Bullying in school over views re Palestine and Lebanon

[AnonymouseQuestion]

My children go to a secondary school that has approx 30% Muslim kids. Many are very politicised over what is happening in the Middle East. My kids have said for a while that it’s impossible to have any view at school other than Israel is evil and is committing genocide. This week my 11 year old came home very upset as a girl had fought with him over something else then returned to the classroom and told everyone that my DC supports genocide. Friends of my DC turned on them and said they were evil, my DC said they didn’t support genocide and the child was cross about something else but people shunned them anyway. I’ve now spent the weekend with my 11 year old constantly asking me whether what’s happening in Palestine is genocide and when I said that was an over simplified and divisive question and it was best not to get into discussions of that at their age my older DC said to their younger sibling “you can’t say that, just agree loudly that it’s genocide at school or you will suffer.”

I then asked my older DC if that sort of thing was common or would be seen in their year group and they said yes. They said that one of their friends once laughed when a Jewish boy fell on the stairs and said “he deserves that as he’s Israeli” when my child said the child wasn’t Israeli just Jewish they were told to shut up and their friend group were encouraged to shun them.

Would you report this to the school? Is it common in other schools at the moment?

Good points, @AnonymouseQuestion .
We haven't exactly shut it down, but a clear behaviour policy is in place. We've cracked down on graffiti and antisemitism. They're no longer displaying Palestinian flags. There can be no discussion, however. None at all.
All we can do is insist that school must be a place where we respect diversity and are inclusive.

I support Israel and I have encountered lots of push back because of it!

If people live in a democratic country, they must accept that people will have different opinions to them.

"if they're Israeli, it's not nice"
Pardon? That's a child we're taking about.

@KateDelRick do you know how many children in Gaza have lost limbs?

@KateDelRick laughing at someone falling on the stairs is not nice and should be reported... but does not deserve a letter of complaint and the removal of all Palestinian flags or discussion about the horrors that are taking place.

This is disgusting. You're justifying racism against British school kids, that they should just suck it up. I hope to god you're not a school teacher.

I'm not going to respond to those questions, @cavepainter because I can't see it going anywhere productive. Please don't @ me again.
So. Good luck with contacting the school, OP.
I'm out.

This isn’t right I agree with you

I despair and cannot believe the casualness of the view that a Jewish or Israeli child should think it's acceptable to be treated like that. 'Low level racism' I can't get over seeing that typed here. It's no wonder British Jewish families feel the way they do if this is what some people think.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, we should be encouraging children and teenagers to recognise that we live in a country where options vary. Tolerance and the respect to others with different views is important. I think the use of emotive language within a school situation should be discourages - it seems to me that it is being suggested that it is ok to take sides as a teacher or estabishment. Neutrality is important - and the school should be following that policy.

Is it the Muslim kids doing this? Or other religion / aethists kids too?

11 year olds should not be dealing with this. 11 year olds should not be perpetrating this either.

But it's low level racism .

cavepainter what would you describe as high level racism?

I'd just like to add that I have Jewish heritage - but anyone apologising for Israeli actions does not speak for me.

Especially where some religions are concerned.

@cavepainter please stop this. It reads like you're saying the Jewish child is more powerful - is that what you mean? As it reads like an anti semetic trope. How are you doubling down on what you are saying without taking a breath to look at how it is coming across?

Considering the school is 40% Muslim and probably has about 0.02% Jews your analogy is backward - the correct analogy is it’s comparable to white kids laughing at Black kids.

Your obsessive posting about Israel and attempting to justify racism against Jews is telling on you.

Hahahahahahaha yeah sure you do

Because until this week they never mentioned bullying they only mentioned you had to express one view on the Middle East in order to fit in.

The Moslem children are in the minority at 30%, so what makes you think that the 70% non-Moslems are bullied to have to ‘fit in’ with their point of view? Maybe, just maybe, the majority are expressing their opinion that what the Israelis are doing to the civilians in Gaza is pretty much indefensible?

@ViolinSpin are you seriously saying that a child who is Israeli suffers more racism than a Muslim child?? If Muslim children are laughing at Israelis falling

1. That's extremely minor, although it's still mean and racist
2. Muslims are suffering persecution by Israelis in the world. They have a grievance and sense of injustice.
3. Israeli and Jewish are not the same thing. Jewish people who don't support Israel are very vocal about it.
4. I don't really care how this looks. It looks a whole lot better than supporting Zionist genocide.

Cavepainter thank you for answering my question.

24% of the world population is Muslim, mainly through centuries of forced conversion and Islamic colonialisation. 0.2% of the world population is Jewish. Less than half of those again are Israeli Jewish. Explain again how Muslim school kids in the UK being bullied by Israelis?

Maybe Muslim kids shouldn't raised from primary school age with the trauma of being exposed to an extremely complex conflict and only one perspective on it.