Multiple people told the University of Pennsylvania student newspaper that the university Hillel was vandalized on Thursday morning — the day before the start of a controversial “Palestine Writes” literary festival — as Orthodox students were praying inside the building.
“I noticed that the lobby was completely trashed — one of the podiums was smashed, one of the tables was smashed. There was stuff everywhere,” a Jewish student who was going to Shacharit services told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
A fellow student who was in the building to pray said that the vandal came into the building and “immediately started smashing things, yelling ‘F**k the Jews’ and ‘They killed JC,’” the student paper reported. (The latter is apparently a reference to Jesus.)
A number of Jewish groups have denounced the literary festival that begins on Sept. 22.
“Penn’s inaction here speaks volumes,” said Liora Rez, CEO of StopAntisemitism, in a statement provided to JNS.
University president Liz Magill, who has been asked to move the event off of Penn’s campus, declined to intervene, reported Jewish Insider.
