UVa officials reported on Friday, a little more than a week after classes began, that an Israeli flag hanging inside Rouss Hall, home to the university’s McIntire School of Commerce, was vandalized with the statement “Where is Palestine”

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Home / Israeli Flag Destroyed in Antisemitic Attack Against Jewish Students at University of Virginia

Israeli Flag Destroyed in Antisemitic Attack Against Jewish Students at University of Virginia

September 8, 2024

The University of Virginia is investigating an alleged act of antisemitism after an Israeli flag inside one of its academic buildings was defaced this past week.

It is a sign that, four months on, tensions remain high after UVa and colleges across the country cracked down on student-led protests over Israel’s ongoing war with Palestinian terror group Hamas.

The flag was part of a showcase representing the home countries of past and current McIntire students that was installed in 2019.

McIntire Dean Nicole Thorne Jenkins said the matter has been reported to the police and the University Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights; it will be treated as an act of antisemitism, she said.

“This is a direct violation of our community of trust and mutual respect, as well as an illegal act of vandalism that will not be tolerated by the McIntire School or the University,” Jenkins said in her statement. “Questions about the showcase of flags are welcome; however, this was an act of vandalism. Vandalism is not protected speech: it is criminal conduct. Moreover, this act of vandalism targeted and defaced the flag of the world’s only Jewish state. I have spoken with the Provost and we agree that on its face, this appears to be an act of antisemitism and will likely be experienced by many in our community as such.”

Provost Ian Baucom and UVa President Jim Ryan issued a joint statement standing behind Jenkins and the investigation.

“This act of antisemitism is antithetical to the values and norms of the McIntire School and the University as a whole,” the pair said. “As we all begin another year together on Grounds, we want to make it as clear as possible that while we are committed to free expression, vandalism is not protected speech. Like bigotry and harassment of any kind, it has no place at the University.”

Jenkins reassured the university community that the flag has been removed but will be replaced.

“Let me be clear: all forms of bigotry and intimidation — antisemitism, any other form of religious, racist, or other discrimination — have no place at McIntire or anywhere at the University,” she said in her statement. “This community strives to be welcoming and inclusive of all backgrounds and affinities, and when any member of our community is made to feel unsafe or unwelcome, it adversely affects us all.”

The vandalism is evidence that a summer away has not soothed tensions on Grounds.

During the spring semester, the university called in the state police to break up an encampment of protesters that had been established on Grounds between University Chapel and the school’s iconic Rotunda. Like similar movements at Columbia University, Virginia Tech and others, the UVa student-led protest was demanding the school divest from its financial ties to Israel, which has been locked in a bloody war in the Gaza territory since Hamas launched a surprise attack on the country on Oct. 7.

Palestinian terrorists killed nearly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, the majority of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages — many of whom, including a young Virginian, have since died. Another 40,000 more have been killed since then, a majority of them Palestinian women and children. To date, neither side has been able to broker a cease-fire, despite calls for one within and without Israel.

There were 27 people charged with trespassing at UVa after Virginia State Police broke up the encampment on May 4. The cases against nearly all of them have been dismissed. Four active cases remain. While they too likely could have had their cases dismissed, they are attempting to take on the commonwealth in court, maintaining that UVa and the state police — who indiscriminately pepper-sprayed protesters, bystanders and the press — acted unjustly and violated their right to free speech.

Outside of criminal charges, 11 students who participated in the protest are awaiting trial before the school’s University Judiciary Committee, a student-run body that adjudicates alleged violations of the university’s standards of conduct, which could include withholding diplomas for those students who were meant to graduate this past spring and suspension or expulsion for those students still enrolled at UVa.

Source: https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/education/uva-investigating-act-of-antisemitism-after-israeli-flag-defaced/article_06e79d82-6d48-11ef-b3f4-37b324d68b3f.html

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