Anti-Semitic vandals used red paint to write “Death to Israel” and draw Hamas triangles on a Northwestern University building that houses the school’s Holocaust center as Jewish students observe Passover.
Unity of Fields, a self-described “militant front against the US-NATO-zionist axis of imperialism” that has vowed to bring violence to America, shared photos of the vandalism on Monday evening.
Anonymous submission from Northwestern University:
SOMETIMES HISTORY NEEDS A PUSH
$790 million in federal funding budgets were cut by the Trump administration. This is a direct consequence of antisemitism investigations at over 60 universities across the country, Northwestern… pic.twitter.com/NExBSy4mf1
— Unity of Fields (@unityoffields) April 14, 2025
“The accusation of antisemitism is nothing more than a veiled attempt to hide what they truly fear: the inevitable victory of the Palestinian Liberation struggle,” the group posted on X. “The University wants us to succumb to our fears. $790million lost should only push us to further escalate.”
“History calls on us to respond with total upheaval,” the group added. “Glory to the Martyrs! Escalate for Palestine!”
The anti-Semitic radicals spray-painted “Death to Israel,” “Inifada [sic] Now!” “River->Sea!” and upside-down triangles—a symbol Hamas uses to denote Israeli targets—on Kresge Centennial Hall around 4 a.m. on Monday, the second morning of Passover. The building is home to Northwestern’s Holocaust Educational Foundation, which was founded by Auschwitz survivor Theodore Zev Weiss and hosts a number of Holocaust Studies courses. It’s also connected to Crowe Hall, home to the Weinberg School Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies.
Only one other building, University Hall, was vandalized, similarly graffitied with upside-down triangles. The radicals also splashed red paint across the buildings, stamped handprints, and plastered posters of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student facing deportation over his pro-Hamas organizing on campus.
Alison Pure-Slovin, the Midwest director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization that combats anti-Semitism, told the Washington Free Beacon that the vandals intentionally targeted the building hosting Northwestern’s Holocaust center.
“The Simon Wiesenthal Center is appalled by the graffiti and flyers that were found on Northwestern University during the Passover holiday. The anti-Semitic rhetoric was not only vicious but it was violent in nature as it called for the death of Jews (Intifada now) and the destruction of the State of Israel (Death to Israel),” she said. “The perpetrators targeted the building which houses the Holocaust Educational Foundation, which was founded by Auschwitz survivor Theodore Zev Weiss, and intentionally splattered red paint to resemble blood.”
“As Jewish students at Northwestern University gathered to celebrate Passover, a holiday that commemorates freedom from oppression, they should not feel intimidated or afraid on their campus,” Pure-Slovin added. “We thank Northwestern University president [Michael] Schill for quickly issuing a statement condemning the anti-Semitic incident. We must continue to work together against the hateful rhetoric that is targeting Jews on campus and in our communities.”
The vandalism comes a week after the Trump administration froze $790 million in federal funding to Northwestern amid a civil rights investigation into alleged anti-Semitism and racial discrimination on campus. Like Harvard, which saw $2.2 billion frozen on Monday, Northwestern retained a high-profile, MAGA-linked lobbying firm to navigate the scrutiny.
And earlier this month, Northwestern’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter hosted an anarchist training session featuring two pamphlets that included propaganda from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group. Unity of Fields created one, which quoted a PFLP leader and called on students to “build an Intifada” so that they could “destroy amerika [sic].” The other, crafted by the SJP chapter, featured a PFLP cartoon on the cover and encouraged students to “channel [their] anger” so that they could “aid in the fight” against Israel.
A university spokesperson pointed the Free Beacon to a Monday statement from Schill, who said any students involved would be disciplined.
“The fact that these acts occurred during the commencement of the Passover holiday makes these disgusting statements all the more despicable,” Schill wrote. “We are working systematically and utilizing camera footage, forensics and other methods to identify the individuals responsible for this vandalism. If these individuals are current Northwestern students, they will be immediately suspended and face full disciplinary proceedings under University policies, as well as criminal charges under the law.”
But a second-year student in Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management accused Schill of failing to take the Jewish community’s concerns seriously.
“I feel scared and profoundly sad to see such hateful messages show up on campus,” the student told the Free Beacon. “I continue to be confused on why Northwestern University and President Schill has allowed antisemitism to flourish on campus and that they do not take the concerns of the Jewish community seriously. I hope this is a wake up call that the way to stop hate is not to appease it.”
Coalition Against Antisemitism at Northwestern (CAAN) president Michael Teplitsky similarly pointed to the university’s failure to set a precedent sooner.
“Incidents like this don’t happen in a vacuum. When a university fails to set clear boundaries—whether during the encampment or in response to prior antisemitic harassment—it sends the message that hate is tolerated,” Teplitsky told the Free Beacon. “Northwestern must act decisively not only to investigate this vandalism, but to enforce Title VI protections and show that this behavior is unacceptable.”
Still, the anonymity of the incident gave one student “a sense of empowerment.”
“I hope it wasn’t Northwestern students behind the vandalism—I want to believe our community wouldn’t stoop so low. But the fact that it was done anonymously, and on one of the most important Jewish holidays, speaks volumes,” Samuel Feldman, a sophomore at Northwestern’s School of Engineering, told the Free Beacon. “This wasn’t ignorance—it was intentional and hateful. Strangely, that also gives me a sense of empowerment. For centuries, antisemites acted boldly and publicly. In 2025, they feel the need to hide. Maybe that means we’re making progress.”
CAAN formally referred the incident to the FBI and urged the bureau to investigate it as a potential federal hate crime.
Unity of Fields, formerly Palestine Action US, is well known for engaging in and encouraging anti-Israel campus activism, regularly sharing footage of criminal vandalism across colleges and universities. Last fall, the group took credit for vandalism on Columbia’s campus and pushed activists clashing with law enforcement to “resist them!” and “escalate4gaza.” Unity of Fields was also involved in the storming of a campus building, Hamilton Hall. It similarly shared live footage of Barnard College students storming a campus library last month.
On the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, the group shared footage of vandalism on Harvard University’s campus, which it called “an act of solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.”
