Heil Hitler in the Hallways, Half Human in the Classroom: Antisemitism in Ontario K–12 Schools

New Survey Reveals Widespread Antisemitism in Ontario K–12 Schools

Since October 7th, 2023, Jewish students in Ontario’s schools have faced a torrent of antisemitism — and they’ve largely been left to fend for themselves.

This isn’t just a matter of anecdote anymore. A new survey commissioned by the Office of the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism offers the clearest and most comprehensive picture yet of the abuse Jewish children endure in Ontario’s K-12 system.

The results are alarming. The survey covers a 16-month period since October 7th, 2023 and conservatively estimates that at least 10% of Ontario’s 30,000 Jewish school-age children were directly affected.

Here’s what the survey found:

• More than 40% of antisemitic incidents included Nazi salutes, “Heil Hitler” chants, Holocaust denial, or statements like “Hitler should have finished the job.”

• Less than 60% of incidents were about Israel or the Israel-Hamas war — contradicting the claim that antisemitism today is just “anti-Zionism.”

• One in six cases involved teachers or school-sanctioned events that alienated or targeted Jewish students.

• 49% of cases reported to school authorities weren’t investigated. In nearly 9%, schools denied the incident was antisemitic or even blamed the victims.

• In 30% or fewer cases, schools took any meaningful action—such as offering counseling, punishing offenders, or initiating tolerance programming.

Jewish students across Ontario are being excluded, humiliated, and sometimes assaulted, with little institutional support.

The emotional cost on Jewish children is devastating.

• 31% of affected students reported anger.

• 27% feared returning to school or being bullied.

• 27% were afraid of losing non-Jewish friends or being socially isolated.

• Many children asked their parents not to report the incident, fearing backlash.

• Some hid their Jewish identity by removing visible symbols like Star of David necklaces or Hebrew-labeled clothing.

---

In one particularly chilling case, a six-year-old in Ottawa was told by her teacher that she was “only half human” because one of her parents is Jewish.

In too many cases, the very institutions tasked with protecting students were complicit in the abuse:

• Some teachers wore shirts showing Israel replaced by a Palestinian flag.

• One teacher told a student that her Hebrew school “lies” when it teaches that Israel exists.

• In Ottawa, a school assembly speaker downplayed the October 7th Hamas atrocities.

• Trustees at board meetings wore keffiyehs in meetings where Jewish parents came to speak about harassment.

These are not isolated incidents—they reflect a systemic culture of permissiveness toward antisemitism.

---

Faced with this environment, 16% of Jewish parents have already moved or are planning to move their children to new schools.

• The most common destination? Jewish private schools, despite their cost and limited availability.

• But Ontario’s government does not fund Jewish schools, unlike Quebec, Alberta, and other provinces—making it financially impossible for many families to access a safer educational alternative.

• One in five Ontario Jews has no access to a Jewish high school due to geographic gaps.

Despite these obstacles, Jewish schools across Canada have seen an enrollment surge since October 2023. The message from parents is unmistakable: “If the public system won’t protect our children, we’ll find one that will.”

---

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB)—the largest in the province—claims to take racism seriously. It even adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which includes certain forms of anti-Zionism.

But in practice, TDSB:

• Fails to recognize antisemitic incidents involving Jewish students who are secular or culturally Jewish.

• Often refuses to apply the IHRA standard in its incident reporting.

• Logged only 312 antisemitic incidents out of over 2,000 total in 2023–24—far fewer than were revealed in this survey.

The result? Underreporting, denial, and neglect.

Jewish students are gaslit, ignored, or even blamed for the abuse they endure. Meanwhile, some perpetrators go unpunished—or worse, are validated by faculty and administrators.

---

Ontario’s education system is failing children.

This isn’t a political issue. It’s a civil rights crisis. When 13-year-old girls are surrounded by classmates chanting “Sieg Heil,” when six-year-olds are told they’re subhuman, when parents are too afraid to speak up—and when schools shrug—it’s clear we’re not talking about isolated bias, but about a hostile environment.

The promise that every child should feel safe and valued in school must include Jewish children. It doesn’t today.

If school boards, government leaders, and the broader public do not act now, this crisis will deepen, and Ontario will send the message that antisemitism is once again acceptable in Canadian public life.

Canada is not alone. In the U.S., a large minority of Americans believe violence and murder of Jews is either justified, understandable or even necessary, according to the latest ADL report.

When Murder Becomes “Understandable”: What the New ADL Survey Tells Us About America

All while a recent report from the UK paints a grim picture, antisemitism is widespread in the middle class of Britain, with Jews tolerated, rather than accepted. Excluded from society and boycotted for the crime of been born a Jew.

A Government-Backed Report Exposes Britain’s Middle-Class Antisemitism

I all cases what we see is a systematic and institutionalized hate towards Jews.

Antisemitism isn’t a relic of the past. It’s alive, evolving—and it’s showing up in child’s school hallway. If we don’t confront it now, we will all bear the consequences. If there is one thing history has showed, what starts with the Jews, never end with the Jews.