June 22, 2016
ADL continues to receive a troubling number of complaints about children, adolescents and teenagers engaging in anti-Semitic behavior, both on and off school grounds. These incidents include physical assaults, threats of violence, and verbal and written taunts promoting anti-Semitic stereotypes or evoking disturbing Holocaust themes.
The following is a list of selected incidents in 2015 that represent anti-Semitic bullying of children, adolescents and teenagers by their peers:
- Middlesex County, MA: During a high school basketball game, a Jewish player was told by a member of the opposing team to “go back to the Holocaust” and called “a Jewish piece of s---.” (January)
- Jackson, MS: Some 8th grade students reacted to a unit on the Holocaust by bullying a Jewish student, calling the student anti-Semitic slurs and stating that Jews are bad because they killed Jesus. (March)
- Ann Arbor, MI: A Jewish student had a burning yellow Star of David saved as the background on his computer in the computer lab (March)
- Dauphin County, PA: A high school student was called a kike by fellow students. (April)
- Manatee County, FL: A 9-year-old told a classmate, that she hates Jews. When told that wasn’t okay to say, the classmate just repeated, “I can’t help it. I just hate Jews.” (May)
- Wilmington, DE: A 7-year-old bullied a classmate, grabbing his neck and saying that he and his family “hate Jews,” among other things. (October)
- Gloucester County, NJ: Two swastikas and the statement “All Jews will Die” were written in pencil on a cafeteria table. (December)