In the weeks before and after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, two University of Pennsylvania students were arrested in antisemitic incidents that shook the Philadelphia campus. One stormed into the Penn Hillel building, yelled “Fuck the Jews,” and destroyed furniture. Another stole an Israeli flag from an apartment near campus.
Both incidents generated media attention, and the school released a lengthy statement addressing the Hillel intrusion the day after it occurred. “We unequivocally condemn such hateful acts. They are an assault on our values and mission as an institution and have no place at Penn,” then-university president Liz Magill said in a statement. “We are unwavering in our commitment to ensuring our Jewish community feels safe and supported on our campus.”
What Penn will not say is what, if any, disciplinary action the students faced and whether they remain students at the Ivy League school. A spokesman for the University of Pennsylvania did not respond to a request for comment.
The incident at Penn Hillel occurred on Sept. 21, and the student was arrested by campus police. Penn has refused to identify the culprit behind the Penn Hillel incident, referring to the intruder in a statement as an “individual” who “was determined to be in crisis.” The intruder is in fact a male student at Penn, a Penn Hillel spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon. The school’s Division of Public Safety, which oversees the campus police, told the Free Beacon that it could not disclose the name of the antisemitic intruder or comment on his enrollment status, because “no individual has been criminally charged.”
The second incident occurred on Oct. 28, when 20-year-old student Tara Tarawneh allegedly stole an Israeli flag from a Campus Apartments house before speaking at an antisemitic rally in downtown Philadelphia, where she recounted feeling “so empowered and happy” as Hamas’s assault on the Jewish state unfolded. Tarawneh was arrested on Nov. 4 for the theft.
