Virginia Tech Rabbi: 100 Swastika Leaflets Strewn in Front of Jewish Student Center on Shabbat ‘Disgusting Act of Hatred’
by Lea Speyer
One of the heads of a Jewish center on the campus of Virginia Tech University (VT) called the scattering of more than 100 hand-drawn swastika leaflets in front of his building on Saturday a “disgusting act of hatred.”
Rabbi Zvi Yaakov Zweibel, co-director of VT’s Chabad Librescu Jewish Student Center, said in a statement obtained Monday by The Algemeiner that he was shocked to discover that the fliers had been strewn across the front yard “as we celebrated the Jewish Sabbath.”
Zweibel, who said that this was the first such incident since Chabad on Campus opened at VT eight years ago, promptly organized a solidarity rally for Monday afternoon — attended by university officials, campus police and students — “to fight hatred by increasing our efforts in spreading Jewish pride and the beauty of our heritage.”
The leaflets were found a day after Chabad at VT announced that it would be hosting a lecture in April by renowned Holocaust survivor Rabbi Nissen Mangel.
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Responding to the VT Jewish Student Union’s call on social media followers to offer support to Jews on campus, the school’s president, Timothy Sands tweeted:
@jsu_vt #Hokies stand with you. The propagators of hate may be among us, but they are not welcome in our community: https://t.co/YTZY8i8O1J
— Timothy D Sands (@VTSandsman) March 19, 2017
His post linked to a February statement asserting that “hate and bias incidents will not be tolerated” at VT.
The fliers at VT are the latest in a wave of similar incidents on campuses across North America.
Last week, as The Algemeiner reported, fliers calling to “end Jewish privilege” were distributed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A day later, leaflets denying the Holocaust and equating Zionism with Nazism were found on campus.