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Yet Another Swastika at George Washington University

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This one (as in many such incidents) was posted by a Jewish student.

A SWASTIKA was posted on the bulletin board of a Jewish fraternity in a George Washington University dorm on Monday, leading upset students to immediately report it to police. (ILLUSTRATION: George Washington University)

The symbol — recognized as an emblem of hate from Nazi Germany — apparently came from an internal source: A member of the fraternity, who is Jewish, admitted that he posted it there. The student said that he brought it back from a spring break trip to India, according to university officials.

Though known in Western cultures as a sign of hatred and anti-semitism since the Nazis co-opted it during the early part of the 20th century, the swastika is an ancient symbol still commonly used — and considered sacred — in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, denoting auspiciousness.

hindu-s
Hindu religious men from the Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan Maninagar, give final touches to a huge piece of folk art, a Rangoli, ahead of Diwali in Ahmedabad on October 24, 2011. This traditional Rangoli is shaped like a swastika which Hinuds believe is a symbol of progress.

GW’s president, Steven Knapp, wrote in a message to the campus community that “while the student claims his act was not an expression of hatred, the university is referring the matter to the MPD for review by its Hate Crimes Unit.”

On Tuesday, the student was expelled from the fraternity by national leaders of Zeta Beta Tau.

“This type of behavior is unacceptable and is not tolerated by the brothers of this fraternity,” Nick Carr, president of the local chapter, said in a statement. “We are appalled by the actions taken by this undergraduate.”

Hillel Executive Director Yoni Kaiser-Blueth added, “The swastika is a symbol of hate and horror. It has no place here at The George Washington University.”

Last month, many GW students were alarmed when swastikas were written in a dorm on campus which houses a predominantly Jewish sorority.

[Read more about that incident here.]

Some complained that the university’s response was inadequate, and some national groups called on the university’s president to take stronger steps to eliminate hate speech. A letter to Steven Knapp read, in part:

“In the last year, more than 10 college and university campuses around the country have been defaced with swastikas, in each case causing particular distress to Jewish students.

“Therefore, we believe it is imperative for you to take the following steps to deter future acts of anti-Jewish bigotry and help protect Jewish students and all students on your campus:

“Publicly acknowledge that a swastika is an antisemitic symbol associated with genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people, and that the swastikas found inside the International House were particularly upsetting to Jewish students on your campus, who felt targeted for hatred and discrimination.”

The letter asked for a public affirmation that the university would investigate this and all similar incidents as hate crimes, and affirm a commitment to educating university staff including police officers to identify antisemitism.

It was signed by AMCHA Initiative; American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists; Americans for Peace and Tolerance; Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA); David Horowitz Freedom Center; Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET); Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel; Iranian American Jewish Federation; Israeli-American Council (IAC); National Conference on Jewish Affairs; Middle East Political and Information Network (MEPIN); Proclaiming Justice to the Nations; Scholars for Peace in the Middle East; StandWithUs; Students and Parents Against Campus Anti-Semitism; The Lawfare Project; Training and Education About the Middle East (T.E.A.M.); and the Zionist Organization of America.

Knapp told the campus community Monday that the incident from February would also be referred to D.C. police’s hate crimes unit. His statement went on to say:

“Since its adoption nearly a century ago as the symbol of the Nazi Party, the swastika has acquired an intrinsically anti-Semitic meaning, and therefore the act of posting it in a university residence hall is utterly unacceptable.

“Our entire community should be aware of the swastika’s association with genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people and should be concerned about the extremely harmful effects that displaying this symbol has on individuals and on the climate of our entire university community.

“The university will embark on a program of education to ensure that all members of our community understand the damage that symbols of hatred do to us all.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Washington Post has it wrong. This symbol of the spinning cosmos — from the atom to our DNA spirals to the galaxies themselves — is a spiritual symbol not only the East, but to Europeans as well.

* * *

Source: The Washington Post

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Heinemann
Heinemann
25 March, 2015 10:42 am

A swastika (Hakenkreuz) placed on a bulletin board of a fraternity by a judish undergraduate should not cause alarm.

Young men? calling the police ? And are not reprehended
for wasting time and disparaging MPD?

What can the police do? Risk being condemned for insensitivity by the above organizations , who may refer the matter to ADL,ACLU, SPLC or Christians for Israel or DHS ad infinitum.

Its free advertisement for the holocaust racket
,
whose smoldering eternal fires must be kept burning.

Soon the price of this exaggerated and histrionic nonsense will demand more than hot air.

Will everyone be so pious and aggrieved if they knew what this fetishism has cost others and will be placed to their account in the end?!

GWU Law Prof John Banzhaf
GWU Law Prof John Banzhaf
25 March, 2015 11:17 pm

GWU Makes Racist Mistake, But Blames and Bans Student Student Barred from Passover Observances on Campus, Could Sue University George Washington University officials made a racist or religious mistake but, instead of promptly correcting it, they have blamed a Jewish student for “bigotry,” banishing him from the campus, threatening him with arrest, keeping him from Passover services, and also threatening to expel him at a hearing next Monday, says John Banzhaf, a senior law professor at the University. Campus officials, mistaking an ancient Indian symbol representing peace, prosperity, and other virtuous qualities for a Nazi swastika symbolizing racism and hate, blamed the Jewish student who posted it on the bulletin board of his own largely-Jewish fraternity, claiming incorrectly that it was in fact a swastika which expressed “bigotry and hatred,”… Read more »

Truthweed
Truthweed
20 July, 2019 7:12 pm

What a tangled web! Imagine the horror if the Jewish student greeted his kin by using the particular salute that means ‘I am unarmed and come in peace.

Josef Tone
Josef Tone
16 October, 2020 5:09 pm

Apparently 171 of 186 commisars were Jewish in the Soviet Union following the Bolshevik Revolution. Since they committed genocide against tens of millions of people who where of a different race than they were, shouldn’t the Star of David be banned from American campuses? Actually both the Swastika and the Saturnian hexagram (“Star of David”) were ancient Aryan symbols. The Swastika was brought into ancient India, and Jews merely adopted the Saturnian hexagram a millennium ago. So it is with their long, sordid, morbid fetish with us.

Josef Tone
Josef Tone
Reply to  Josef Tone
17 October, 2020 6:55 pm

I stand to be corrected here. The Swastika is an Aryan symbol, but probably originated with earlier Teutonic people. However, the Saturnian hexagram originated earlier than the Aryan civilization, back to Indo-Europeans in Sumeria.

AYTONOHTON
AYTONOHTON
Reply to  Josef Tone
2 December, 2021 12:03 pm

Apparently, Swastikas have been found in cave art discovered in northern Greece at the mountain of Paggaion (Παγγαίον) dated as back as the end of the Pleistocene epoch. It depicts popular ancient Greek mythology themes and in particular the brothers Kastor (Κάστωρ) and Polydeukes or Polydeuces (Πολυδεύκης) holding scepters with swastikas molded on the top. More here —> https://mythopedia.com/topics/castor-and-polydeuces. Also, I am pasting below the original Greek text I found here —> https://filoumenos.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=128 (I did not have time to translate it so use Google translate to read it) Το αρχαιότερο ίσως αντικείμενο που έχει βρεθεί με την σβάστικα είναι η βραχογραφία του Παγγαίου, όπου απεικονίζονται οι δίδυμοι, κάστωρ και Πολυδεύκης φέροντες σκήπτρα που καταλήγουν στην σβάστικα. Σημειωτέο ότι υπάρχει διχογνωμία για την χρονολόγηση, γεωλόγος συνέκρινε με της σπηλαιογραφία Λασκω και… Read more »

Josef Tone
Josef Tone
Reply to  AYTONOHTON
4 December, 2021 6:03 am

That’s so interesting, as there was apparently an older culture in Greece; older than the Olympian pantheon. I don’t know how much that had to do with a Hecatean culture. I suspect the ancient Greeks brought the swastika to Sicily and other locales.