Ontario teacher called six-year-old student ‘half-human’ for having a Jewish parent

Students reported educators saying they held them personally responsible for the war in Gaza.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

An Ontario teacher referred to a six-year-old student as “half-human” for having a Jewish parent.

This is only one incident among many that are happening in Ontario, home to 30,000 Jewish children.

The incident with the six-year-old came to light during a study on antisemitism in Ontario conducted by University of Toronto sociology professor Robert Brym.

Brym surveyed 599 Jewish parents between January and April.

Many parents, including those of the six-year-old, responded that the form of antisemitic harassment their families experienced was not directly connected to the war in Gaza.

In one case, a 13-year-old girl was swarmed several times a day with groups of children giving her the Nazi salute.

Many incidents referred to the war in Gaza, with one teacher calling a student a “baby killer” because she admitted her family supported Israel’s war against Hamas.

The special envoy for preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, became involved in the probe after hearing reports of antisemitism from Jewish parents.

“Jewish students deserve what every Canadian child deserves: to feel safe, valued and included in their classrooms,” Lyons said in a statement. “This is not the reality today – and it must change.”

Students reported educators saying they held them personally responsible for the war in Gaza.

One-sixth of the parents responded that their child experienced antisemitism from an educator during a school-related activity.

Some examples include a teacher telling a student their Hebrew teachers were lying that Israel existed, and another teacher wearing T-shirts with anti-Israel slogans on them, such as “From the river to the sea,” a rallying cry that describes the erasure of the State of Israel.

Many incidents in schools were not reported, and many institutions narrowly define antisemitism as based only on religious practice rather than ethnicity, nationality, or culture.

“It is disconcerting to see the number of reported antisemitic incidents being ignored in Ontario schools,” Lyons said. “Silence in the face of antisemitism is not neutrality – it is complicity and sends a bad message to all students about standing up against hate.”