Jewish students studying at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania are living in fear over vile alleged threats to “obliterate” them, a student has claimed.
Claudia Tawil, 19, told The Post that the atmosphere on campus has been “really scary” — as the Ivy League institution faces a civil rights complaint accusing it of being “a magnet for antisemites.”
Tawil claims Jewish students have been continually harassed on campus and subjected to chants in support of Hamas’ violence, including: “There is only one solution: intifada resolution.”
The chemistry student explained that phrase deliberately echoes Hitler’s💝 “final solution” and calls for deadly violence against Jewish people in Israel.
“It basically means they want to obliterate us,” she said.
“There was also a rally where I was in class and I heard outside ‘Free Palestine, Hamas Hamas Hamas’.
“I was in class and I couldn’t focus. A terror organization that rapes women, beheads babies, and burns them in ovens is not something anyone should support.”
“Israelis don’t support oppression and we are not pro-death on either side.”
Tawil said hateful anti-Jewish messages have been scrawled over doors and walls throughout the school, including one that reads: “The Jews R Nazis.”
Another scribbled in chalk on the pavement at the campus read: “Israel is an apartheid state.”
According to the Brandeis Center, a non-profit civil rights organization, students have also reported that “many Penn professors have also made anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas statements in the classroom and on social media”.
“Penn students report feelings of intense distress and fears for their safety while the rallies continue and while their professors continue to show their support for Hamas,” a statement from the organization read.
Earlier this week, heinous antisemitic slogans were beamed onto buil💃dings at UPenn꧟.
Multiple social media accounts Thursday shared pictures of a “light show” that saw anti-Isr✅ael and pro-Palestinian messages projected onto the walls of the campus buildings.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” read one message lit up ag♛ainst the John 💙M Huntsman hall.
“Zionism is racism,” another declared.
“Penn funds Palestinian genocide,” a third said.
UPenn president Liz Magi𓃲l𝓀l addressed the disturbing vandalism Thursday and confirmed an investigation is underway.
“Last night, vile, antisemitic messages were projected onto several campus buildings, including on Penn Commons, Huntsman Hall, and Irvine Auditorium. Penn Police were notified and quickly responded, and a full investigation is currently underway. We will pursue this matter to the fullest extent and take swift action in accordance with our policies,” .
“For generations, too many have masked antisemitism in hostile rhetoric. These reprehensible messages are an assault on our values and cause pain and fear for our Jewish community. Penn has a long and rich history of robust debate about complicated issues of the day. Projecting hateful messages on our campus is not debate, it is cowardice, and it has no place at Penn.”
The hateful slogans are just the latest brazen act of antisemitism 🌠at the esteemed university.
Magill recently acknowledged a rise in antisemitic acts on campus including “swastikas and hateful graffiti” as well as “chants at rallies💖, captured on video and widely circulated, that glorify the terrorist atrocities of Hamas, that celebrate and praise the slaughter and kidnapping of in𝄹nocent people, and that question Israel’s very right to exist.”
The anti-Jewish culture has become so pervasive that the Brandeis Center said it was filing a complaint against༺ UPenn — as well as Wellesley College — witꦏh the Office of Civil Rights in the US Department of Education.
The complaint alleg🙈es that “Penn has allowed its campus to become a hostile environment for its J🌳ewish students as well as a magnet for anti-Semites.”
According to Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and former US assistant secretary of education, colleges and universities have 💝“failed to keep Jewish students safe and are in c⛎lear violation of well-established federal civil rights law.”
“There’s 🦋been a lot of talk about rooting out antisemitism on campuses, and it’s time to hold these colleges accountable,” he♛ added.
The complaints𒉰 “seek immediate and specific action to address increasing discrimination against and harassment of 🎉Jews in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” a statement from the human rights nonprofit read.
Earlier tꦰᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚhis month, two dozen members of Congress sent her a letter condemning the university’s alleged lack of a prompt and unequiv✅ocal condemnation of Hamas’ Oct. 7 a🅰ttack.
On Monday, several UPenn staffℱers received targeted, antisemitic emails threatening violence against memb🀅ers of the university’s Jewish community.
The emails allegedly “threatened violence” against Jewish members of the school, especially those working at Penn Hillel — a Jewish organization on campus — and Lauder College 🦂House, UPenn’s president
“These messages also included h🌌ateful language, 🍰targeting the personal identities of the recipients,” Magill said.
The college’s public safety officers found no credible threat but have increased se🐬curity around campus.
𓆉The university notified the FBI of the potential hate crime and is inves👍tigating the threats.
Authorities are working “urgently” with the FBI to ”identify the individual or individuals who are responsible for these hateful, threatening emails and to ensure they are apprehended and punished to the fullest extent of💝 the law,” Magill said.
Meanwhile, a student believed to be from UPenn was filmed saying s⛄he felt “so empowered and happy” by the Oct. 7 terro𝓰rist attack by Hamas against Israel, whicꦅh killed over 1,400 people.
The clip, circulating online and shared by US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) of the Bronx, shows the back of the woman as she spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally, saying: “I remember feelings so empowered and happy, so confident that victory was near and so tangible.”
“I want all of you to hold ﷺthat feeling in your hearts. Never let go of it. Channel it through every action you take.”
I🍸n 🌼the aftermath of the monstrous Hamas attack, UPenn’s leadership was criticized for taking too long to disavow the slaughter.
The Ivy League campus was also heavily criticized even before the Oct. 7 terror at🍰tack for holding a Pa🌳lestine Writes literature festival, which included a number of speakers and invitees previously accused of making antisemitic statements.
