Idan Cohen, the Israel Fellow at University of Minnesota Hillel posted several pictures on Facebook that had been taken by U of M students Alex Reynolds and Theo Menon. Cohen said that this is the ninth reported anti-Semitic incident on campus since December. Menon, in a comment in the photos, said that the one with man in the black shirt is the person who allegedly posted at least some of the flyers.
Steve Henneberry of the University News Service said that calls had come into the University of Minnesota Police Department on Friday afternoon and the incident is considered an open investigation.
University of Minnesota Hillel executive director Benjie Kaplan has been in close contact with Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas and the University throughout the afternoon. A meeting is planned for Monday to discuss the campus climate and how best to respond and support the more than 1,000 Jewish students at the U.
In a statement from the JCRC executive director Steve Hunegs, he said: “The (JCRC) condemns the hateful messages espoused and contained within the flyers posted around the University of Minnesota. The flyers reference anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and call for people to join white-supremacist movements. In March 2016, printers and fax machines at multiple universities around the country (including the U of M) began unexpectedly printing anti-Semitic and racist flyers similar in content to what was posted today.
“We urge anyone with information about the posting of the flyers to come forward. We have every confidence that law enforcement will investigate this incident thoroughly.
“We call on all people of goodwill to recoil at these ideologies and tactics. We will remain vigilant in taking a stand against those who admire the atrocities of Nazism.”
Last week, freshman Avi Shaver returned to his dorm room to find a swastika and concentration camp drawn on a dry-erase board inside his room. In a separate incident, Henneberry said that a U student was arrested on Thursday of criminal damage to property with bias involving a swastika incident in the 17th Ave Residence Hall. The student, Matthew Paul Gruber of St. Cloud, had allegedly carved a swastika into a desk in a public area of the dorm.
Editor’s note: While we typically do not publish on Shabbat, certain times incidents will happen that require we do so. We felt this was one of them. Thank you for your understanding.
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