A University of Delaware student, now banned from campus, has been charged with three misdemeanors, including a Hate Crime. The charges follow an incident where she vandalized a Holocaust memorial sponsored by a Jewish student group and launched into an antisemitic tirade.
The arrest was made on the evening of May 8 by officers from the University of Delaware Police Department. Jenna Kandeel, 23, was taken into custody after witnesses reported that she had damaged several flags at a Holocaust memorial on the UD Green and made derogatory statements about the Jewish community and the Holocaust. Kandeel later confessed to the vandalism when questioned by police officers.
Attorney General Kathy Jennings commented on the situation, stating: “We have a proud history of protecting free speech in this country, including and especially political dissent. 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. 80 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.”
Kandeel is currently facing charges for Hate Crime, Criminal Mischief, and Disorderly Conduct - all misdemeanors.