University of Missouri student pleads guilty after destroying Jewish group's Shabbat display
A student at the University of Missouri has pleaded guilty to a charge of property damage for flipping over a table belonging to pro-Israel students in November.
'It’s very painful that a student would feel so hostile when seeing pictures of kidnapped Jewish people,' one tabling volunteer told The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle in December.
A student at the University of Missouri has pleaded guilty to a charge of property damage for flipping over a table belonging to pro-Israel, Jewish students in November.
An activist group called Students Supporting Israel posted to Instagram on Nov. 29 that a person had upturned and wrecked a table that they had set up on the Columbia, Missouri campus to spread awareness for Israeli hostages of Hamas.
Daniel Swindell, who helped set the table up for Students Supporting Israel, told The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle that a woman had walked up to the table, argued about both Israel and its war against Hamas, and then flipped the table over.
“It’s very painful that a student would feel so hostile when seeing pictures of kidnapped Jewish people,” Swindell told the Chronicle in December.
Missouri student Ilay Kielmanowicz and Swindell set up two tables, one of which had “books and pamphlets about Israel and Jews and Zionism and the Israeli Palestinian conflict, which students were able to take,” Kielmanowicz told The Maneater, a student newspaper at the university.
The other table, which had Shabbat table settings on it, was reportedly flipped over by the culprit, causing the place settings to break. The campus police arrested the student after receiving a 911 call.
The university’s official Instagram account commented on Students Supporting Israel’s Nov. 29 Instagram post.
“Yesterday, there was an incident of vandalism at Speakers Circle on the MU campus,” the school wrote. “The perpetrator was arrested for 2nd-degree property damage and is scheduled to appear in court. The individual has also been referred to the Office of Student Accountability and Support to go through our student conduct process.”
“We support freedom of speech and freedom of expression on our campus. We do not tolerate acts of vandalism or violence,” the statement concluded.
According to The Maneater, the student who flipped over the table pleaded guilty to the charge of property damage on Jan. 17. The individual was initially charged $30 worth of damages, but after pleading guilty, was sentenced to community service and a year of probation.
“[It] doesn’t mean you can’t speak your mind,” presiding Judge Cavanaugh Noce said of the incident, according to The Maneater. “You’ve gotta resolve conflicts in a productive manner.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Missouri and Students Supporting Israel for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
