Five Jewish schoolgirls in Melbourne suffered antisemitic abuse on a tram on Monday, with boys shouting “Heil Hitler” at them, the Herald Sun first reported.
The girls, who attend Beth Rivkah Ladies College, were leaving an exam when the incident occurred.The boys were allegedly getting off the tram but walked intentionally past the girls to shout at them.
A Victoria police spokesperson confirmed the incident was being investigated as “racially motivated offensive behavior."
One of the girls’ mothers reportedly told the Anti-Defamation Commission that her great-grandmother escaped Germany in September 1939, and her great-aunt died in Auschwitz.
“I am disgusted that 80 years later, my daughter is being subjected to this kind of horror,” the mother said.ADC Chair Dr. Dvir Abramovich said the five girls were “subjected to an outburst of hate that no one, least of all our youth, should ever have to endure.“The heart-stopping wave of antisemitic hate has again struck the very core of Melbourne, leaving our community shaken and outraged,” he said.“This hateful gesture is meant to degrade, humiliate, and terrorize them in a city they call home. In 2024, in Melbourne, Australia, this level of antisemitism is not only abhorrent – it’s absolutely unthinkable.”
Explosion of antisemitism
Rabbi Elisha Greenbaum, principal of Beth Rivkah Ladies College, said it was “ironic that the girls were coming out of a psychology exam attempting to help solve the world’s problems” when really, “the boys screaming at them are the ones who should be taking psychology.”
Jeremy Leibler, President of the Zionist Federation of Australia, told the Jerusalem Post that “Jewish school students should be able to proudly wear their uniforms on the streets of Melbourne without being subjected to antisemitic abuse."
Despite the "explosion" of antisemitism since October 7, he stressed that the Australian Jewish community would not allow incidents such as this to define it.
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) said it was "appalled" and was working with police regarding the “offensive and traumatising antisemitic incident” against the students.
“Police have referred the incident to detectives for investigation and are seeing CCTV footage of the incident,” the JCCV said.