On the one-year celebration of the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7 and the one-year celebration of the vandalization of two houses owned by University of Michigan officials, including the West Bloomfield house owned by President Santa Ono, were two houses vandalized on Monday.
The communications at Ono’s house were spray-painted in purple on his home and sidewalk. They included” Coward”,” Sell now”, along with upside down triangles and “intifada”, an Arabic word meaning revolt or weight, according to images reviewed by The Detroit News and confirmed by three UM governors.
The Chelsea apartment of Erik Lundberg, UM’s , chief investment officer, was likewise vandalized with related terms, the governors said, including” involved” and “intifada”.
Although a UM representative directed questions about the research to West Bloomfield officers, Ono’s house’s vandalism was confirmed at his home, which is distinct from his college residence where he is required to reside.
A separate vandalism incident at the Jewish Federation of Detroit, which occurred around 4 a.m. on Monday and was captured on surveillance cameras, has been opened by Bloomfield Township police. Nick Soley, the Bloomfield Township police spokesman, said he is working with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, the FBI and the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the crime and review evidence.
” Evidence has been turned over. There are several people who appear to be suspects right now, Soley said.
Soley stated that his department is in communication with West Bloomfield police, who are looking into the incident at Ono’s home. A West Bloomfield police spokesperson could n’t be reached for comment right away.
According to FBI spokesman Jordan Hall, law enforcement is currently stationed in Bloomfield Township and West Bloomfield Township on Monday.
The vandalism at Ono’s house comes on the one year anniversary of the Oct. 7 the Hamas attacks on Israel that killed an estimated 1, 200 people, mostly civilians. About 250 hostages also were taken.
The antisemitic mob has attempted to intimidate and disrupt our university, according to UM Regent Mark Bernstein, who stated on Monday,” this is yet another assaultive act of intimidation by the antisemitic mob.”  ,” Thankfully, they have failed and will continue to fail. This must be condemned unequivocally. Failure to do so would be disgraceful and revealing”.
” It’s despicable”, added UM Regent Ron Weiser. Why do they believe doing all this vandalism is going to change anything, regardless of your position on all of these issues?
Past board chair Sarah Hubbard called the vandalism “unacceptable”.
According to Hubbard,” We are going to do everything we can to find out who did this and hold them accountable.”
Vandals also targeted the Southfield law office of a UM Regent Jordan Acker in June with spray-painted slogans like” Free Palestine” and” Divest Now.”
UM students and their allies have been demanding that the university divest any holdings connected to Israel following the country’s counteraction against Hamas in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 41, 000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry. This comes after months of demonstrations and disruptions by the university and their allies.
The regents have repeatedly said they are n’t changing the policy, but UM officials have argued that its investment policies shield the university from political demands. In the case of Israeli and military companies, the university’s indirect exposure is “less than 0.04 % of the endowment’s market value, or less than$ 7 million”, UM spokeswoman Colleen Mastony told The Detroit News in early May.
In September, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said charged 11 people with crimes in connection with alleged incidents involving protests against Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza at the UM, which was criticized by the Council of American-Islamic Relation’s Michigan chapter and Detroit Democratic U. S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, as targeting demonstrators.
” The right to free speech and assembly is fundamental, and my office fully supports every citizen’s right to free speech under the First Amendment”, Nessel said in a September statement. “… I hope today’s charges are a reminder to everyone who chooses to assemble, regardless of the cause, that the First Amendment does not provide a cover for illegal activity”.
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