Heinous antisemitic slogans were beamed onto buildings at the University of Pennsylvania in the latest disturbing incident at the Ivy League institution — as the school faces a civil rights complaint accusing it of being “a magnet for antisemites.”
Multiple social media accounts Thursday shared pictures of a “light show” that saw anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian messages projected onto the walls of the campus’ buildings.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” read one message lit up against the John M Huntsman hall.
“Zionism is racism,” another declared.
“Penn funds Palestinian genocide,” a third said.
The hateful slogans are just the latest brazen act of antisemitism at the prestigious university.
UPenn president Liz Magill recently acknowledged a rise in antisemitic acts on campus including “swastikas and hateful graffiti” as well as “chants at rallies, captured on video and widely circulated, that glorify the terrorist atrocities of Hamas, that celebrate and praise the slaughter and kidnapping of innocent people, and that question Israel’s very right to exist.”
The anti-Jewish culture has become so pervasive that the Brandeis Center said it was filing a complaint against UPenn — as well as Wellesley College — with the Office of Civil Rights in the US Department of Education.
The complaint alleges that “Penn has allowed its campus to become a hostile environment for its Jewish students as well as a magnet for antisemites.”
According to Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and former US assistant secretary of education, colleges and universities have “failed to keep Jewish students safe and are in clear violation of well-established federal civil rights law.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about rooting out antisemitism on campuses, and it’s time to hold these colleges accountable,” he added.
The complaints “seek immediate and specific action to address increasing discrimination against and harassment of Jews in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” a statement from the human rights nonprofit read.