Basketball game between New York schools canceled after antisemitic slurs

A basketball game between two Westchester, New York high schools was canceled after a series of antisemitic slurs were directed at one of the competing teams, US media reported. The Thursday competition between The Leffell School, a Jewish day school in Hartsdale, and Roosevelt High School, a public school in Yonkers, grew increasingly hostile, according to witness testimony.

Robin Bosworth, a player on the Leffell team, wrote in her school's newspaper that the beginning of the game was a  "somewhat hostile environment, with substantially more jabs and comments thrown at the players on our team than what I have experienced in the past."

By the third quarter, members of The Leffell School team members began becoming injured at the hands of the other team, US media reported. Bosworth, a senior in high school and her school paper's editor-in-chief, wrote that the team's "physical style of play" contributed to the end of the game.

"At the end of the quarter, players on the opposing team started shouting, ‘Free Palestine’ and other antisemitic slurs and curses at us," the student wrote. "Attacking a team because of their school’s religious association is never acceptable, but especially due to the current war in Israel and the world’s rise in antisemitism, this felt extremely personal to me and many members of my team."

Friendly competition turns hostile for New York schools

US media reported that an unidentified member of the Roosevelt High School team allegedly shouted "I support Hamas, you f------ Jew." 

The athletic director for Roosevelt High School, Kyle Calabro, issued an apology calling for a "swift and appropriate" follow-up, Leffell's athletic director told US media.