Jewish Students Threatened, Israeli Hostage Memorial Vandalized at Lewis and Clark College

Jewish Students Threatened, Israeli Hostage Memorial Vandalized at Lewis and Clark College

This school is in Portland. Figures, doesn’t it?

The College Fix reported:

Memorial for Israeli hostages vandalized, Jewish students threatened at Lewis & Clark College

A display at Lewis & Clark College in honor of the 48 hostages held in Gaza was recently vandalized multiple times, and Jewish students were harassed and threatened, prompting a censure from a campus dean and a professor calling on the president to condemn the incident publicly.

Ben Meoz, dean of students at the private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, informed students in an email Oct. 7 that an approved student-created memorial was twice vandalized.

“In addition, cleaning staff interrupted three individuals spray-painting the outside walls of a number of CAS academic buildings. The individuals were masked and left the scene without being identified,” Meoz stated in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix.

“Our campus community often mirrors the tensions occurring in the country at large, and this situation is no different. Lewis & Clark condemns these actions in the strongest possible terms. We acknowledge that they occur in a wider context of antisemitic rhetoric and violence in this country and elsewhere,” Meoz added.

The memorial consisted of the pictures of the remaining 48 Israeli and foreign hostages still held captive after two years, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The hostages are scheduled to be returned today.

The pictures of the hostages had been placed in the ground on stakes along with yellow flowers alongside each image across the campus quad.

The vandals pulled the stakes with the photos and the flowers out of the ground, and one picture was kicked, according to Lyell Asher, a professor of English at Lewis & Clark College, who spoke with organizers.

Andy Friedland, interim executive director of Greater Portland Hillel, said in an emailed statement to The College Fix on Saturday that the display was vandalized multiple times over a 48-hour period, and what’s more, “Jewish students were shouted at, verbally harassed, and threatened.”

“There must be no room at any of our campuses for this kind of targeted hatred, antisemitism, and destruction of property,” Friedland stated. “Greater Portland Hillel is working closely with Lewis & Clark College leadership to ensure that our campus remains a welcoming place for all Jewish students.”

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