Teen Arrested For Threatening Jewish Boy Who Was Forced To Kiss Muslim’s Shoe
![australian-jewish-student-kiss-shoe-classmate](https://images.forwardcdn.com/image/970x/center/images/cropped/australian-jewish-student-kiss-shoe-classmate-1570197819.jpg)
The image of the student kissing his classmate’s shoe went viral. Image by Twitter
(JTA) — A teenage boy in Victoria, Australia who allegedly sent threatening messages to a Jewish boy who had been forced to kiss the shoe of a Muslim student and to his mother has been charged for the threats.
The boy, 16, was arrested by Victoria police and charged with stalking, harassing and threatening to kill the Jewish boy and his mother, The Age reported.
The teen, who reportedly was arrested earlier this month will appear next month in Children’s Court, the newspaper said.
The threats were sent after photos of the incident in which a 12-year-old Jewish student was forced in a public park to kneel to kiss the shoes of a Muslim classmate while being threatened by other older schoolboys, were splashed across the front pages of newspapers in Australia and around the world, the Daily Mail reported. The photo was first published by the Australian Jewish News.
Among the messages sent to the 12-year-old boy was one which said he would be slaughtered and asked if he wanted to “talk about suicide.”
The boy was removed from Cheltenham Secondary College in suburban Melbourne and enrolled in a Jewish school.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
![](https://forward.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/image.png?_t=1722445328)
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO