A shocking lawsuit brought by several former students who accused a school in Melbourne, Australia of a pattern of ignoring years of anti-Jewish harassment played out in a courtroom this week, with one student claiming that a knife had been held to his throat in one of multiple antisemitic attacks the boys faced.
The former student testified that he repeatedly asked school officials for help but he was always ignored. He also asked why the principal still had his job, The Age reported.
During his time at Brighton Secondary Collage, Liam Arnold-Levy told the court he was abused and referred to as “Jewboy,” “skull boy” and “f***ing Jew” and told to “die in an oven.” His locker was also defaced with the words “Heil Hitler” and he was spat upon.
In total, five former Jewish students are suing the school and the state of Victoria for negligence and for failing to protect them under the Racial Discrimination Act.
On Thursday, Arnold-Levy said that the abuse he faced accelerated after he became religious and began wearing a kippah and tzitzit. He faced regular abuse, including having his fringes pulled so regularly that one broke off.
“I was made to feel I shouldn’t be proud of who I am. Those people who made me feel this way got no punishment for the way they treated me,” he told the court.
He recalled that every time he reported an incident to the school office, it would be written down on a piece of paper that was supposed to be taken up by the principal. But none of his complaints were ever followed up.
“It felt so much worse that adults weren’t taking me seriously,” he said, describing how “the students were able to get away with such violence and hatred.”
Detailing multiple instances of horrific verbal and physical abuse, that resulted in bruises and injuries – including being pushed down a flight of stairs and being beaten up by a group of students in a restroom cubicle – he said he would attempt to make himself sick to avoid having to go to school.
“I had gotten to that point that I didn’t know what else to do, or who else to go to, and I really thought about hurting myself,” he said.
He recalled that after the incident in the restroom, he insisted on seeing the principal but yet again was ignored.
“No reaction to the fact a knife had been held up to a student’s throat. There was no urgency, no concern, nothing. It made me feel possibly a million times worse. The extent of the attacks and gotten so bad and that didn’t even provoke a response from the school. Nothing,” he told the court.
After the knife attack, he left the school and was able to attend Leibler Yavneh College on a full scholarship a week later after telling them his story.
“I didn’t feel human. I was so shocked in the lack of care the school provided for such a harsh attack,” he added.
He detailed to the court how he now need to take anxiety medication and suffers from terrible panic attacks.
He added that a mediation hearing with the school proved fruitless and felt “like this is a joke.”
The day before, lawyer Chris Young, representing the staff of the school and the state of Victoria, denied all the allegations from the five former students.