In early September, Sports Direct fired a security guard after he allegedly denied entry to a group of Jewish schoolboys and told them: “No Jews, no Jews.”
Both students attend Yavneh College, a Jewish secondary school in Hertfordshire, and the security guard allegedly pointed to the logo on their uniforms. Other students from the college apparently entered the store without issue as their coats obscured their school logo.
According to Professor David Rosen’s Facebook, a solicitor and father to one of the boys, “His first week of school as an 11 year-old, and a lasting memory will be an obvious act of anti-semitism.”
Professor Rosen was prepared to accept that his son potentially misheard until other students complained about the alleged “No Jews” remark.
Sports Direct promptly apologised and removed the outsourced security guard. In a statement, the company stated:
“Our area manager was notified immediately of this incident and took swift action. He personally removed the guard and liaised with the security company which employed the individual. We were subsequently advised that he has been let go by that company.
“The guard was deeply offensive and disrespectful to the school children. We take pride in the lack of prejudice among our trained staff and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”
A spokesperson for the CST, an organisation that monitors and tackles antisemitism stated, “This was a ridiculous act of antisemitic bullying against young Jewish children and the offender has now suffered the consequences.”
Sport Direct’s swift response reassured Professor Rosen and his family that the company takes anti-Semitism seriously.
The headteacher of Yavneh College, Spencer Lewis, told the local press, “The incident at Sports Direct was extremely upsetting but it has been dealt with appropriately by the company and we trust that nothing like this will ever happen again.”
The incident is now a police matter.
In the same month, journalist Rosa Doherty detailed her experiences of anti-Semitic abuse when aboard the 102 bus between Golders Green and Temple Fortune.
On September 24, police released a CCTV image in an effort to identify a man seen travelling on that bus. By November, the appeal proved a success, and Ian Campell was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison for a religiously aggravated public order offence.
