(Jewish Group) With campus president fending off ADL criticism, Penn Hillel hit by vandal

A day before the University of Pennsylvania was set to host a conference criticized as a forum for anti-Zionism and antisemitism, a person reported to be a student entered the campus Hillel and shouted antisemitic epithets as he ransacked the building’s lobby.

A suspect was apprehended at the scene, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian, the campus newspaper.

The incident increased already heightened tensions for Jewish students on the Philadelphia campus due to the Palestine Writes literature festival, which has drawn criticism from the ADL and a petition from Penn alumni. The festival features, among other speakers, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, who has long been accused of trafficking in antisemitism.

The university’s president, M. Elizabeth Magill, has noted that the conference is organized not by the university as a whole, but by Penn departments and student groups, and distanced herself from conference speakers “who have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism.” But ADL chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt said the university should never have agreed to host the event.

more...