Brooklyn high schoolers who spewed antisemitic, Hitler-loving hate toward Jewish teachers and classmates are being radicalized by disturbing social media content and their own families, students at the school told The Post.
Their observations come a week after The Post revealed horrifying antisemitism at Origin High School in Sheepshead Bay, where students told a Jewish teacher they wished she was killed, and video captured a teen wearing a Hitler mustache while making a Nazi salute.
“It definitely comes from social media … it’s just one-sided perspectives,” said an Origins freshman.
Racist rhetoric is common in the hallways and all over teens’ social media feeds, with students pushing hate anonymously on burner accounts, according to two sophomores at a charter school co-located in the building.
“There was a video on Instagram that was going viral — it was a group of Jewish boys in a park and [another] group of boys were doing Nazi things while the [Jewish] kids were trying to play basketball,” said one of the sophomores. “It’s horrible.”
Origins students — 40 percent are Muslim and many come from Middle Eastern families — may also be channeling antisemitism or anti-Israel sentiment fostered in their homes, classmates suggested.
“At Origins, we’re a melting pot of kids from all different backgrounds and religions, so I think a lot of those biases and things start in the home when we’re younger — they’re like inherent biases,” said a 17-year-old Muslim senior.
The city’s Department of Education has allowed antisemitism to persist — and metastasize — by not combating the “Jew-hating narratives” teens are absorbing, said Michelle Ahdoot, director of programming and strategy for the advocacy group End Jew Hatred.
The Origins administration has repeatedly downplayed the severity of students’ hateful actions. The Post reviewed at least four school incident reports — including one on the teen who posed as Hitler, and two describing harassment of Jewish teachers — with kids telling one “they don’t like Jewish people” and another that “they love Hitler.”
All the incidents were classified as not bias-related, a low-level infraction.
If categorized as bias-motivated, a far more serious offense — the superintendent and NYPD would be notified, and the students could have been suspended. Instead, they received a slap on the wrist with just their parents being called.
Days before The Post’s front-page exposé, Origins’ interim principal Dara Kammerman allowed students to speak at an assembly to promote a rally at Brooklyn College to “honor the martyrs” of Palestine, in addition to share flyers for the event.
One flyer landed on the desk of Origins global history teacher Danielle Kaminsky — who is Jewish and has complained of ongoing torment by a group of students. A scribbled note on the flyer read “Fuck Isreal [sic] n—a.”
That incident was also deemed not bias-related, an internal report shows.
“The principal [at Origins] is not at all acting in accordance with what should be done,” Ahdoot said. It’s sad, it’s disheartening.”
The closest mosque to the school, Muslim American Society Sheepshead Bay Community Center, is located 11 blocks away.
The center’s imam, Muhammad Abdulhay, blamed social media for the teens’ antisemitism. “We don’t teach it,” he said.
“Many brothers and sisters go to the wrong places in the media and, you know, every second you have millions and millions of new clips and videos,” Abdulhay told The Post.
DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer insisted the city’s schools will not tolerate hate or bias, citing a January speech by Chancellor David Banks stressing the need for teachers to educate and discipline students who bring bigoted beliefs into the classroom.
“Our principals are listening, and the principal at Origins High School has a record of addressing complaints head on with both education and appropriate consequences – including suspensions,” he said.
Styer had no comment on the harassment of Jewish teachers and the Hitler act classified as not bias-related, which ruled out suspension.
An 18-year-old senior attending Professional Pathways, an alternative school co-located in the building, said Origins students’ antisemitic terror stems from being exposed to the “Free Palestine” movement and protests against Israel.
“It’s like another way of protesting,” the student said about the hateful actions. “That’s what people who protest do — they start rioting, they start writing stuff, throwing stuff.”
“They just love their country and they take it to the extreme — which isn’t that bad until it’s taken to places where it shouldn’t be brought, like all that Nazi stuff,” he added.