‘Violent’ antisemitic graffiti sprayed on San Francisco Hillel house

The Jewish student center was marked with the word ‘Khaybar,’ a 7th-century Muslim victory over Jews, and anarchist and Communist symbols.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The San Francisco Hillel (SF Hillel) house discovered on Monday what it called “violent graffiti” spray-painted in red on its walls overnight.

The name of the Jewish student center, which is about a block away from San Francisco State University (SFSU), was covered with the word “Khaybar.”

Khaybar was the location of a seventh-century battle in which early Muslims defeated a group of Jewish tribes in today’s Saudi Arabia.

The name is part of a well-known rallying cry for violence against Jews that rhymes in Arabic: “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammed will return!”

The vandals also marked the wall with an anarchist symbol and the Communist hammer-and-sickle and covered the garage door with the phrase “Death to Western Imperialism.”

More dangerously, they had also “attempted to forcefully enter” the building, SF Hillel reported.

“This type of antisemitic vandalism and property damage to our building, the center of Jewish Life for students at nine San Francisco area schools, is deeply upsetting to our campus community,” the group wrote on its Facebook page.

“It is a stark reminder that we must remain vigilant,” it noted, adding, “There is no room for hate or antisemitism of any kind on college campuses or directed toward organizations that serve Jewish students.”

Hillel officials thanked both the city’s police and SFSU’s security department for “responding quickly to the incident.”

They also praised the university’s administration for its “support in helping to remove the hateful graffiti” and reassured those who use its facilities that both they and the school were “committed” to ensuring that “our building and campus always remain safe and welcoming places for Jewish students.”

The center had not been targeted throughout the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, although Hillel houses in other schools, including in Michigan, Texas, and Massachusetts, have been vandalized as part of an explosion of anti-Israel and antisemitic student actions in support of the terrorists.

The most infamous of these were encampments that were established at over 100 American colleges and universities last spring, engendering physical and verbal altercations and threats against Jewish students that made thousands fearful of walking on their own campuses.

Heads of several schools served by SF Hillel, including SFSU, jointly denounced the vandalism.

“We stand with our Jewish students as part of our commitment to strengthening an inclusive and diverse environment where every person feels safe and valued,” they said in a statement.

Calling the center “an asset for all our campus communities,” they added that they were “grateful for the strong response to support Hillel and condemn antisemitism and defacing of student spaces.”

The authorities are investigating the incident.