BUZZ
Police at San Jose State University said they are investigating several threatening graffiti messages directed at Jews that were discovered over the past two weeks, including one calling for the “eradication of Jews” and another stating “Kill all Jews.”
The most recent messages were found in a campus bathroom on Wednesday and Thursday, after an earlier set of threatening messages was discovered March 4 in an academic building, university police stated Friday in a campus safety update.
“The University Police Department investigation is ongoing, and no evidence has been identified to indicate a credible threat,” the message stated.
As ABC 7 Eyewitness News reports, the graffiti included a call for the “eradication of Jews.” Other messages written on the bathroom wall included “make Osama proud,” “avoid SJSU 4 Muslims,” and “Kill all Jews.”
In response to the incidents, university police expanded foot patrols and campus surveillance, according to the campus safety announcement.
A university spokesperson told KTVU that both sets of graffiti targeted Jews:
SJSU Senior Director of Strategic Communications Michelle Smith McDonald told KTVU that police at the university were made aware of the graffiti scrawled into a bathroom stall in MacQuarrie Hall on March 4.
She added that the graffiti specifically threatened “the Jewish community,” and that the graffiti claimed violence “of a non-specific nature” would occur on campus on March 11.
Additional police officers were brought onto campus to increase patrols in response to the threat.
“We want to express our deep solidarity with our Jewish students and colleagues,” SJSU said in a prepared statement. “No one should have to live, work, or study in fear because of their identity. We disavow antisemitism and hate in all of its forms. Acts such as these have no place on our campus.”
Meanwhile, a campus Jewish leader said the repeat incidents have left many in the community fearful that violence will be next.
“What we’ve seen on this campus this week was words, not physical violence,” SJSU Jewish Faculty and Staff Association President Philip Heller told ABC 7. “We have seen physical violence in the past and my concern is that we’ll see more.”
Heller also said he has been pleased with university administrators’ attention to the problem: “We need to have a lot of listening and talking. And I am happy to say that there’s been quite a bit of movement and genuine interest on the part of the administration in making things much safer for Jews.”
Campus police said a suspect has not been identified yet, but anyone with information about the graffiti is encouraged to contact police.
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