Anti-Semitic slogan painted across campus display
'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' were the words found painted across a prominent display at Northwestern University.
This is one of many anti-Semitic attacks Campus Reform has reported on college campuses.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” were the words found painted across a prominent display at Northwestern University on November 14.
Under the painting were copies of an op-ed entitled, “I am more proud of my Jewish identity than anyone could ever hate me for it.”
Taped to the display were copies of an op-ed entitled, “I am more proud of my Jewish identity than anyone could ever hate me for it,” according to an Instagram post by Northwest Hillel.
According to Young America’s Foundation, which also reported on the incident, the “controversial slogan has been utilized by terrorist organizations Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).”
PFLP was founded as an umbrella organization for “Marxist-Leninist and Arab nationalist groups” and styles itself as a “revolutionary socialist group.”
Hamas’s roots are “in the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it is supported by a robust sociopolitical structure inside the Palestinian territories,” according to Counter Terrorism Guide.
[RELATED: POLL: 50% of Jewish students feel they ‘need to hide their identity’ on campus]
“We condemn the use of hateful rhetoric and the public, targeted attack on Jewish identity,” Northwestern Hillel announced on Instagram.
Their announcement continued, reading that “[w]hile the connotations of the above statement are harmful, we are further concerned by the personal attack on the Jewish student celebrating their identity. Defaming someone else’s words about their identity is bullying, and doing so in a public display is dangerous to the student author and other Jewish members of the Northwestern community.”
The day following the incident, Executive Director of Northwestern Hillel, Michael Simon, told Campus Reform, “I am focusing my time and effort today on supporting our students and community and in conversation with colleagues in the University.”
Simon works with students, staff colleagues, and community members toward achieving Hillel’s mission of inspiring every Jewish student at Northwestern to make a meaningful and enduring commitment to Jewish life.
Northwestern Hillel “is the foundation for Jewish life on campus,” with the mission “to inspire every Jewish student to make a meaningful and enduring commitment to Jewish life.”
This is one of many anti-Semitic attacks Campus Reform has reported on college campuses.
In late August, Campus Reform reported that Cassandra Blotner and Ofek Preis Jewish students, at the State University of New York at New Paltz, filed an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights alleging they were subjects of anti-Semitic discrimination.
Vanderbilt University assistant football coach, Dan Jackson, issued a public apology after his Facebook post appeared to defend Kanye West’s recent anti-Semitic comments.
At the start of the school year Campus Reform also reported that vandals targeted a Jewish center at The University of Southern California, shattering a window of the Hillel building.
Campus Reform contacted Northwestern University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
