Swastika and PA flag at Shimon HaTzadik
Swastika and PA flag at Shimon HaTzadikIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Swastikas directed against Jewish students were discovered at The State University of New York and Washington University.

A swastika was scratched into the door of the campus Hillel at the University at Buffalo, part of The State University of New York, in Amherst, N.Y. In addition, the Hillel sign, a symbol of the Jewish community on campus, was torn down and thrown in a nearby garbage can.

The attack, which was reportedly condemned by the university, occurred while students were away for spring break.

Swastikas were also scratched into two cars, and the tires slashed on two other cars, belonging to members of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Washington University in St. Louis, last week, reported the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA). 

The students became aware of the vandalism upon their return from spring break. 

The KSDK St. Louis radio station reported, on Wednesday, that a woman confessed to the vandalism, saying she is an acquaintance of one of the ZBT members. Her name has not been released.

ZBT is a historically Jewish fraternity, though all of its members are not Jewish. 

The student writing in the newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis, Student Life, said, “By etching a swastika into one of the cars, an already punishable act of vandalism became a potential hate crime. It doesn’t matter if the person actually believes what the swastika represents, she took out her aggression by using a symbol that should not be accepted in our society, no matter how angry you might become.”