Basketball coach and player fired 'after high school game ends prematurely due to sickening anti-Semitic abuse', with Jewish school opponents allegedly taunted with chant: 'I support Hamas'
- Neither the player nor the coach were named in a statement from the city
- One player said she has “never experienced this kind of hate” while playing
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A public high school in Yonkers, New York, has fired a girls basketball coach and kicked a player off the team after an incident involving a Jewish high school where anti-Semitic comments were made.
During a Thursday night game between Roosevelt High School, a public school in Yonkers, and The Leffell School, a private Jewish school in the suburb of Hartsdale, Roosevelt players used anti-Jewish slurs against their opponents.
According to the New York Postone Roosevelt player reportedly said, “I support Hamas, you damn Jew.”
The Post says security guards have been called to escort Leffell School players off the field.
Yonkers Public Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Luis Rodriguez and the city's mayor, Mike Spano, issued a joint statement Sunday denouncing the language used and apologizing on behalf of the city and the schools.
A Roosevelt High School player and coach (above) were kicked off the girls' basketball team after making anti-Semitic comments against a Jewish high school team
A joint statement from Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano (L) and Interim Superintendent Dr. Luis Rodriguez (R) denounced the language used and said they “will not tolerate hate speech”
“The Yonkers Public Schools, along with the city of Yonkers, sincerely apologize to the students and community of The Leffell School for the hurtful and offensive comments made against their women's basketball team during a recent game with Roosevelt High School,” the statement said.
“Collectively, we do not and will not tolerate any form of hate speech from our students and community.
“The anti-Semitic rhetoric allegedly leveled against Leffell School student-athletes is abhorrent, inappropriate and inconsistent with the values we hold for our youth.”
In a report for Leffell's student newspaper, The Lion's Roar, senior player Robin Bosworth wrote that the game got out of hand from the start, with “substantially more jokes and comments directed at the players on our team than anything I have experienced in the past '. .'
Bosworth wrote that Roosevelt's players shouted both “Free Palestine” and anti-Jewish sentiments during the game.
“I have played a sport every athletic season during my high school career, and I have never experienced such hatred towards any of my teams,” Bosworth said.
Leffell players walked off the field during a timeout while the coaches talked to each other – while Roosevelt's players continued to talk to their opponents.
Roosevelt ultimately agreed to a voluntary forfeit after security intervened and the officials ended the match.
A player from The Leffell School said she has 'never experienced such hatred'
The athletic director and principal at Roosevelt High School apologized to their counterpart at Leffell – Principal Michael Kay.
Roosevelt investigated the incidents and said: 'After a thorough review of videos taken during the game and interviews with those who witnessed the incident, the Yonkers Public Schools fired the coach and a player from the Roosevelt basketball team.”
The coach and player were not identified in the statement.
In the joint statement from the mayor and superintendent, the school district pledged to provide further guidance and supervised training sessions to prevent this from happening again.