Pupils suspended for 'Kick a Jew' Day

The school’s headteacher Margaret Jackson held an emergency assembly after the incident, stressing the need for respect and tolerance. The students will spend the first 20 minutes of every school day focusing on bullying and different character traits.

David Barkey, of the Florida Anti-Defamation League, said they had been consulted over the incident.

He said: “You are talking about an incident that has anti-Jewish bias if not antisemitism. You have Jewish students being singled out, harassed and assaulted.

“If the allegations are true, it is possible these students violated Florida’s new anti-bullying law. And, if students were physically assaulted, it could rise to the level of criminal conduct.”

Rabbi James Perman, of Temple Shalom in North Naples, commented: “I haven’t seen anything like it in my 17 years in Naples. No child deserves this kind of treatment. Their parents are understandably outraged.

“So far it seems that the school system has taken appropriate measures and we applaud their efforts. At this point, teaching sensitive awareness is more important than punishing anyone.”

“Beyond that, there are critical issues for the entire Jewish community and beyond. These are not new issues for us here in Naples. These ten kids did not invent antisemitism. They found a sympathetic response that was already there on some level.”

In October last year, four students were suspended from a St Louis’ high school for participating in ‘Hit a Jew Day’, where one Jewish student at Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield was hit in the face.