This Week In Anti-Semitism: Graffiti Never Seems To Go Away
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The Forward regularly monitors the surge of anti-Semitism across the country and around the world. The mission of this column is not to unduly alarm, but rather to raise awareness of a disturbing trend that, from some vantage points, can prove difficult to spot.
Students and Jewish community members at San Francisco State University filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging that it has long cultivated a hostile atmosphere toward Jews. The lawsuit describes a fear among students of wearing yarmulkes or Stars of David on campus. It recounts a 2002 peace rally where a group of students shouted “Hitler didn’t finish the job,” “Get out or we’ll kill you” and “Go back to Russia.”
A Jewish deli in the Chicago area was vandalized in an incident being investigated as a hate crime. “Free Gaza” was spray-painted on the sidewalk outside Shmaltz Deli in Naperville, Illinois, on Sunday. “It’s not about what they painted, it’s really is about the fact that somebody targeted an American Jewish business in Naperville, Illinois, and it was purely intended to be anti-Semitic,” said Howard Bender, the owner of the popular deli.
In Stamford, Conn., a Star of David and a swastika were smeared in feces on the window of a television station Monday. The studio is where shows such as “The Jerry Springer Show” and “Maury” are taped.
Swastikas were painted on the walls inside a Hasidic synagogue in Jerusalem. The vandals also attempted to set religious books on fire. Swastika attacks are reportedly rare in Israel.
Swastikas and the word “hate” were spray-painted on a suburban New York home sold by a Jewish-owned real estate agency. This is the latest in a string of similar incidents in Rockland County. “This is yet another brazen attempt to intimidate the area’s Jewish residents,” said Evan Bernstein, the Anti-Defamation League’s New York regional director. “We urge Rockland County authorities and state political leadership to join those who have already stood up and condemn this series of anti-Semitic incidents.”
Steven Davidson is an editorial fellow at the Forward.
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