Kiryat Yam High School Student Assaulted as Staff Allegedly Blocks Police
A high school student in Kiryat Yam was assaulted by a peer while school staff allegedly blocked arriving police. A video of the incident later circulated with xenophobic captions.
Altercation in the School Cafeteria
A high school student in Kiryat Yam claims she was violently assaulted during a recess last Thursday, just three days after the start of the school year. According to the student, the incident began in the school cafeteria where she went to buy food, escalating rapidly from a verbal dispute with another student into physical violence.
"She started cursing, grabbed my arm with her nails. Suddenly, I felt her grabbing my hair from behind and pulling me back," the student recalled. She added that the other girl kicked her in the stomach and struck her with a mobile phone.
A crowd of students gathered around them, with many filming the assault on their phones, cheering, and laughing. The fight was eventually broken up by a cafeteria employee.
School Staff Allegedly Blocked Police Entry
Following the assault, the student contacted her homeroom teacher, her mother, and dialed the police emergency hotline (100). She claims that while she was speaking to the police from the principal's office, school administrators and teachers demanded that she hang up, telling her she had no right to call the police.
Furthermore, when a police officer arrived at the school gates, the administration allegedly refused to let him in. Instead, the staff placed both students in a room and pressured them to apologize to each other, defending the assailant as "a good girl from a good family."
The student's father strongly condemned the school's conduct:
"It is a basic right of any citizen to call the police when violence occurs, no matter where it happens."
Over the weekend, the father and daughter visited a local police station and filed an official complaint.
Cyberbullying and Official Responses
The situation worsened as a video of the assault began circulating among students under the caption "Beating up the Russian." The victim shared that she is now terrified of returning to school and is suffering from severe emotional distress.
The Ministry of Education released a statement regarding the incident:
"This is a grave and exceptional incident that is being closely monitored by the school administration, regional inspectors, and professional staff at the ministry. The handling of the event by the staff will be thoroughly reviewed. Due to privacy concerns, we will not elaborate further."
The Israel Police confirmed that an investigation was launched immediately upon receiving the report. An officer arrived at the school, spoke with the complainant, and her formal statement was later recorded at the station. The case remains under active investigation.
