London Teacher Accused of Blaming Jewish Student for Oct. 7 Massacre

A Jewish family has transferred their nine-year-old son from a state primary school in North London to a Jewish school following an incident where a teacher allegedly told the child that Jews were responsible for the October 7th massacre. According to the Jewish Chronicle, the parents approached the school administration requesting training for staff on how to handle antisemitism, but felt they did not receive an adequate response.

The father, who wished to remain anonymous, told the newspaper that after discussing the Hamas attack and the Nova music festival with his son, the boy recounted the conversation to his teacher. The teacher reportedly replied, "Actually, it's the opposite," which the child understood to mean that Jews had attacked Palestinians. The father claimed the teacher's remarks appeared to justify Hamas's actions, referring to the terrorists as "freedom fighters."

Following the incident, the father met with the deputy headteacher, who took notes and assured him the matter would be addressed with the teacher. However, the father stated he received no follow-up, even after contacting the school office and sending another email. In that email, he inquired about an investigation and any steps taken, and asked if the school was considering staff training on identifying and combating antisemitism, even offering to help find organizations that could provide such training. He also suggested the teacher visit an exhibition about the Nova massacre in London to understand the events better.

The school's response, according to the father, was that they "cannot force politics on the staff." He countered that the event was a historical atrocity involving the murder of innocent people. He also approached the headteacher at the end of the school year, but was told she was not involved and his concerns would be handled by her deputy.

"As a parent, I was devastated," the father told the Jewish Chronicle. "We felt we had no choice but to remove our son from the school; we were desperate." The report also noted this was not the first instance of hostility the child faced due to his Jewish identity. The previous year, another student shouted "f*** Israel" at him, with two others chanting "Free Palestine" after the boy praised Israeli singer Yuval Dayan. The father stated these experiences emotionally impacted his son, making his return to school difficult. After enrolling in a Jewish school at the start of the current academic year, the boy has reportedly shown significant recovery within weeks, regaining his lost self-confidence. The father has lost faith in the non-Jewish education system and will not send his son to a non-Jewish school again.

The incident has drawn reactions from British Jewish organizations. A spokesperson for the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) stated that the affair highlights the urgent need for the publication of findings by Sir David Bl, who was appointed last year by the UK's Department for Education to examine the extent of antisemitism in schools and higher education institutions.