Police Investigating Hanging of Antisemitic Banners at University of California, Davis

Police at the University of California, Davis are investigating recent incidents in which antisemitic banners were hung from a bridge on campus last weekend, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Messages written on the banners read, “The Holocaust is an anti-white lie,” and “Communism is Jewish.”

In a statement on Sunday, UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May said, “Four white men wearing black clothing and masks displayed a banner over the Highway 113 bicycle overpass that contained racist antisemitic statements. We recently received a report indicating that a similar incident occurred last weekend. University police have determined this to be a hate incident of concern to our campus community.”

“We are sickened that anyone would invest any time in such cowardly acts of hate and intimidation,” May added. “They have no place here.”

Today, four white men wearing black clothing and masks displayed a banner over the Highway 113 bicycle overpass that contained racist anti-Semitic statements.

We are sickened. White supremacy, hate and intimidation have no place here.

Full message: https://t.co/3LBjs5itG4 pic.twitter.com/ZLKX1sNsbg

— Gary S. May (@Chancellor_May) August 29, 2022

Davis Mayor Lucas Frerichs tweeted, “Hate has no place in Davis. As Mayor, I unequivocally stand with our Jewish community in Davis, at UC Davis and beyond.”

A hate incident occurred over the weekend in Davis and Mayor Lucas Frerichs made a statement. pic.twitter.com/GsAo706Y2R

— City of Davis (@CityofDavis) August 29, 2022

A local Jewish synagogue, Congregation Bet Haverim, commented, “Seeing such hate so close to our community is undoubtedly upsetting, and it urged people to “consider responding to this incident by doing something Jewish: say a prayer, study a text, or support a Jewish cause.”

“Whatever the intent of the banners’ authors, may their act today result in more Judaism in our lives and our world,” it said.

In recent years, there have been multiple incidents of antisemitism at UC Davis, JTA reported, including the spray-painting of swastikas on a Jewish fraternity in 2015 and the distribution of neo-Nazi fliers in 2019.

According to new data released by the state government last month, a total of 152 “anti-Jewish bias events” occurred in California in 2021, marking a 32.2% increase from the 115 of the previous year.