Jewish Center Near University of Michigan Trespassed and Door Kicked in, Cops Hunt for Suspect

Police in Ann Arbor, Michigan, are searching for a man who trespassed the grounds of the Jewish Resource Center, which serves University of Michigan students, and kicked its door while howling antisemitic statements.

“F—k Israel, f—k the Jewish people,” the man — whom multiple reports describe as white, “college-age,” and possibly named “Jake” or “Jay” — screamed before running away. He did not damage the property, and he may have been accompanied by as many as two other people, one of whom him shouted “no!” when he ran up to the building.

“My immediate reaction is a little bit not surprised, which is crazy” University of Michigan student Meyer Cusnir told a local CBS affiliate when asked about the incident. “We should be surprised at this. Antisemitism should not be normalized. When you hear words like ‘eff’ Israel and then ‘eff’ Jews, my reaction just validates a lot of feelings on campus that anti-Israel is just leading to antisemitism.”

Ann Arbor police offered an unspecified cash reward to anyone who comes forward with information which leads to the suspect’s capture.

The University of Michigan has seen a lion’s share of antisemitic incidents in recent years.

In 2022, during observance of the Jewish New Year, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), an anti-Israel group, erected an “apartheid wall” on campus and led an anti-Israel protest in front of it. Some University of Michigan students approached the protesters and urged them to become fully apprised of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Michigan Daily reported at the time. Standing atop a nearby structure, they made a “thumbs-down” gesture when they perceived the protesters’ remarks as offensive or lacking nuance.

SAFE was one of many anti-Zionist student groups which commandeered school property during the conclusion of the 2023-2024 academic school year and refused to surrender it unless the university agreed to boycott and divest from Israel. Nearly a month passed before the university cleared the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” erected on the occupied school grounds, during which both students and non-students destroyed school property, disrupted university business, and amassed outside the homes of school officials.

In 2024, the “Shut It Down” (SID) party, which captured control of the student government, led a failed and unpopular campaign of intimidation to freeze funding for student clubs until school officials enacted a boycott of Israel — resulting in the removal of its leader, Alifa Chowdhury, from office. Chowdhury had faced three charges in total: incitement to violence, defamation, and dereliction of duty, the last of which she was found guilty of on Dec. 23, according to a statement issued by the Central Student Judiciary (CSJ). Her vice president, Elias Atkinson, was convicted of the same offense.

Amid SID’s campaign, a Jewish student was assault in a “Nazi like” attack allegedly carried out by six people near campus. According to the Ann Arbor Police Department, the beating occurred when the group accosted the 19-year-old victim, whose name has not been released, and demanded to know whether he was Jewish. The young man said that he was, after which the suspects slammed him on the concrete, according to police. They then kicked and spit on him before leaving.

The University of Michigan is not the only campus which saw an antisemitic incident over the past week.

At Ohio State University, an unknown person or group tacked neo-Nazi posters across the campus which warned, “We are everywhere.” The outrage was first reported by StopAntisemitism, a Jewish civil rights advocacy group which tracks antisemitism across the US.

Incidents of campus antisemitism continue to rise around the world, as revealed in a new monthly report published by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) civil rights organization.

Published by the group’s Antisemitism Research Center (ARC), the report said CAM recorded 53 antisemitic incidents on college campuses in the month of September, a 178 percent increase over the previous month, when 19 were recorded despite students not being present on campus during the summer holiday.

“This surge reflects the resumption of the academic year and the persistent problem of antisemitism at colleges and university,” the report said. “In France, students at Sorbonne University in Paris discussed a targeted shooting attack against Jewish students at the school. In Argentina, students at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba seized control of parts of the campus, protesting Israel’s ‘genocide’ of the Palestinians.”

The report added that the US saw 38 campus antisemitism incidents in September, several of which The Algemeiner reported.

In upstate New York, for example, law enforcement agencies filed hate crime charges against two Syracuse University students who they say forcefully gained entry into a Jewish fraternity’s off-campus house during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and heaved a bag of pork at a wall, causing its contents to splatter across the floor.

In Hanover, New Hampshire, an unknown person or group graffitied a swastika, the symbol of the Nazi Party, outside the dormitory of a Jewish student at Dartmouth College.

In Manhattan, New York, an unknown person graffitied antisemitic messages inside the Weinstein residence hall at New York University, prompting school president Linda Mills to issue a statement condemning antisemitism and imploring students to uphold the institution’s values.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.