‘I live in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and my child is not in school because she’s Jewish. That’s insane,’ says mother of Grade 11 student
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An Ontario mother has pulled her Jewish daughter out of high school fearing she is no longer safe, saying the school is allowing and encouraging pro-Palestinian activists to display and promote threatening antisemitic messages.
“I live in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and my child is not in school because she’s Jewish. That’s insane,” said Anissa Hersh, after withdrawing her daughter from Burlington Central High School last week.
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“I can’t believe that this is happening. My daughter, who does really well at school, she loves school, isn’t able to attend public school, unless she is willing to hide her Judaism.
“There are certain levels of antisemitism that I can deal with,” Hersh said, “however, since October 7, things have gotten much, much worse,” a reference to the date of the deadly 2023 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, followed by an Israeli counterattack in Gaza.
Her daughter, in grade 11 and who did not want to be named, said: “Since October 7, I’ve had a hard time going to school. Mentally I have had to prepare myself each morning.”
They said it started with students making antisemitic comments to her daughter and to her friends about her being a Jew. There were student walkouts about Gaza. One day, a van pulled up beside her on school property and people inside started yelling that everyone needs to rise up and free Palestine, they said.
“But this is not anything that I would have pulled my daughter out of school for; I wasn’t happy about it, and we always contacted the school, and the inaction of the school is infamous,” said Hersh.
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The breaking point came last Thursday.
Her daughter had artwork included in a school exhibit and Hersh went to see it, she said. In the school auditorium there was an “Arts & Culture” event. The main event seemed like a Gaza protest.
“They had a huge booth, and it was labeled Palestine. There was a map: the state of Israel was relabeled as Palestine with the Palestinian colours on it; (there was) information such as Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine, Bethlehem is in Palestine. So literally a cultural day that is erasing Jewish history and rewriting history to suit a particular narrative,” Hersh said.
The school permitted students to wear T-shirts and jewelry depicting the eradication of Israel, mother and daughter said.
“When I approached the administration — they were in the room — they told me to calm down because they were just kids.
“Jews are the only minority marginalized group that gets to be told by other people what is and what isn’t offensive. No other group would be told to calm down and to relax.
“When the teachers said those things — calm down, it’s not a big deal — the students are emboldened and start saying things like ‘there is no Israel there is only Palestine.’ So don’t tell me that that’s not inappropriate, or calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. The denial of the state of Israel is being endorsed by these teachers and the administration.”
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She said she felt the school was no longer a safe place for her daughter.
Ontario’s education minister, Stephen Lecce, said the school board that runs Burlington Central High needs to smarten up when it comes to addressing antisemitism.
“The gross rise of antisemitism needs to be a wake-up call to the director and leadership of the Halton District School Board to do something about this disturbing trend,” Lecce told National Post.
“I have assured Mrs. Hersh that we will communicate my expectations to the director that the Halton District School Board take action on these unacceptable incidents and apply the same level of concern and enforcement to hate as they would for anyone else.”
The board acknowledges the antisemitic incident at the Arts & Craft event with a map displayed that had removed Israel.
The school board describes it as an after-school activity “organized by students to celebrate different cultures within the school community,” said spokeswoman Heather Francey.
“The Halton District School Board does not tolerate the erasure of any nation or identity and views the erasure of Israel from a map as antisemitic. I can assure you that staff are investigating this issue.
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“Antisemitism, and racism in any form, is not tolerated at any of our schools…. The school principal has communicated with students, families and staff about this incident, underscoring school processes and expectations.
“The safety and well-being of students is our highest priority. As educators, we continue to centre human rights and provide an environment that is inclusive and respectful, and where the humanity of all students, staff and communities is upheld.”
Hersh said she was disheartened when she complained to the school and said she was withdrawing her daughter for safety reasons.
“The only thing they did was they sent me information on how my daughter could finish school at home. That was their solution. Let my daughter finish school at home. Then they can wipe their hands,” Hersh said.
“She didn’t do anything wrong, and now she is paying the price for inaction of the schools. We don’t know what we’re going to do next year. Do we have to move? Do we have to relocate so that our daughter can go to a school where we can be assured that it won’t matter that she’s Jewish?”
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On Monday evening, three hours after the National Post asked the school board about last week’s incident, the board sent an email to the Burlington Central school community about “incidents” at the culture event.
In it, the board said the map at the event was antisemitic, just as the board’s statement to the Post said, that was sent on Tuesday morning about “an incident.” The letter to the community, however, said that “discriminatory behaviour was also directed toward some students at our school who were targeted by a community member for wearing a keffiyeh and jewelry with a Palestinian flag. This behaviour demonstrates anti-Palentinian (sic) racism and is not tolerated in our school.”
The letter continued: “We are deeply concerned by these events and share our community’s concerns that these incidents are harmful and unacceptable. Antisemitism, anti-Palestinian racism, and racism in any form, is not tolerated at our school.”
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys
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