People walk past a group of signs outside a pro-Hamas encampment at Northwestern University on April 28, 2024 in Evanston, Illinois.Photo: Max Herrmann, via Reuters Connect
Northwestern University in Illinois condemned the vandalism of American and Israeli flags on campus as pro-Hamas demonstrations erupt at universities around the world.
More than a dozen Northwestern students on Sunday hung 1,200 Israeli and American flags in solidarity with the two allies and in memory of the 1,200 people killed by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on Oct. 7. I raised it. When the students returned several hours later, the flag had been torn. It was then left in ruins, smeared with red paint.
“Northwestern University’s commitment to freedom of expression does not include vandalism,” President Michael Schill said in a statement Monday. “The university will thoroughly investigate these incidents and take disciplinary action if individuals from Northwestern are identified.”
Mr Sill added that the vandals had “ripped up” the flag and graffitied it with red paint, calling the action “unacceptable”.
Northwestern University is among more than 100 schools where anti-Zionist student groups have occupied parts of campus in recent weeks and refused to leave unless administrators agree to condemn and boycott Israel. There is one.
Earlier this month, the school accepted protesters’ key demands, including creating new scholarships for Palestinian undergraduates and contacting potential employers to hire students who caused recent campus disruptions. agreed to insist on the establishment of segregated dormitories. Halls will be occupied only by Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim students. School — where a crowd of protesters chanted “Kill the Jews!” During the nearly three-week demonstrations, they also agreed to create a new investment committee to give anti-Zionist students and faculty a greater voice.
Mr. Schill defended the agreement in a column published in the Chicago Tribune, arguing that it eliminates the possibility of boycotting Israel.
“This solution, fragile as it may be, was possible because we decided to see our students not as rioters, but as young people in the process of learning,” Schill wrote. “It was possible because we tried to have a respectful dialogue, not force. And that was possible because we tried to follow a set of principles, many of which are rooted in Jewish doctrine.” I would argue that it is the core of
Professor Schill added that the university already offers several residence halls separated by race, ethnicity, gender and religion.
Northwestern University is not the only university targeted by vandals angry at the Israeli flag. On Monday, the local Fox affiliate reported that University of Delaware student Jenna Kandeel, 23, was accused of anti-Semitism while spitting on an Israeli flag that is part of a memorial to six million Jews. yelling insults and engaging in what police called an “anti-Semitic riot.” People who died in the Holocaust. Qandeel is currently facing two criminal charges for a hate crime enhancement and is prohibited from entering school grounds, the report added.
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement: “We need to recognize that the distance between protest and hate, in this case miles, can see the light of day.” “The Holocaust is not ancient history. Eighty years later, the world’s Jewish population has not recovered. Its survivors are still with us. We have not yet learned its lessons. I fear that seeing this ignorance exposed, especially in an increasingly anti-Semitic context, should be a wake-up call for us to do more. remains.”
On Tuesday, a group calling itself the Resistance claimed responsibility for vandalizing the University of California’s president’s office in Oakland and infesting it with insects.
“We used a fire extinguisher filled with red paint to cover the facade and broke seven windows. We then gained access to the building and released 500 cockroaches inside, then released a second fire extinguisher inside. ” the group said in a statement. “As anti-colonial anarchists and communists, we offer this act of material and spiritual solidarity in the hope of shattering the illusion that resistance is confined to a single location. To do.”
Since the October 7 massacre by Hamas in southern Israel, university campuses in Western countries have become hotbeds of anti-Semitism. Both students and faculty have demonized Israel and justified Hamas’ atrocities, including numerous sexual assaults against Israeli women, and harassment and even violence against Jewish students has increased dramatically. Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) measured the rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses and found a 321 percent spike in anti-Semitic incidents.
The onslaught of hate is leaving Jewish college students feeling distracted and unsafe, according to a new Hillel international survey.
Strikingly, 61 percent of Jewish students reported that “anti-Semitic, threatening, or derogatory words” were uttered about Jews during demonstrations at their school, and 58 percent reported that “gaza solidarity “Encampments” made them feel “less safe.” Some people reported having trouble concentrating or sleeping well. The survey, conducted by Benenson Strategy Group on behalf of Hillel International and answered by 310 Jewish college students, found that 40 percent of Jewish students hide their Jewish identity to avoid discrimination. It was also revealed.
“Jewish students and all students should be educated and graduate free from chaos, anti-Semitism and hatred,” Hillel International CEO Adam Lehman said in a statement Monday announcing the study’s findings. We have the right to celebrate.” “Our findings show that the majority of Jewish students surveyed believe that the majority of Jewish students in our classroom and that they have experienced prejudice and discrimination in their academic experiences.”
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