Labeling pro-Palestinian graffiti as ‘antisemitic’ at U-M regent’s office is disingenuous, activists say

Jordan Acker, a Jewish member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, quickly condemned the vandalism of his office early Monday as “antisemitism” because the graffiti messages criticized Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.

Elected officials, along with CNN and other corporate media outlets, repeated the same claims.

But is it antisemitic to criticize Israel?

More than 36,000 Palestinians are estimated to have been killed by Israeli bombardments and ground operations in Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. On May 20, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu and his defense minister Yoav Gallant, alleging they committed war crimes.

For reasons that aren’t difficult to understand, Palestinian sympathizers are tired of watching innocent civilians getting slaughtered by the thousands. At university campuses, students are doing what they can to oppose the brutality: They are calling on colleges to divest from companies connected to Israel.

That’s exactly what led up to the vandalism at Acker’s law office in Southfield. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor last month, police in riot gear used batons and pepper spray to drive pro-Palestinian activists back from their protest encampment. Acker and other regents have refused the calls to divest and have openly supported Israel’s attacks on Gaza, prompting protesters, including some Jewish students, to protest outside the board members’ homes in May.

Among the board members, Acker was the most outspoken opponent of the protest.

When activists scrawled pro-Palestinian graffiti on Acker’s law office early Monday, he called it a “disgusting anti-semitic attack” on the social media platform X and in media interviews. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and state Sen. Jeremy Moss were among the elected officials who also called it antisemitic.

But the graffiti contained no anti-Jewish messages. It read, “Free Palestine,” “Divest Now,” “UM Kills,” and “Fuck You Acker.” Red handprints were also left on the office’s doors.

The law office of @UMich Regent @JordanAckerMI has been vandalized. @Southfield_Gov police are investigating. @WWJ950 @WWJTraffic @FOX2News #Monday @GoodmanAcker pic.twitter.com/1ypLSP22Om

— Charlie Langton (@charlielangton) June 3, 2024

Law enforcement officials adopted similar rhetoric. Southfield police Chief Elvin Barren called the graffiti “a hate crime.” The FBI also joined the investigation.

Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), says supporters of Israel’s war are trying to silence dissent by labeling anti-genocide messages as antisemitism.

“It’s a very disturbing trend that people who are calling for a ceasefire are being equated to antisemites and Hamas supporters,” Walid tells Metro Times. “This is a very troubling trend. It’s as if Americans can’t hold two ideas at once. We can say that Hamas committed an atrocity, and at the same time, say the Israeli government is committing crimes against humanity.”

Walid points out that many opponents of Israel’s war are Jewish. In fact, one of the most vocal advocacy groups against the attacks in Gaza is the Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports the liberation of Palestinians. Leaders of the group recently called on the Hamtramck City Council to pass a resolution endorsing a movement that advocates for boycotts and divestment from Israel to pressure the government to stop its brutality.

Walid also points to Israeli political scientist and author Ilan Pappe, who says he was detained and harassed by federal agents at Detroit Metro Airport last month for being a human rights advocate for Palestinians.

“Another unfortunate aspect of this is that there are Jewish voices who are being silenced by this narrative,” Walid says. “That’s the irony of this. Their voices are being silenced. It’s bizarre.”

On X, dozens of people challenged Ackers’s narrative that the graffiti was antisemitic.

“Call it vandalism, call it criminal, but I don’t see how ‘Free Palestine’ is antisemitic,” @WolverLion wrote.

Another X user chimed in, “What about this is antisemitic, exactly Jordan? We can’t keep throwing words around like this, they’ll lose their meaning.”

“This is not antisemitism,” @alex_k99999 tweeted. “If you want to end petty vandalism, stop aiding genocide.”

At a news conference on Monday, Acker repeated the antisemitism claims, saying he was targeted because he’s Jewish.

“Make no mistake that targeting individual Jewish elected officials is antisemitism,” Acker told reporters.

“This has nothing to do with Palestine or the war in Gaza or anything else,” Acker continued. “This is done as a message to scare Jews. I was not targeted here today because I am a regent. I am a target of this because I am Jewish.”

To anyone who disagrees with him, Acker wrote on X, “it might be a good time to check yourself as to why.”

Pro-Palestinians disagreed.

“It’s vandalism and that’s wrong,” @yourauntifa responded. “Is supporting divestment antisemitic? You assume you were targeted because you’re Jewish. Might you have been targeted because you’re very vocal and visible and the culprits knew it would get this level of attention, which they crave?”

Meanwhile at Wayne State University, pro-Palestinian activists, along with staff and faculty members, are holding a news conference and rally at the corner of Warren and Second to protest campus police’s handling of an encampment last week.