Jewish boy who was forced to kiss the feet of his Muslim classmate has been told he will be ‘SLAUGHTERED’ as he is targeted by disgusting threats
- Jewish boy, 12, was forced to kiss the feet of a Muslim, 13, at Melbourne park
- Schoolboy received threatening messages telling him he will be slaughtered
- Victoria Police are investigating the report of number text messages of concern
A Jewish boy who was forced to kiss the feet of his Muslim classmate has allegedly been sent disturbing messages telling him he will be slaughtered.
The 12-year-old schoolboy from Cheltenham Secondary College was also allegedly asked if he wanted to ‘talk about suicide’.
The messages were allegedly sent on Friday after the image of the young Jewish boy and the older Muslim boy made headlines across Australia.
Victoria Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia they were investigating a report that a student from a Cheltenham school allegedly received a number text messages of concern.
A Jewish boy (pictured) who was forced to kiss the feet of his Muslim classmate has allegedly been sent disturbing messages telling him he will be slaughtered
‘As the investigation is ongoing it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time,’ a spokesperson said.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, Australia’s leading civil rights organisation, who provided emotional support to the families of the victims, and who helped the 12 year old from Cheltenham Secondary College relocate to a Jewish schools, said:
‘These vile and deplorable threats will shock the conscience of all Australians and we condemn them in the strongest terms.
‘This type of stomach-churning intimidation has all the elements of a “hate crime” and is evidence that antisemitism remains a troubling and powerful force in our schools.
‘It is important to remember that when such incidents occur, they affect not only the victim but reverberate throughout the community, and warrant a priority response. We need to send a clear message that this kinds of abhorrent behaviour cannot and will not tolerated in our nation.’
The shocking image was first published the Australian Jewish News.
The incident occurred as a group threatened the boy with violence if he didn’t comply.
The messages were allegedly sent on Friday after the image of the schoolboy kissing the feet of a Muslim boy a year older than him at a park made headlines across Australia (stock image)
It highlighted a wider pattern of anti-Semitism in Australia.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry last year found there was a 60 per cent increase in similar incidents in just a year.
The Australian Jewish News has also highlighted more cases of anti-Semitism involving children.
It revealed how a five-year-old boy at another Melbourne school was called a ‘Jewish cockroach’ by his classmates and became so scared of using the toilet that he wet himself, after other boys ridiculed him for being circumcised.
‘The reports today about young children as young as five being attacked and abused because of their Jewishness is completely unacceptable in our civilised society,’ Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, whose mother survived the Holocaust, said.
During this year’s election campaign Mr Frydenberg, who is one of three Jewish MPs in the House of Representatives, had swastikas spray painted in his election posters.
His Liberal colleague Julian Leeser also had his election material defaced with a vile Hitler moustache and a swastika.
Last month, a swastika was spray painted on a billboard promoting a Melbourne theatre production of The Diary of Anne Frank, about a Jewish woman who hid from the Nazis in the Netherlands.
‘These reports just indicate a growing trend across the community of a 60 per cent rise in anti-Semitic incidents,’ Mr Frydenberg said.
‘In Victoria, we saw swastikas, not just across political material including my own in the election, but also material promoting a play by Anne Frank of all people.
‘That is just sickening.’
The Labor Opposition is divided about the idea of pursuing whether Mr Frydenberg is a dual citizen, which would make him ineligible to remain in Parliament under Section 44 of the Constitution.
His mother Erica Strausz was born in a concentration camp in Hungary in 1943 and was possibly left stateless as a result.
Outside of Parliament, Mr Frydenberg is close friends with Labor backbencher Ed Husic, the first Muslim elected to the House of Representatives.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Education Department for comment.