Enloe students speak out after antisemitic words heard over intercom

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Jewish community in Raleigh is coming together after a troubling incident at Enloe High School and just a couple of days before the start of Hanukkah.

A student has been charged after hacking into the intercom Thursday and blasting out an antisemitic remark as well as a threat to President Joe Biden.

Students reported hearing "Heil Hitler" over the intercom

"I heard it and I thought I was imagining it so I texted my friends saying, 'Did you just hear something over the intercom, and they confirmed it'" said Zoe Goldstein, a sophomore at Enloe. "It's pretty shocking that that was happening at our school that we consider an accepting, diverse space."

Zoe was at Temple Beth Or on Friday for Shabbat services and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with some of her Jewish classmates at Enloe.

"When an antisemitic act happens, it enables more people to say things, and it opens a barrier that maybe kept up, and it allows more people to say things and it spirals," Goldstein said.

Enloe's principal emailed a letter to parents letting them know it happened and apologizing for what was said.

"Having a message sent out about antisemitism and specifically about the dangers of it was important to us," said Andrew Kochman, a senior.

Anti-Semitic incidents hit an all-time high in the United States in 2021 according to the Anti Defamation League, and rhetoric is increasing.

"This was simply not the case 10 years ago," said Lucy Dinner, rabbi at Temple Beth Or. "All the more so we need the Hanukkiah and we need to put our light in the window and we need solidarity."

The student responsible for the hack is facing discipline for it.

A number of menorahs will be lit publicly Sunday in Wake County including one in downtown Raleigh outside the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.