Urgent Call for Action: Combating Antisemitism After Disturbing Graffiti Incident at San Jose State

San Jose State University’s campus has recently been marred by disturbing graffiti promoting antisemitic sentiments. The hateful messages, discovered on March 11 and 12, brazenly called for the “eradication of Jews” and urged individuals to “make Osama proud.”

Among the offensive graffiti was a chilling note that read: “SJSU Sorry But for Allah 3/11 will be 9/11.” Such messages are deeply unsettling, especially in light of a recent attack on two Jewish men in the area, who reported being targeted due to their faith.

The university community is on high alert, with officials voicing concerns about the potential for further violence. Philip Heller, President of the SJSU Jewish Faculty and Staff Association, expressed his apprehensions in an interview with ABC 7. “What we’ve encountered this week was verbal, not physical violence,” he remarked. “Given our experiences with past physical assaults, my worry is that we might witness more incidents.”

The hateful graffiti follows a recent violent attack on two Jewish men who said they were attacked because of their religion.

University officials are concerned more violence will occur.

“What we’ve seen on this campus this week was words, not physical violence,” SJSU Jewish Faculty and Staff Association President Philip Heller told ABC 7. “We have seen physical violence in the past and my concern is that we’ll see more.”

Heller said students were offered a counseling session and no one came.

“As far as I can tell, the reason was that they didn’t think it was a good idea to get that many Jewish students together in one place on this campus during a time of threat,” Heller said.

The university sent out a campus-wide message Friday afternoon saying the graffiti was removed from the campus bathroom and that no evidence has been identified to indicate a credible threat, ABC 7 reported.

Racist graffiti was found on the campus last November, threatening a mass shooting.

Heller said that the administration seems focused on making things better for Jewish students.

“Nowhere is a place where this should be happening,” he said. “We need to have a lot of listening and talking. And I am happy to say that there’s been quite a bit of movement and genuine interest on the part of the administration in making things much safer for Jews.”

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