The Anti-Defamation Commission has deplored the disruption of an online VCE exam-preparation session, after Jewish Year 12 students were left hurt and shaken when a participant turned the question time into a “Free Palestine” chant.

The incident occurred on the night of Thursday 27 August, during a Texts and Traditions Exam Preparation Evening held on Zoom for Victorian students. The event rules stated that inappropriate chat or comments would lead to a student’s removal.

The commission understands that after the formal briefings, one student asked to add something and said “Free Palestine”, and several classmates then unmuted themselves and joined in. A Jewish student who contacted the commission said the adults running the session did not address it and continued the questions, while an image of Palestine posted in the chat drew heart reactions and stayed up.

“Even a VCE study session is no longer a safe place for Jewish students,” said the commission’s chairman, Dr Dvir Abramovich. “Jewish students logged on to prepare for a VCE exam and instead, the session was hijacked by a political slogan. A VCE workshop must be a sanctuary for learning. Slogans belong at rallies.”

Slogans belong at rallies. A VCE workshop must be a sanctuary for learning.Dr Dvir Abramovich, ADC Chairman

“After the Bondi massacre, in a country where young Jewish people already carry fear into schools, universities and public life, these moments strike hard,” he said.

“The organisers had rules that inappropriate chat or comments could lead to removal. But when Jewish students needed those rules, they vanished,” Dr Abramovich said. “The Q&A continued and the silence from the adults in charge became the loudest message of the night. That is how Jewish students are made to feel invisible.”