Swastika stickers have been discovered on Harvard College’s campus, in accordance with police who’re investigating one other antisemitic incident on the Cambridge college.
Each Harvard College and Cambridge Police try to trace down the antisemitic vandal after a number of stickers depicting a swastika changing the Star of David on the Israeli flag have been positioned on campus and on city-owned mild poles round Harvard Sq..
The sticker with the blue swastika additionally included the phrase, “Stop Funding Israeli Terrorism.”
Antisemitic incidents have been reported at Harvard — and faculty campuses throughout the nation — since final 12 months’s Hamas terrorist assault and the beginning of the Israel-Hamas struggle.
The antisemitic vandal reportedly positioned the stickers on campus close to the Charles River space on Monday at round 2:10 a.m.
“HUPD officers searched the area for the unidentified individual but were unable to locate them,” a Harvard College Police spokesperson stated in a press release. “The stickers contained an anti-Semitic symbol. HUPD and Cambridge Police are investigating this matter collaboratively.”
Police are in search of any surveillance video to assist with the investigation.
“The Cambridge Police Department responded to the Harvard Square area Monday morning for reports of religiously threatening stickers posted in multiple locations around the Square,” a Cambridge Police spokesperson stated in a press release.
This incident comes every week after the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist assault. Final week, anti-Israel protesters reportedly vandalized the John Harvard statue and smashed home windows on the Cambridge college.
“Harvard has and will continue to be unequivocal that antisemitism will not be tolerated on our campus,” a Harvard College spokesperson stated on Tuesday.
The Anti-Defamation League on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 reported that antisemitic incidents have spiked throughout the U.S. within the final 12 months.
“We are aware that law enforcement is investigating apparent #antisemitic vandalism @Harvard – multiple stickers depicting a swastika replacing the Star of David on the Israeli flag,” ADL New England posted. “We urge a thorough investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable. Jewish students, like all students, deserve to feel safe on campus.”
The Cambridge Police spokesperson stated the division is “committed to safeguarding the state and federal civil rights of all individuals irrespective of their race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or gender, and to aggressively investigate any reported acts or threats of violence, property damage, harassment, intimidation, or other crimes that appear motivated by bias against or hatred of a particular group.”
Police are urging anybody with details about the vandalism to contact the Cambridge Police Felony Investigations Unit anonymously by its tip line at 617-349-9151, or on-line at cambridgepolice.org/TIPS.
