University of Michigan Regent’s House Destroyed in Anti-Semitic Attack – Boston News, Weather, Sports

(CNN) — The home of a Jewish member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents was vandalized early Monday in what the university called “a clear act of anti-Semitic intimidation.”

The incident marked the third time Jordan Acker, a Michigan lawyer elected to the university’s governing board, has been targeted since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“The University of Michigan condemns these criminal acts in the strongest possible terms,” the school said in a statement. “They are disgusting and unfortunately just the latest in a series of incidents where people have been harassed because of their work on behalf of the university. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

The sound of breaking glass woke Ecker from his sleep just after 2 a.m. Monday, he told CNN. He went downstairs to find his front windows smashed and his wife’s car defaced with what he called a “Palestine message with an upside-down Hamas triangle.”

The inverted triangle has become a symbol of Israel’s violent resistance, reports The Anti-Defamation League. Photos provided by Acker show that someone scrawled “Alienation” and “Free Palestine” on the car.

Acker said his neighbors filmed the incident on their dashcam and called the police. CNN has reached out to the Huntington Woods Police Department for comment.

“As a public official you expect a certain level of criticism — even protests — but this is not a protest, this is terrorism,” Acker said, adding that the incident happened while his daughters were sleeping upstairs.

“It has nothing to do with the First Amendment, nothing to do with Palestine, nothing to do with Israel, and everything to do with trying to harass and intimidate Jews,” Acker said. – And this Jew will not be frightened. »

The latest incident comes after months of escalating tensions between the university’s administration and students, who have used increasingly confrontational tactics to demand leaders abandon Israel.

In May, protesters staged late-night demonstrations outside the private homes of several university regents, placing fake bloodied body bags on their front lawns and taping a list of demands to their front doors, reports said statement from University President Santa J. That’s it. Eker’s home was among the shelling.

Then, in June, Acker’s law firm, Goodman Acker, was vandalized with pro-Palestinian words, This was previously reported by CNN. At the time, the Southfield Police Department said it would investigate the incident as a hate crime.

Acker said he received numerous private messages of sympathy after each attack on him, but he said it was not enough.

“Civic leaders have a public obligation, and I would urge every member of our congressional delegation — every elected official in Michigan — to publicly call this anti-Semitism, because that’s exactly what it is,” he said.