A 15-year-old Jewish girl in Britain told her classmates she was Turkish because she was afraid to reveal her true identity, then returned home in tears and told her parents she wished she had never been born Jewish.
Her story is among more than 110 reports of antisemitic incidents in British educational institutions collected by Parents Against Antisemitism, a volunteer organization established earlier this year, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
The reports span institutions ranging from nurseries to high schools and include allegations of harassment, Holocaust denial, physical abuse and the use of Nazi imagery.
In one case cited by the newspaper, a Jewish boy was required to sit his final examinations in isolation because of concerns for his safety if he were placed alongside other students.
In other cases, children reportedly covered their ears when a teacher announced that the class would be learning about Judaism, while some mocked a stabbing incident in the heavily Jewish Golders Green neighborhood of London. Other pupils challenged testimony from Holocaust survivors, claimed the Holocaust had been fabricated or drew comparisons between the Holocaust and the war in Gaza.
Sasha Hoffman, a volunteer with Parents Against Antisemitism and a mother of three, said the case of the 15-year-old girl was especially painful. “That almost broke my heart more than anything,” she told the Jewish Chronicle. “Are we really a free and tolerant society if a child lies about who she is? It’s horrifying.”
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Hoffman described antisemitism in British schools as an “epidemic” and warned that conspiracy theories were spreading even in classrooms with no Jewish pupils.
According to the organization, students at Jewish schools have faced verbal abuse on school buses and during sporting events against other institutions.
Jewish pupils attending non-Jewish schools have reported harassment ranging from exclusion and physical violence to the display or use of Nazi symbols and imagery. “We’re not just protecting Jewish children,” Hoffman said. “We need to protect society as a whole.”
Parents Against Antisemitism said the cases it collects are passed to the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism and provides security for Britain’s Jewish community, as well as to a special government review panel. The group said many parents are reluctant to report incidents because they fear doing so could make the situation worse for their children.
It also accused some school administrators of dismissing complaints, minimizing incidents or failing to use disciplinary measures available to them. According to the organization, suspensions for antisemitic behavior remain rare. “Schools are so reluctant to use the measures available to them,” Hoffman said. “They end up managing the child who was harassed instead of dealing with those responsible.”
For some Jewish families, the result is not simply fear of individual incidents but a growing sense that children are learning to conceal their identity in places where they are supposed to feel safe.