Theme park (illustrative)
Theme park (illustrative)Israel news photo: Flash 90

Jewish elementary school students who visited the Kiftzuba theme park outside Jerusalem had their trip ruined by a group of Arab students who spat on them, pushed them and cursed them. The incident was reported by a father of one of the teachers on the trip, who preferred that his name not be published.

“They went last Tuesday. There was an Arab elementary school there, too. After half an hour of pushing, spitting, and cursing, with a lot of kids in tears, the school administration decided to leave,” he told Arutz Sheva.

“It’s outrageous that elementary school children cannot enjoy themselves just because they are Jewish,” he continued. “It’s unbelievable that Jewish schoolchildren were cursed at, spat at and pushed, that their fun day was turned into a nightmare.”

The incident demonstrates why the SuperLand park in Rishon L’Tzion decided to segregate Arab and Jewish school groups, the father said. “We live in a complex reality. We cannot force SuperLand to bear the burden of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the change needs to be a systematic change,” he argued.

SuperLand was widely condemned when its practice of scheduling Arab and Jewish schools to visit on different days was made public.

The management at Kiftzuba did not deny that there had been violence, but denied that Arab nationalism had been a factor. “In the case at hand, children met, and, as happens every day, in every school and daycare center, children play and sometimes curse and fight,” the park said in a statement.

“That’s how children always are, no matter what their religion, race or sex,” the statement continued. The Jewish students who left due to the harassment were not required to pay for their half hour at the park, it added.