Jewish U of Michigan official targeted with pro-Palestinian vandalism at home
It was the third time Jordan Acker has been targeted with pro-Palestinian graffiti.
Protestors at the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan, May 13, 2024, in Ann Arbor. (Adam J. Dewey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(JTA) — A Jewish trustee of the University of Michigan awoke on Monday to find his window broken and pro-Palestinian graffiti on his wife’s car, the third time he has been the victim of vandalism related to the Israel-Hamas war.
Jordan Acker, an attorney and Democrat from Huntington Woods, Michigan, shared on Instagram that he and his family were awoken by the sounds of two heavy objects being thrown through their home’s front window. Acker’s wife’s car was graffitied with an inverted red triangle — a symbol Hamas uses to mark its targets in propaganda videos that has been adopted by pro-Palestinian activists — as well as “DIVEST” and “FREE PALESTINE” written in red.
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In his post, Acker called the vandalism “Klan-like.”
“Like we always do in this great nation when we’re confronted with terrorism — I will not let fear win,” he wrote. “All this does is harden my resolve to continue to do the right thing for the University and the Michigan voters who elected me. I call upon members of the Michigan community to publicly repudiate this vile anti-Semitic intimidation, and to offer full support to law enforcement to root out these bigots so they see the consequences for their actions.”
The university called the vandalism “a clear act of antisemitic intimidation.”
“The University of Michigan condemns these criminal acts in the strongest possible terms,” the school said in a statement. “They are abhorrent and, unfortunately, just the latest in a number of incidents where individuals have been harassed because of their work on behalf of the university. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We call on our community to come together in solidarity and to firmly reject all forms of bigotry and violence.”
The vandalism comes after the university’s new student government threatened to withhold funding from all student groups until the university agreed to divest from Israel. The school’s regents have said they will not divest, and the student president leading that effort was impeached last month.
The campus, like the state overall, is home to large Jewish and Arab American populations, and has been a center of activism since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that launched the Israel-Hamas war.
The attack also marks the third time Acker, a former Obama administration official who has served as a board member for the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit, has been targeted by pro-Palestinian activists.
On May 15, a protester showed up at Acker’s home, also early in the morning, with a list of demands, including for the university to divest from Israel. That same day, the regents’ chairwoman Sarah Hubbard was also targeted with tents and fake dead babies placed outside her home.
On June 3, Acker’s law office was vandalized with calls for divestment, as well as the phrases “F— YOU ACKER” and “UM KILLS.”
Acker told the Michigan Daily student newspaper after Monday’s incident that he hopes the perpetrators of the attack on his home are charged appropriately.
“We can disagree, we can fight, we can have long disagreements about policy, but committing crimes is not appropriate,” Acker said. “It’s never acceptable under any circumstances for members of our community. And I am supporting law enforcement in their search for whomever did this, and whomever did this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, including federally.”
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