Police: School Fight Not Ethnic

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A Jewish girl was assaulted by an Arab schoolmate in Brooklyn last week because of romantic, not ethnic tensions, police and school officials have told the Anti-Defamation League. But the ADL said it was concerned that students at IS 259 in Dyker Heights chanted "Jew, Jew, Jew" during the Dec. 12 fight. The Arab teen reportedly was arrested and suspended.

"It was a fight over a boy," ADL regional director Joel Levy said he was told by investigators. "But what concerns me is the atmosphere of [anti-Jewish taunts] during the fight. Nobody is saying that didn’t happen."

The names of the girls were not released. Levy said he was working with school officials to implement the ADL’s "World of Difference" tolerance curriculum.

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