Harun Nasrullah
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating an incident at the American University in Washington, D.C., where a Palestinian employee received a death threat that was slipped under the door of his office.
Wassim Aburakia-Einhorn, Director of Technology School of Public Affairs at the university, found a note in his campus office that read, “Go back to where you came from. You might get lucky with a missile and meet your Allah sooner! Death to all Palestinians!”
“What was terrifying was what was written in it, and as soon as I read it, this whole eerie feeling took over,” Aburakia-Einhorn said. “My heart sank.”
“Is there someone hiding in my office? What’s going on?” he wondered. He said he was left feeling “terrified and confused.” That night, Aburakia-Einhorn called longtime friend Andrew El-Kadi, who is also an American University employee and a Palestinian citizen of Israel. El-Kadi said his friend’s pain is his pain, and he, too, feels fear about the note.
“I had my office checked the next day, in the morning, to make sure there wasn’t anything in there,” he said. “I was wondering how widespread it was.”
AU President Sylvia Burwell strongly condemned the incident on October 25, writing on the university’s website, “This vile and dehumanising act targeting our Palestinian community is reprehensible and will not be tolerated… No act of hate will deter us from supporting community members who are not only feeling the pain and weight of traumatic global events but also the vulnerability of being subjected to hateful acts in our own community.”
Earlier this month, antisemitic messages were painted on a dorm’s walls.
“The seriousness and threatening nature of both this incident and the antisemitic graffiti found last week have led us to engage with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to collaborate on both investigations. Anyone found responsible for these acts will be subject to relevant laws, university policies, and appropriate disciplinary actions.”
The message concluded, “Hate—antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, or any other form of discrimination or exclusion—will not prevail at American University.
The work of so many to support and safeguard our community will make us stronger as we reject and expunge the ugly behaviour we have witnessed in these acts. That work moves forward with each of us naming hate, condemning it, being inclusive rather than divisive, and supporting our fellow community members.”
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