A Human Swastika

Susan Estrich on Dec 13, 2025

They clearly wanted attention and attention is what they got. Eight students at Branham High School in San Jose, Calif. posted photos of themselves on social media forming a human swastika -- and lest there be any doubt, accompanied the photo with a quote from Adolf Hitler calling for the killing of all Jews.

Happy Hanukkah. It starts on Sunday.

Rabbi Yigal Rosenberg of Chabad of Santa Clara told local reporters he did not know whether the swastika was intended as some kind of joke or prank, but "it's

another thing if you post it online and you have thousands of people who are going to subsequently watch and unfortunately like, laugh, comment, give some sort of emoji, that's taking it to a whole another level."

The Mayor of San Jose was not so charitable. In a post on X, Mayor Matt Mahan wrote, "What happened at Branham High School was not a joke, not a prank, and not self-expression -- it was an act of hatred. The fact that this was planned and posted publicly makes it even more disturbing. This behavior has no place in our community and it will not be tolerated. I stand with our Jewish residents and support real accountability for everyone involved."

The school district is trying to do all the right things -- not only disciplining the students and investigating this as a hate crime but also bringing in the right non-profit and community groups to treat this as a teachable moment. No doubt there will be excuses and apologies and appropriate statements. But anyone who thinks these attitudes are limited to a group of high schoolers in California is kidding themselves.

Robert Bravo, the superintendent of the School District, told reporters, "Our response cannot be limited to discipline alone. We are committed to using this incident as an opportunity to deepen education around antisemitism, hate symbols and the historical atrocities associated with them."

These are high school students. Did they get this far without learning about the Holocaust and hate? Do they not know that the swastika is a symbol that stands for the death of 6 million Jews? Do they not teach anything about 20th-century history, about discrimination and civil rights, about hatred and equality? Is it possible that these students did not know what they were doing? I don't buy it for a minute.

We hear endless debates about what is and what isn't anti-Semitism. My friends on the left have neatly embroidered the fine distinctions between criticizing Israel, being anti-Zionist and being anti-Semitic. There can be no doubt that these debates have cost us dearly. At least there can be no doubt here. A swastika and a quote from Hitler about death to the Jews leave no room for doubt.

It is reported that about 200 students walked out of school in support of the Jewish students. Where were the rest of the students? As Tyler Gregory, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council, told the local press: "There's no political disguise here; this was an open support for Hitler and had a Hitler quote attached to the image and so what we're seeing is unadulterated, unafraid antisemitism."

Unadulterated and unafraid. Boldly posted on Instagram. Both the FBI and the Anti-Defamation League have reported a surge in anti-Semitic hate crimes, especially since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 and the war that has followed. For 2024, the ADL reported more incidents of anti-Semitism than in any year since they began tracking 46 years ago. All of this while, in the name of anti-Semitism, President Donald Trump has begun a war on universities in the name of anti-Semitism, which I frankly worry is only spreading anti-Semitism.

This is not just a problem for a high school in San Jose.

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To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.