Police investigate swastika stickers posted around Harvard Square

Police are investigating after several “religiously threatening” stickers with antisemitic symbols were posted around Harvard Square, officials said.

The stickers were placed on light poles in the Charles River area and reported to Harvard University police on Monday at 2:10 a.m. Officers searched the area but were unable to find who was responsible.

The stickers showed an Israeli flag with the Star of David replaced with a swastika, in an apparent comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany, along with the phrase “Stop Funding Israeli Terrorism,” according to photos obtained by The Harvard Crimson, a student newspaper.

Most of the stickers have been taken down, a Cambridge police spokesperson said Tuesday. Investigators are working to obtain surveillance video of the area.

A Harvard spokesperson said Tuesday the university “has and will continue to be unequivocal that antisemitism will not be tolerated on our campus.”

The stickers were posted in “multiple locations” in the vicinity of Mount Auburn Street, police said. At least one was found just “feet away” from Rosovsky Hall, which houses Harvard Hillel, the university’s largest Jewish center, the Crimson reported.

Last week, Hillel staffers discovered “intimidating” flyers posted near the building — though it later emerged they had been posted by a member of a Hillel affiliate on campus, according to the Crimson.

The Anti-Defamation League of New England said they were aware of the investigation into the stickers.

“We urge a thorough investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable,” the group said. “Jewish students, like all students, deserve to feel safe on campus.”

Harvard has been clouded by accusations of antisemitism over the past several months, a controversy that has seen harsh criticism from prominent donors, the resignation of university president Claudine Gay, and numerous confrontations between university officials and pro-Palestinian activists. Pro-Palestinian groups say their criticism of Israel should not be conflated with antisemitism.

Last year, there were numerous incidents of unauthorized flyering, vandalism, and extreme rhetoric at Harvard targeting Jewish and Palestinian students alike. Last week, an unidentified person smashed a window at University Hall and splashed red paint on the John Harvard statue.

Camilo Fonseca can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.