Jewish student bullied at school urges Starmer to introduce lessons to combat antisemitism

A 16-year-old Jewish student has urged the government to make lessons to combat antisemitism mandatory after suffering from bullying and abuse at school, including threats to “vandalise my house with swastikas”.

Jonathan Frisher, 16, from Cheshire, said that an education against antisemitism was “needed more than ever now” amid a “crisis of antisemitism” with a number of attacks taking place against the Jewish community and the stabbing of two British Jews in Golders Green last month.

The teenager’s campaign comes after he experienced antisemitism in his school three years ago.

“I had people hissing at me, like imitating gas chambers,” he told The Independent, later adding: “I also had threats to vandalise my house with swastikas.”

After the initial shock from his fellow students’ antisemitic behaviour, he requested his school teach a class on contemporary antisemitism to challenge their ignorance.

“It was just one simple lesson which focused on Nazi-based ideologies specifically. How these continue today, how is this antisemitism manifested today around the world, in Britain, how it varies,” he said. “I definitely had input in terms of what I thought should be included.

“I was really listened to by my school,” Mr Frisher added.

“I saw that lots of this did come from a place of ignorance because they didn’t really understand the implications of it,” he said of his fellow students. “But education really did change this in my school. People apologised to me.”

Having seen the impact of how this class helped him in school, he started a petition to make the classes mandatory across the country.

The petition managed to accumulate 6,000 signatures over three years, but has since skyrocketed to 33,000, with tens of thousands of signings in the past week.

The sudden surge comes after the attack in Golders Green last month. Esse Suleiman is charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of possessing a bladed article in a public place in relation to the incident.

He allegedly attempted to murder his own friend before trying to kill two Jewish men on the street.

The incident was not far from where four Hatzola ambulances were set alight in an arson attack in March.

Recent polling by Jewish News showed three in five people believe school pupils should be taught about antisemitism as part of the national curriculum. The government has already made the Holocaust a compulsory topic at key stage three.

Mr Frisher envisions lessons similar to what he experienced in his school, but added that more can be done to discuss how antisemitism exists outside the context of the Holocaust, its impact on the Jewish community, and Jewish contributions to society.

“I really saw the power of education to change people’s antisemitic attitudes which are often rooted in ignorance,” he said.

Sir Keir Starmer has said antisemitism is “a crisis for all of us” and “a test of our values” and has pledged an extra £1 million of government funding to pay for community safety work and projects aimed at countering antisemitic narratives.

Reflecting on the government’s work, Mr Frisher said: “The PM has literally called it a crisis himself.

“This is a crisis of antisemitism, and even three years ago it was clear that the education was needed, it’s clearly needed more than ever now,” he said. “It’s good that the government have announced kind of more security and things to tackle the symptoms, but the root causes and the wider societal attitudes really need to be challenged because like it shouldn’t be normalised.”

He added: “I do just think in the long term if education isn’t implemented, so many of the young generation aren’t gonna properly understand antisemitism and education can really help me and all the Jews that I know feel safe and welcome in this country in the future.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Antisemitism has no place in our society or our schools – every student and every member of staff deserve to feel safe, respected, and included.

“That’s why the Education Secretary has asked Sir David Bell to undertake an independent review into antisemitism in schools and colleges, alongside an investment of £7 million into tackling antisemitism in education, as part of this government’s commitment to promoting social cohesion and stamping out hatred in education.

“As part of our wider work to tackle extremism and prejudice, we are making Holocaust education a compulsory topic for all pupils, and we are revitalising the curriculum to ensure that every child learns to identify mis and disinformation, while providing high-quality resources for schools via our Educate Against Hate website.”