A gang of anti-Semitic teen bullies in Chicago got a slap on the wrist after tormenting a fellow classmate for months at the west campus of Ogden International School.
The gang allegedly formed a group called the ‘Jew Incinerator’ on the game app ‘Clash of Clans wiki,’ according to the mother of their victim. The group has apparently since been disbanded; a search by The Jewish Press came up empty on Tuesday morning.
The teens has apparently attacked others via the online gaming group as well – which aims to gather all Jews into an army camp and “dispose of them.”
Lisa Wolf Clemente warned the school principal on May 20 about their bullying when she found out about the app. It included Nazi salutes and imprisoning “all Jews into an army camp.”
Clemente told the principal, Joshua VanderJagt, the school board and then media that her son had been subjected to months of anti-Semitic rants at school and online.
Speaking to CBS News in Chicago last month, she described the anti-Semitic nightmare online that was behind the torture her son was being subjected to.
“So I look down, I see it says Jew Incinerator with their one goal is to gather all the Jews, put them in an army camp and dispose of them,” Clemente said. “I’m 42-years-old. I’m not new to this world. I didn’t become Jewish yesterday. I felt naive and shocked. We are in the year 2014. Really? At a school that my son has gone to? And I shake because I watched this group grow literally from four. Kids were just joining and joining.”
A report posted by WGN-TV said the 14-year-old victim was “told to put on striped pajamas… he was shown pictures of ovens and told to ‘get in.’ He was bullied during lunch and during Spanish class.
What is especially disturbing, however, is that all of the incidents occurred while the eighth graders were learning about the Holocaust, and some during a recent visit to the Holocaust museum in Skokie.
The principal’s response?
The bullies were suspended from school for one day – not even a cursory punishment for standard bullying, and basically tantamount to a message that tells the bullies they have a vacation day in which to carry out even more mischief. They were also barred from appearing on stage to receive their graduation diplomas this past Saturday. Did they care?
The principal also created the following ‘safety plan’ which included these points and which resembles more of a POW protocol than anything else. One wonders whose side the principal is actually taking here.
- “At the beginning of the school day, K will walk through the main entrance and will report to Mr. N. at the security desk. Mr. N. will escort K to class.
- “K will immediately notify Mr. N or another school administrator if other students attempt to discuss the incident with him in his presence or outside of his presence, on school grounds or off school grounds … in person, by phone, using the internet or through any social network.
- “K will go to recess lunch only during fifth period. K will not go to the lunchroom during any other lunch period.
- “After school, K will wait in the classroom until a Mr. F or Mr. N comes to escort him from the building.
- “Any further offenses will continue to be handled in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct safety plan . . .”
Sitting ducks, anyone?
The boy’s mother noted at the public hearing that it was her son who was the victim – and not the one doing the threatening. Why should he be the one to require the security restrictions?