At Boston University, a Jewish campus organization’s headquarters was vandalised with graffiti that read “Free Palestine,” in the most recent example of the growing antisemitism on college campuses across America.
Authorities verified that graffiti had been found scribbled on the glass of a Jewish student organisation at the Boston, Massachusetts institution. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Boston Institution Police Department are looking into the vandalism.
The Florence & Chafetz Hillel House at Boston University is a house of prayer and a community hub for the Jewish community on campus, according to the organization’s website.
The BU Police Department’s head, Robert Lowe, acknowledged to BU Today—the university’s official online news outlet—that officers were notified of the vandalism on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Staff members at Hillel reported to authorities that “an unknown person had tagged an exterior window of the building.”
The police claimed that a previous blue and white sign that declared, “We Stand with Israel” had been scribbled over with the words “Free Palestine.”
Rabbi Jevin Eagle, the University Chaplain and Executive Director, writes a letter to the entire school stating that the act of vandalism has left the Jewish community “shaken” and “disheartened.”
“We are grateful for the swift response from BU, BU Police, and the Suffolk County District Attorney,” he wrote. “This horrific act is being investigated as a religious hate crime.”
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office claimed in a statement that the graffiti was a “targeted act” and that they are currently searching for the culprit.
“This defacement was a targeted act, and we will work closely with BU police to identify, arrest, and prosecute the person responsible,” a Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said in a statement. “Our message is clear: hate crimes in any form are intolerable and anyone charged with committing them will pay the consequences.”
