Holocaust survivor who gives educational talks to children slams schools for allowing them to skip lessons to attend pro-Palestinian protest

• Students from Thomas Hardye School joined a protest in Dorchester town centre
• Henry Schachter criticised teachers for allowing students to be ‘brainwashed’ 

A Holocaust survivor who gives educational talks to children has slammed schools for allowing students to skip lessons in order to take part in a pro-Palestinian protest.

Dozens of students walked out of the Thomas Hardye School to join a rally in Dorchester, Dorset.

They were joined by children from a local primary school and marched through the town centre waving Palestinian flags and placards calling for the state to be free and for a ceasefire.

Several protesters gave speeches including Lynne Hubard, a well-known left wing campaigner and co-chair of Stand up to Racism Dorset.

The event took place November 29 when many of the students would have normally been in lessons.

Holoaust survivor Henry Schachter, 83, criticised Thomas Hardye School for allowing ‘brainwashed’ students to attend a pro-Palestinian protest

One sixth form student claimed teachers at Thomas Hardye School gave them ‘permission’ to be at the event.

In recent weeks thousands of schoolchildren have attended similar marches in different parts of the country.

According to the think tank The Policy Exchange, hard-Left Stop the War Coalition has co-ordinated parents and children to strike together during school time.

But Henry Schachter, whose Jewish parents were killed by the Nazis in World War Two, criticised the Thomas Hardye School for allowing the ‘brainwashed’ students to attend.

Mr Schachter, 83, from Bournemouth, said: ‘It is disgusting. Since when did schools start taking that point of view?

‘If students want to do it on Saturdays or Sundays that is fine, but for a school to let them take time out of lessons in order to attend a rally like that is disgraceful.

‘What is going to be next? Will they let them attend a Nazi rally?

‘The school authorities are just like the universities and encourage it in the mistaken belief they think they are doing it for human rights.

‘It is nonsense. There can’t be a worse breach of human rights than the Hamas dictatorship throwing people in opposition off the roof of their headquarters.

‘Most of the protesters are useful idiots who have been brainwashed and they don’t know anything about the background.

‘I am just aghast and will write to the secretary of state for education as well as the school. I am going to send a letter to say I find it very disturbing they would allow sixth formers to skip lessons to attend a protest like this.

‘When I give a talk to schools I talk about my own experience of the Holocaust, I also give quite a bit of background as to why anti-Semitism took hold.

Sixth form students left school at 10.20am to march through Dorchester town centre waving Palestinian flags

‘The object of the exercise is to try and stress the importance of living side by side with other cultures and religions.

‘Most of these protestors haven’t got a clue as to what it is they are demonstrating about, most are clueless.’

The Thomas Hardye School students left school at 10.20am to attend the protest.

Thomas Hardye sixth-former Harry Hubbard, 17, helped organise the strike.

He said: ‘It was absolutely fantastic.

‘It was part of a national initiative of schools around the country walking out in solidarity with Palestine.

‘We got permission from the school; they weren’t going to try to stop us.

‘At 10.20am around 100 of us gathered outside the school and we marched down Queens Avenue to the Town Pump.

‘We then had a few speakers, including myself, some other students and speakers from the Jewish community.

‘The point of the march was to show solidarity with Palestine and that even in Dorchester with a small Muslim community and no tradition of protest, even we are going to make our voice heard.

‘Movements have got to start somewhere and I think it showed the power of the youth today.’

But Mr Schachter, who gives educational talks to children, said that pupils were being encouraged to protest in school time on the mistaken belief that it is for human rights

Sarah Barnes was at the protest with her seven-year-old child who attends Beaminster St Mary’s Primary School.

She said: ‘I wanted to gather mums of primary-aged children and I felt like we could have a peaceful protest from younger children to write messages of support to the children of Gaza.

‘I was inspired to see the young people of Dorset show their voice

‘I think it is incredibly powerful when you see the teenagers and younger people getting involved.’

Richard Nicolls, assistant headteacher at Thomas Hardye School said that teachers were unable to stop sixth form students from leaving school grounds during their free periods.

He said: ‘We have no further comment other than the students told us they were going to march and, since our sixth form students are allowed to leave site during their frees, they did not need permission to walk to the town centre and we were not going to try and stop them.’

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