‘Cynical’: Jewish anger at student rallies

Jewish leaders say school student rallies in support of Palestine are being hijacked by “hardened anti-Israel activists”.

Hundreds of Sydney students on Friday attended a huge pro-Palestine school strike, defying pleas from politicians to stay in class.

The event was organised by High Schoolers for Palestine and University of Sydney group Students for Palestine. Similar events are also being held in Wollongong and Byron Bay.

Students dressed in school uniform and draped in Palestinian scarfs held signs with impassioned demands.

“Stop killing us, we all deserve to live,” one sign read.

But the Executive Council of Australian Jewry says these protests are causing damage and the students are being used.

“We absolutely condemn the cynical recruitment of children to this extremist agenda,” co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.

“This may be presented as a spontaneous initiative led by idealistic high school kids but we know this is the latest stunt by hardened anti-Israel activists to advance their propaganda campaign.”

He said those who have supported it – including some teachers and the Greens – should be “ashamed,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“We are deeply concerned for the welfare of Jewish students and teachers and what awaits them when their peers, filled with racist slogans and violent chants, return to their classrooms,” he said.

“The damage to our society and to our education system could be devastating and long-term. “That this has been allowed to happen is a failure of community, parenting and education that will require deep reflection and serious action.”

Dozens of Palestinian flags were seen flying and countless posters voiced support for the Palestinian cause.

“Free, free Palestine! Free, free Gaza,” students were heard crying out.

Many older Australians also joined in the protest, but school and university students made up the majority of the hundreds gathered to protest.

A similar protest attracted hundreds in central Melbourne on Thursday.

Attendees reported that there was at least one Israel supporter who “put up a fight” at the beginning of the rally.

They say he disrupted chants while waving an Israeli flag before he was escorted out by police.

“Join students from across Sydney to demand an end to the genocide Israel is committing in Gaza,” the group wrote on social media before the protest.

“These crimes against humanity are being cheered on by the Australian government.

“Bring your friends and classmates and show that business as usual can’t continue while there is a genocide being committed in Gaza!”

The protest is taking place without official approval, meaning children will be confined to footpaths and a heavy police presence is expected to keep the peace.

Labor Party president and former treasurer Wayne Swan told Today that though the protest was not likely to be a “dramatic event”, there were concerns about “fringe groups” getting involved.

Federal education minister Jason Clare told school students the best way to change the world was “go to school” ahead of the second day of student protests.

He said schoolchildren “should be at school in school hours”, and his state and territory counterparts had the same view.

“The important thing for students is that school is on. If you want to change the world, go to school,” he told Channel 7.

“Education is the most powerful cause for good in this world. That is where you learn.

“If you want to protest, do it on the weekend.”

His panelmate, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said social harmony was “very important in schools” amid reports a 16-year-old at Thursday’s protest had declared Hamas was “doing a good job”.

“I’m very worried about the activists and their influence on schoolkids via social media,” she said.

“I am not blaming the kids, there is some poisonous stuff circulating … pushed towards our schoolchildren, and it is causing some of the problems that we are seeing.”

The rally in Australia’s biggest city follows similar protests in Melbourne and Adelaide on Thursday, students gathering in public places to show their support for Palestine’s cause.

“We have come out today, people have left school en masse, to say that business as usual can’t continue when Palestinians are being slaughtered in their thousands,” one student protester said on a megaphone.

“We know that a truce or a temporary pause to this atrocity is not enough.

“We’re not fighting so there can be six hours in a day where Palestinians cannot be murdered. We are fighting so that there is never another Palestinian killed ever, ever again.”

Some members of the Australian Jewish community have condemned the protests, saying they believe the protests are a “stunt” organised by anti-Israel activists.

“We absolutely condemn the cynical recruitment of children to this extremist agenda,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said.

“This may be presented as a spontaneous initiative led by idealistic high school kids but we know this is the latest stunt by hardened anti-Israel activists to advance their propaganda campaign.”

“Those who have supported it, including some teachers and the Greens, should be ashamed.”