Two Jewish students at Melbourne's Yesodei HaTorah College High School were reportedly attacked while waiting for a train at the Caulfield train station, according to the Australian Jewish News (AJN).
"An incident took place today with two of our high school students where one was punched in the face after unprovoked antisemitic slurs directed at them. As our students are visibly Jewish, the school will endeavor to get professional awareness and safety training on how the students should deal with these situations," read an email from deputy manager of the school, Rabbi Yosi Fromer, on September 1.
“A group of Middle Eastern-looking teenagers threw antisemitic slurs, including ‘f***ing Jews.’ Two of them followed the boys and one punched my son in the face while another filmed it. My son had a bruised jaw and bleeding in his mouth. They approached two people for assistance but they didn’t help,” the father of one of the boys told The AJN.
Yesodei HaTorah’s interim educational director Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler told The AJN on behalf of the school: “We are very upset that two of our students were verbally and physically accosted and assaulted, unprovoked, while going about their business on a Sunday afternoon in a public space here in Melbourne.
“Victoria Police have been informed. We would like to thank the CSG for their support and proactive approach in ensuring that the issue is being dealt with appropriately, and for working with the relevant authorities to ensure that issues like this don’t continue to happen in the future.” he added.
“It is understood a 15-year-old boy was approached by a group of youths on Sir John Monash Drive about 1.45pm. Police were told one of the male offenders assaulted the boy whilst another member of the group filmed the incident," Senior Sergeant Alasdair Farrell, commander of Caulfield Police Station, said. “The boy sustained minor injuries which did not require hospital treatment. The group fled the scene on foot.”