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Students at elite Istanbul school perform Nazi salute in soccer game against Turkey’s only Jewish school
ISTANBUL (JTA) — Turkish Jewish leaders say they are taking action after students at Istanbul’s Üsküdar American Academy reportedly performed the Nazi salute during a soccer game against Istanbul’s sole Jewish day school.
The students from the American school, considered one of Istanbul’s most elite, delivered the gesture at the game on Tuesday as a taunt following goals by the Ulus Jewish School team, according to reports on Twitter and in Avlaremoz, a Turkish Jewish media outlet.
Turkey’s official Jewish communal organization condemned the incident. The Jewish organization said that it was in contact with the American school’s board and that “necessary initiatives will be taken,” though it did not specify what those initiatives might be.
The American school is also investigating what unfolded at the game, according to a statement it issued on Wednesday.
“We would like to emphasize that we stand against all kinds of discrimination in accordance with our institutional and educational philosophy.” the statement said. “We have urgently contacted the school officials of Ulus Private Jewish High School, conveyed our regrets and initiated the necessary investigation.”
The incident has sent shockwaves through Istanbul’s Jewish community, which includes families with connections to both schools.
“As a Üsküdar American High School graduate, I do not want to believe this behavior of my school’s students towards the students of my son’s school.” one Jewish graduate, Roki Levent, wrote on Twitter. “If it is true, I condemn it and I am deeply saddened to see my school come to this.”
Üsküdar American Academy was founded in 1876 by an American Christian missionary organization operating in the Ottoman Empire. The school teaches mostly in English and boasts that its graduates largely attend leading foreign universities. It does not have an affiliation with the U.S. government, as some other American schools abroad do, according to a spokesperson from the U.S. consulate in Istanbul.
Antisemitism is far from unheard of in Turkey. The Anti-Defamation League found in 2015 that 71% of adults held antisemitic views, according to an index the group developed. But public incidents of antisemitism in recent years have largely stemmed from Islamist and Turkic nationalist factions, rather than secularist bastions like Üsküdar American Academy. To some, the school’s Western orientation made the antisemitic gestures at the soccer game stand out.
“This Üsküdar American Academy is considered the second-most prestigious in Turkey,” Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a Turkish studies scholar at Tel Aviv University, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The level of education is very high, the children who are getting educated there are from the highest segment of society, or they are very clever and got scholarships to get into the school, or they are children of strong families, suggesting they are the children of the Turkish elite.
“It’s a Western type of education and you would not think that antisemitism would germinate there,” said Yanarocak, who graduated from the Ulus Jewish School and serves as an official advisor there for students who are considering Israeli universities. “The fact that this antisemitic incident took place in this spearheading institution instead of an ordinary school highlights the new low for antisemitism in Turkey.”
Antisemitic incidents at sporting events have been recorded around the world, including during professional soccer games in Europe and during high school sports events in the United States and beyond.
Betsy Penso, a graduate of Üsküdar and a Turkish-Jewish journalist at Avlaremoz currently living in Israel, told JTA that during her time at the school, from 2006 to 2011, there were occasional tensions between Jewish and non-Jewish students over current affairs but no incidents like the one at the soccer match.
“I could hear ‘anti-Israel’ or ‘pro-Palestinian’ rhetorics but I cannot recall any incident [in which the] Holocaust was used as a humor mechanism at school,” Penso said. “I could have expected this happening in a different school but not mine. I could have expected this to happen in a different context but not against the students of a Jewish school.”
Now, she said, she and her fellow graduates are watching closely to see how their school handles the incident — and she hopes for swift and severe action.
“I was frustrated, I am still frustrated.” she said. “All of the alumni were shocked but of course Jews took it more personally for various reasons.… I really want these students to get expelled from the school. I also want a transparent communication and want to understand what, how and why this incident happened.”
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Europe Should Focus on Own Security as Global Threats Mount, Dutch Intelligence Agency Says
Police officers stand outside a Jewish school following an explosion that caused minor damages, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 14, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
Europe must take greater responsibility for its own security, the Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD said on Tuesday, citing pressure on long-standing Western alliances and China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The comment by MIVD Director Peter Reesink accompanied the release of its annual report for 2025.
“The international system we have relied on for decades – with institutions acting as guardians of rules and agreements – is under pressure,” Reesink said in a statement. “It is precisely in this space, where rules blur and power becomes more decisive, that threats grow. Europe must increasingly take responsibility for its own security.”
Spillover from other conflicts including the US-Venezuelan conflict and tensions in the Middle East posed threats to the Netherlands and its interests, the MIVD said in a report published on Tuesday. It also warned about the growing risks of Chinese cybersecurity attacks, which the agency expects to increase this year.
The report comes amidst heightened tensions between NATO and US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to leave the alliance due to its reluctance to join the US-Israeli war with Iran.
Reesink told journalists in The Hague that the Netherlands still has a strong relationship with the United States. At the same time, he said there is an increased push by European agencies to strengthen cooperation and rely less on what the Dutch intelligence agency called “unpredictable” politics in Washington.
“Europe needs to stand on its own two feet. That applies for the defence sector … and also for the intelligence community,” he said.
The greatest security threat to the Netherlands remains the conflict in Ukraine – Europe‘s largest since World War Two – he said, citing military cooperation between North Korea, China, Iran, and Russia.
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Eight Arrested as UK Police Probe Suspected Antisemitic Arson Attacks
A member of Shomrim, a community security patrol group operating in Jewish neighborhoods, stands on a road near emergency vehicles at the scene, after four ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in northwest London, Britain, March 23, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
British counter-terrorism police said on Tuesday they had arrested eight people in an investigation into a series of suspected arson attacks in London, including an alleged plot targeting a venue linked to the Jewish community.
Seven of the arrests were made within the past 48 hours as part of a probe into a suspected conspiracy to commit arson, the police statement said.
While they did not identify a specific venue, police said an intended target was connected to the Jewish community.
The arrests come as British police have been investigating a string of attacks on Jewish-linked sites in the capital, part of a wider rise in threats and criminal activity since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October 2023.
UK security officials have warned that Iran has sought to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity in the UK, and the pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya has claimed some of the latest attacks on social media.
Police made no connection between the group and the latest arrests.
SERIES OF INCIDENTS TARGETING JEWISH SITES IN LONDON
In the latest operations, police said detectives had arrested three men aged 24, 25, and 26 in Harpenden, north of London, on Sunday evening before releasing them on bail.
On Monday, a 25-year-old man had been arrested in Stevenage, north of London, while a 26-year-old and two women aged 50 and 59 had been arrested in a vehicle near the central English city of Birmingham and taken to a London police station, where they remained in custody.
On Tuesday morning, officers arrested a 39-year-old man at an address in west London under Britain’s Terrorism Act 2000. Police said the arrest had been linked to an investigation after jars containing a non-hazardous substance had been found in Kensington Gardens in central London last week. Searches were continuing at a premises in east London, officers added.
Separately, a 17-year-old British teenage boy pleaded guilty on Tuesday to arson not endangering life, the BBC reported, following an attack on a synagogue in north London over the weekend. The fire caused minor damage and no injuries.
Since an attack last month on several ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity, counter-terrorism police said they had arrested 23 people.
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EU Divided on Suspension of Israel Pact as Spain Pushes for Action
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, and Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin hold a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, May 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron
European countries including Spain and Ireland pushed on Tuesday to suspend a pact governing the EU‘s ties with Israel but failed to garner enough support from the bloc’s other members for any action.
Arriving at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, a number of ministers called for suspending or partially suspending the pact over concerns about settlements in the West Bank, the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and a new death penalty law.
“Today, Europe’s credibility is at stake,” Spain‘s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters, calling for a discussion on suspending the association agreement, which came into force in 2000.
But member countries have diverging positions as to whether – and how – to shift the bloc’s policies on Israel.
Speaking after the ministers’ discussions, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said there was not sufficient support to suspend the agreement, but that discussions on the relationship with Israel would continue.
“I didn’t see the shifting of positions in the room regarding the suspension,” she said in a press conference.
Kallas said she would bring up ideas raised by ministers with the EU‘s trade commissioner.
GERMANY CALLS FOR DIALOGUE
The European Commission proposed in September suspending some trade-related provisions of the association agreement, an arrangement affecting about 5.8 billion euros of Israeli exports. Israel said at the time the proposals were “morally and politically distorted.”
Suspending the trade arrangement would require a qualified majority vote among EU governments – the support of 15 out of 27 EU members representing 65% of the EU population. A full suspension of the association agreement would require a unanimous decision from all member countries.
Germany and Italy indicated they were sticking to their existing positions.
Berlin remains committed to creating the conditions for a two-state solution with the Palestinians “but this must be done through critical, constructive dialogue with Israel,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters.
TRADING PARTNER
Ministers from countries including Ireland and Belgium pushed for a shift in the EU‘s policy.
However, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot added that Belgium was “aware that a full suspension is probably out of reach given the positions of the various European countries.”
The European Union is Israel‘s biggest trading partner, with trade in goods between the two amounting to 42.6 billion euros in 2024, according to the EU.
The EU also has proposals on the table to impose sanctions on violent settlers and Israeli ministers it deems to be extremist.
These proposals require unanimous backing from member countries, with diplomats hoping that the measures targeting violent settlers could move ahead once a new Hungarian government comes in to office in May. Israel has blamed settler attacks on a “fringe minority.”
Sweden and France circulated a paper ahead of Tuesday’s meeting calling for the EU to take stronger action to limit commercial engagement with settlements.
Much of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law.
Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the area. It says the settlements provide strategic depth and security. Defenders of Israel also note that, while about one-fifth of the country’s population is Arab and enjoys equal rights, Palestinian law forbids selling any land to Israelis.