A student at São Paulo’s top bilingual school, the Beacon School, was the victim of an anti-Semitic act. The 15-year-old, who had just entered the school, suffered moral and psychological attacks from six classmates. The school chose to suspend the students for the acts.
The attacks consisted of drawing swastikas to mark the Jewish pupil’s presence in the classroom, as well as singing Hitler Youth anthems and giving the Nazi salute.
The victim informed his parents about the attacks, who demanded explanations from the school management. The Beacon School then decided to suspend the students for two days, and issued a note stating that as soon as they became “aware of a case of demonstrations of Nazi apology in the school environment, the Beacon management immediately began a responsible and careful process of investigating the facts. With the information gathered, consequences were applied, including sanctions and proposals for educational and remedial work.”
The school also writes: “Anti-Semitic incidents violate fundamental rights, including the right to equal treatment and freedom of religion and belief. A human rights-based education must ensure and promote the human rights of its learners, including the right of students from the Jewish community to an educational environment free from any antisemitic action.”
According to journalist Mario Sabino, this is not an isolated case, with reports of other Jewish students being greeted with the same greetings. The situation is leading some students to not want to return to school.
The Beacon School explained that the punishment was designed after analyzing the case and was the most appropriate: “When the consequences are established, they will be applied with a sense of justice, within a context of kind, sensible relationships and the offer of support that teaches and strengthens desirable behaviors.”
Increase in the number of cases
The private, independent and non-profit organization, Stop Hate Brasil, made a survey of the number of antisemitic cases in recent years. According to the organization, there has been an increase in cases, especially after the end of Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) government.
“In the first two months of 2024 alone, the week before Lula’s speech in which he promoted distortion of the Holocaust, the Israeli Federation’s Community Security Department received 46 complaints regarding anti-Semitic incidents in educational institutions.” The research points out that this number grew by 263% in the week following President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) speech.
According to the report of the Jewish Rights Observatory (2023), in the two months of 2024 alone, the number of antisemitic attacks was 5 times higher than the four years of the Bolsonaro government.
