Jewish freshman’s face plastered on anti-Israel flyers at Rutgers in act of ‘unabated antisemitism’
Someone at Rutgers University cruelly plastered a Jewish freshman’s face on flyers for an anti-Israel referendum — the latest act of “unabated antisemitism” at the New Jersey school, the student told The Post.
“Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza,” said the flyers with Rivka Schafer’s mug on them, urging a “yes” vote for the university to divest from Israel.
They were plastered throughout the Demarest Hall dorm on Thursday morning.
“I don’t feel safe in my own dorm,” said Schafer, 19.
“It targeted me where I live. That’s not just terrifying, that’s outright harassment, that’s antisemitism.”
A report was filed with the Rutgers University Police Department but Schafer left meetings with campus police and administrators feeling “completely unsafe” and “targeted for religious beliefs.”
The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The environmental science major’s face was grabbed from a social media video from a Students Supporting Israel march earlier in the week, cropped and blown up for the flyer.
The BDS campaign — which stands for boycott, divestment and sanction, and is banned in many states including New Jersey — attempts to delegitimize Israel by pushing individuals and entities from doing business with the Jewish state.
Rutgers students had until Friday at 11:59 p.m. to vote on referendum targeting the school’s investments in companies tied to Israel and its partnership with Tel Aviv University, which began in 2020.
The controversial vote has only amplified the hostility Jewish students have felt on campus, Schafer said.
“Not a single Jewish student feels safe simply walking to the bus stop,” the student said.
“My story is just one tiny example of everything that’s been going on on campus.”
Schafer recounted the story of a friend whose calculus class was recently derailed by a student lobbing for the BDS campaign.
Another student shared with The Post a traumatizing experience in which a group of Palestine supporters surrounded her on campus and said they would pray to Hamas to “kill all the Israelis.”
The institution — which was blasted in 2021 for apologizing after condemning antisemitism — has recently come under fire for continuously allowing “antisemitic” lectures that critics say spread “vitriolic hate.”
Last month, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans announced a probe into the school’s Center for Security, Race and Rights for sponsoring events featuring “terrorist sympathizers,” and “advocates of domestic radicalism.”
The US House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday announced it too is investigating Rutgers, New Jersey’s state higher education system.
Jewish advocacy groups this week penned a letter demanding the university suspend and investigate antisemitic professors and groups including Rutgers’ Students for Justice in Palestine, a faction of a radical pro-Hamas group responsible for many of the recent anti-Israel protests across the country.
“Rutgers has failed to take any action to protect its Jewish students,” the letter to Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway charged.
The groups claim the SJP and a new student group “Pali” are behind an effort to get Rutgers’ Hillel International group banned.
A Rutgers law student who allegedly called out a pair of student “Hamas supporters” is now suing, claiming retaliation against him by the university.
