The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday condemned at an alleged anti-Semitic hate crime against a Jewish student at Michigan State University on Sunday.
The student, Zachary Tennen, 19, suffered a broken jaw at an off-campus party after two men approached him and asked the MSU journalism sophomore whether he was Jewish, the Detroit Free Press reports.
The men then raised their arms in a Nazi salute, chanting “Heil Hitler” and then knocked Tennen unconscious, the
Free Press reports. Several other students witnessed the incident. Tennen was hospitalized, the newspaper reported.
The East Lansing Police Department, however, said on Tuesday that its preliminary investigation indicated it was not likely a hate crime, according to the Free Press.
ADL officials said that they have spoken to Tennen’s parents and that they had been working with police and university officials since learning of the incident.
“We are horrified by this violent assault and allegations that the student may have been viciously attacked because he was Jewish,” said Betsy Kellman, ADL’s Detroit regional director. “We are confident that the East Lansing Police will thoroughly investigate this deeply troubling case and, given the allegations, treat it as a possible hate crime. We hope the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice.”
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