A 21-year-old student was arrested Tuesday for making “horrendous” anti-Jewish death threats at Cornell University that put the Ivy League campus on high alert over the weekend.
Patrick Dai, an engineering student at the prestigious university, was named in a federal complaint accusing him of posting threats to kill or injure another person using interstate communications, which could land him in prison for up to five years.
The Pittsford, New York, native was indicted just hours after New York State Police officers identified a person of interest over online threats to “bring an assault rifle to campus.”
The disturbing messages, which came days after graffiti reading “Fk Israel” was scrawled on the sidewalks of the upstate Ithaca campus, were revealed by university officials on Sunday.
A person of interest has been revealed in the “horrendous” anti-Jewish death threats at Cornell University that put the Ivy League campus on high alert over the weekend, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday. Governor Kathy Hochul
“The genocidal fascist Zionist regime will be destroyed,” said one of the messages posted on a public school forum.
“Rape and kill all Jewish women before more Jewish Hitlers are born.”
Dai allegedly threatened to “shoot up 104 West,” a university dining hall that caters predominantly to kosher diets, and to “slit the throat” of any Jewish man he encountered.
New York State Police were deployed to upstate Cornell University, including the campus’s kosher and multicultural dining hall, after vile death threats against Jews were posted in an online forum over the weekend. .
Joel Malina, Cornell’s vice president for university relations, confirmed in a statement Tuesday that a Cornell student was in custody, but did not name Dai.
“We remain shocked and condemn these horrific anti-Semitic threats and believe they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We know that our university community will continue to support each other in the days ahead,” Malina said, adding that the school will maintain its “increased security presence on campus.”
Dai was questioned hours before his arrest after state police identified a “person of interest” in the disturbing case, Gov. Kathy Hochul. revealed in X.
Cornell’s upstate Ithaca campus was placed on high alert over the weekend after a series of vile anti-Jewish death threats were posted on an online forum. X/cbouzy
“When I met with Cornell students yesterday I promised them that we would do everything possible to find the perpetrator,” he added.
“Public safety is my top priority and I am committed to combating hate and bias wherever they appear.”
A New York State Police representative referred questions to campus police officers.
Public messages threatened to shoot up the school and rape Jewish women.X/cbouzy
Pro-Palestinian unrest has increased on the state’s university campuses in the wake of the surprise attacks on Israel by radical Hamas militants on October 7, and the subsequent counteroffensive in the Gaza Strip by the Jewish nation.
More than 1,400 Israelis, almost all civilians, were killed in the sneak attack carried out earlier this month by militants, and more than 200 others were kidnapped, including some Americans.
On Tuesday, Hochul turned to Jonathan Lippman, former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, to review “policies and procedures related to anti-Semitism and discrimination on the City University of New York campuses amid the unrest.” .
The disturbing online threats came after graffiti reading “F–k Israel” was found scrawled on the sidewalks of the Ivy League school’s campus in Ithaca. X / @samaberman
“The problem did not start in the weeks after the October 7 attacks,” Hochul said in making the announcement.
“It has been growing on several campuses and has been observed most intensely at the City University of New York.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn