One of 5 Australian youths who terrorized Jewish students on a bus in Sydney has been ordered to visit a Jewish museum, attend a Shabbat dinner and read Primo Levi’s “If This is a Man, ” and Elie Wiesel’s “Night, ” as reported by Haaretz. The incident was greeted with shock when it was reported. Some excused it on the conflict in Gaza, whereas the police officers didn’t necessarily think the students were targeted because they were Jews, even as the use threatened to slit their throats and yelled “Heil Hitler” and “Death to the Jews” to student, some as young as six years old.
Two of the students were let off with a warning, and the other two were let off. The one student who was punished was said to have committed offenses too grave to be dismissed. For those who dismissed the harassment as based on political disagreement with the conflict in Gaza, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said, “It is completely unacceptable and morally repugnant to scapegoat or hold responsible Jewish Australians, including children, for overseas events.”
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In addition some of the victims were allowed to speak with the offender and allow him to express his regret, “She had the opportunity to question the offender, to hear from him and to hear him express remorse for his actions.”
