The dormitory-room door of a Jewish student at George Washington University was vandalized on Friday with anti-Semitic graffiti.
In a Facebook post, Zev Siegfeld said a picture of U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was drawn over with a swastika on the forehead of the former and a Hitler mustache on the latter.
“As a proud and vocal Jew,” said Siegfeld, “I know this was not a coincidence. This was another attempt to stop me from expressing my views publicly and another attempt to intimidate me into being quiet.”
The university’s student association spoke out against the graffiti.
“The Student Association [SA] strongly condemns the anti-Semitic defacement of a student’s door in Mitchell Hall,” it said in a statement on Sunday. “The defacement consisted of a swastika and Hitler motif, which is repugnant.”
“This display of hate and ignorance is blatantly anti-Semitic, and has deeply affected our Jewish community,” continued the SA. “By desecrating a student’s personal property within a GW residence hall, the attacker(s) continue a pattern of anti-Semitism on our campus, which instills fear and pain in Jewish students.”
The statement also called for the university to take action in response. GW’s College Democrats and College Republicans also condemned the vandalism.
“This act of hate is not tolerated by either of our organizations, nor are any anti-Semitic actions or speech,” the groups said in a joint statement on Sunday. “We must acknowledge as an entire GW community the repetitive nature of these anti-Semitic actions on our campus. We will continue to call on the university to take greater strides in ensuring the safety of the Jewish students at GW.”
Siegfeld is a GW College Republicans representative in the SA.
The graffiti isn’t the first anti-Semitic incident on GW’s campus during the current academic year.
In November, a seven-second Snapchat video featured a male student asking, “What are we going to do to Israel?” A female student replied, “We’re gonna [expletive] bomb Israel, bro.” A graphic on the video read, “Hot Girl Rosh Hashanah.”
The university and the Anti-Defamation League condemned the video.
