University of Delaware student charged with hate crime after antisemitic remarks, vandalism on campus

NEWARK, Del. - An episode of what police are calling "an antisemitic tirade" has a University of Delaware student facing charges and a ban from campus.

23-year-old Jenna Kandeel was arrested by police with the university May 8, after witnesses said she made offensive remarks about the Jewish community and about the Holocaust.

Witnesses also said she damaged flags at a Holocaust memorial on campus.

The Holocaust memorial on the Green by Memorial Hall was approved by the university.

"We set up a bunch of flags on the Green to help remember and memorialize all the people that died in that four-year span. So, it’s a very sacred thing to a lot of people on campus and around the world," student Spencer Kufeld explained.

The arrest warrant says Kandeel destroyed them and spit on the flags while making vulgar anti-Jewish statements.

Officials said she admitted to the vandalism to police who took her into custody.

University officials then banned Kandeel from campus.

"We have a proud history of protecting free speech in this country, including and especially political dissent," said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. "But we need to be lucid enough to recognize the daylight — miles of it, in this case — between protest and hate. The Holocaust is not ancient history. Eighty years later, the world’s Jewish population still has not recovered; its survivors are still with us; and I fear that we still have not learned its lessons. Seeing this ignorance on display, particularly in an increasingly antisemitic climate, should be a wake-up call. We still have work to do."

According to authorities, Kandeel is charged with Hate Crime, Criminal Mischief and Disorderly Conduct.