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Police in the United Kingdom are investigating antisemitic abuse directed at Jewish teenagers during a school soccer tournament in Norwich on Thursday.
The students attend London’s Jewish Free School (JFS). They competed in an Under-15 national tournament at Thorpe St Andrew School. During the match, spectators reportedly shouted antisemitic slurs from the sidelines. Witnesses said members of the crowd yelled “Dirty Jews,” “Dirty Zionists,” and “Go back to the gas chambers.”
Some spectators also chanted “Jews” repeatedly during the game.
Students said the abuse deeply affected them. One JFS player told the Daily Mail, “It’s hard to describe how much it hurt to hear those words, and it left me feeling disgraced and worried about what else might happen.”
Another student said the insults continued throughout the match. “During the game, antisemitic abuse was directed at us,” he recalled. He added that the chants made the players feel “ashamed, scared, and lacking in confidence.”
One mixed-race student also said someone in the crowd directed a racist slur combined with an antisemitic insult at him.
Parents later reported the incident to police and to the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA). They argued that racism affected the players during the match.
Norfolk Police confirmed they received reports of antisemitic chanting at the event. Officers are now investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Both schools also launched internal reviews. In a message to parents, Jewish Free School called the reported behavior “unacceptable.” The school said the team should never have faced such abuse.
Thorpe St Andrew School also addressed the allegations. School leaders said they took discrimination, including antisemitic comments, very seriously. They confirmed that they were reviewing the incident.
The episode comes amid continued concern about antisemitism in the United Kingdom. A recent report from the Community Security Trust (CST) documented 3,700 antisemitic incidents across the country in 2025. That figure marked the second-highest annual total ever recorded.
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