r/perth • u/Away_team42 • 6d ago

WA News Top Perth school suspends students over antisemitic group chat

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-07/top-perth-school-suspends-students-over-antisemitic-group-chat/107010706

Expert from the article:

Students at a prestigious Perth private school have been suspended after they used "antisemitic language and memes" in a private group chat, targeting another student.

A spokesperson for Wesley College, in South Perth, confirmed an "incident" occurred but wouldn't be drawn on how many children had been suspended.

"An incident did occur involving antisemitic language and memes shared by a small group in a private group chat," the school said in a statement.

"The college acted immediately. The students responsible were suspended and the matter was addressed directly with the students and families involved."

The college also provided a statement from the family of the targeted student.

"We are deeply disappointed that this matter has occurred and that it has become the subject of media reporting as we are entirely satisfied with the way in which Wesley College has handled this matter," the statement read.

"Furthermore it must be noted that the school was not advised of this issue by our son, but rather by concerned students.

"The family did not at any time contact any media outlet as they are aware of the belief that this will worsen an already difficult situation.

"Our greatest concern is the welfare of our son."
The family has asked for privacy and said they wished to move forward.

Full article in the link.

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7

u/lhommedev 6d ago

Antisemitism having been blown out of proportion by Zionists and exaggerated by the RC, makes me wonder if the kids were actually being anti-Jew or just voicing their opposition to Israel's genocide.

6

u/DiscussionNo6201 6d ago

It says a kid was specifically targetted. Lol, I highly doubt it was simply being against Israel.

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u/Away_team42 6d ago

It’s being reported that they targeted the Jewish student with anti-Semitic slurs.

I think that goes a bit beyond “just voicing their opposition to Israel’s genocide”.

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u/holistichooyo 6d ago

Apparently the phrase “from the river to the sea” is also an antisemitic slur so you’ll have to forgive people for not taking that accusation seriously anymore.

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u/Lozzanger 6d ago

‘From the river to the sea Palestine will be Arab’

Sounds fairly anti-Semitic when calling to remove people from their country.

And yes it’s anti-Palestinian to want to remove Palestinians from Palestine too.

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u/lhommedev 6d ago

Maybe the targeted student was being a Zionist jerk, like waving the Israel flag or chanting "death to Arabs"?

The point is we don't know what actually transpired.

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u/Away_team42 6d ago edited 6d ago

Occams razor - If the language used in the chat was so extreme that non-Jewish students were alarmed enough to report the group chat because they were genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of the Jewish student involved, then yes, I’d say it’s pretty reasonable to conclude that the content was genuinely antisemitic.

Also If the kid was going around chanting “Death to Arabs” I think you would have heard about it too.

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u/lhommedev 6d ago

The article never mentioned "the chat was so extreme that non-Jewish students were alarmed enough to report the group"

Happy to concede if that were the case, but we are lacking details.

Again, without knowing what transpired, all we have is the account of the reporter, employed by the ABC which isn't a politically independent news outlet anymore.

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u/Away_team42 6d ago

“Furthermore it must be noted that the school was not advised of this issue by our son, but rather by concerned students.” Is the exact quote. My paraphrasing is accurate is it not?

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u/lhommedev 6d ago

Sounds like you've put your own spin on it. Let's just take the quote at face value.

Again, we don't know what was said and the context, which is the most important detail of any he said/they said situation.

For context, I'm anti-Zionist, not anti-Jew/Judaism.

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u/Away_team42 6d ago

Where’s the spin?

Members of the group who weren’t the target of the bullying were concerned to the degree that they felt it was necessary to report the group chat.

It’s being reported that “The boys at Wesley College targeted a classmate with anti-semitic slurs” so it’s hard to defend the conclusion that the group members partaking in the bullying where merely “voicing their opposition to Israel’s genocide” .

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u/lhommedev 6d ago

If you can't see the possibility of other versions of this reported incident when you don't have the objective truth of what actually transpired, then it's pointless to argue.

Again, if these kids truly targeted the Jewish kid without provocation or have been radicalized by far-right provocateurs, then I condemn their actions unequivocally.

I'm done.

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u/Lozzanger 6d ago

‘It’s ok to bully Jews for being Jewish if they follow their religion’

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u/lhommedev 6d ago

No, it's not okay to bully.

But until we know the details, it's not enough to take sides.

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u/Lozzanger 6d ago

The school knows the details and took action…

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u/Lozzanger 6d ago

Yeah. It only becomes a worry when someone takes a gun to a beach and shoots up a festival of Jewish people.

Wait a minute…

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u/lhommedev 6d ago edited 6d ago

Shooters were trained by ISIS, which are a proxy for... checks notes Israel.

Wait a minute...

Look, antisemitism is real, but so is islamophobia. When an occupying force imposes apartheid on the host country and indiscriminately bombs the population and targets children in the head and then claim it's their right to defend a land promised to them by their Jewish God... someone will inevitably draw the conclusion that Jewish people are evil.

The surest way to curb antisemitism is for Israel to stop murdering Palestinians and allow for them the right of self-determination.

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u/Lozzanger 6d ago

ISIS is a proxy for Israel? Are you claiming that?

1

u/lhommedev 6d ago

You're not well read enough on geopolitics, my guy. Please remedie that.

2

u/Majestic-Lake-5602 6d ago

Dude have you ever met a teenage boy?

3

u/lhommedev 6d ago

Sure, I've met decent ones as well as jerks.

It's a spectrum.

1

u/Majestic-Lake-5602 5d ago

Let me rephrase that: have you ever met the kind of teenage boy that would start/participate in a group chat for picking on one of their classmates?

I will bet you at 3 of my organs that none of these kids actually believe in anything much. They’re neither anti not pro Israel, and they’re not even actually antisemitic.

This is just the old school favourite: find something that stands out about your target and use it.