offenders once found, and any type of racial abuse, especially where young children are involved, will not be tolerated.
The teens are described as being aged between 15 and 17-years-old and of Caucasian appearance.
Any witnesses to the incident, or anyone with information is urged to contact Eastern Suburbs Police via Crime Stoppers.”
J-Wire understands that all NSW buses carry CCTV.
Yair Miller, president of The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies told J-Wire: ” This is an extremely traumatising and unfortunate incident for the children involved. All indication is that this was a random incident and the authorities are dealing with it at the moment. We are awaiting for more information before making a further comment.”
Miller added that the individual schools would engage in the counselling of the children and their families. He told J-Wire that security will be stepped up tomorrow with supervisors travelling on the buses.
Minister for Citizenship and Communities Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Assistant Minister for Education Victor Dominello added: “I am deeply disturbed by reports of a racist attack on a bus in Sydney’s eastern suburbs yesterday afternoon against a group of Jewish students on their way home from school.
Public abuse and intimidation on the grounds of race or religion is deplorable. The people of NSW will never excuse it and those who are alleged to have subjected school children as young as five to this Anti-Semitic attack should face the full force of the law.
We are lucky to live in one of the most harmonious multicultural societies in the world but we must never be complacent. It is incumbent upon all citizens to expose those whose actions are based on racial hatred and who seek to import overseas conflict onto our streets.”
The Daily Telegraph is running video
What a disgrace that these sick louts think they can attack school children with such raciest comments. What sort of homes and parents do they have. I hope the parents have the guts to stop this sort of behavior and instill some commonsense and have their sons educated against such hatred. Australia does not encourage this filth and gutter behavior. Isn’t their enough horrible and useless killings going on throughout the world. The parents should be made accountable for their sons outbursts and disgusting goings on. Do they realize how much damage they have done to these innocent children who were doing what they do every day minding their own business on a school bus. It is sickening and ugly!
Listening to the interview, I’m inclined to think the bus driver needs to be made accountable too…
Here we go. These so called human beings born and bred with so much hate – they go overseas to fight in a war that isnt’t ours and they claim to be Australian Citizens – give me a break. I hope these boys get what they deserve and not a slap on the wrist. Totally disgusted with this behaviour. My heart goes out to those children on that bus. The trauma that these idiots have caused them and unfortunately these idiots won’t even realise what they have done (in their minds they are justified) – crazy people! Over it! They should be punished for their behaviour and their parents should be questioned as well, since they are more than likely the people that taught this hate to these boys. Disgusting!