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Shellfish dumped on UC Berkeley’s Jewish fraternity house on first Shabbat of semester
(J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Local police are investigating after a Jewish fraternity at the University of California, Berkeley, reported finding hundreds of shellfish dumped across its property.
The shellfish were also thrown through a window at Berkeley’s chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, in what the fraternity is calling “an act of antisemitism vandalism.”
“We go outside, we saw crayfish had been thrown all over our deck, all over the side driveway, through the windows into someone’s room and scattered all around the backyard,” said Jadon Gershon-Friedberg, a Berkeley senior and the AEPi chapter president, who lives in the fraternity house. A fraternity brother had noticed a half-dozen people with a bucket approach the house just before 1 a.m., he said.
Gershon-Friedberg and other fraternity brothers immediately checked around neighboring fraternity houses to see whether shellfish had been dumped on their property too. They believe theirs was the only target.
“We realized this is more than just a prank,” Gershon-Friedberg said.
Given that the perpetrators used shellfish, a food forbidden under the laws of keeping kosher, and that they targeted the Jewish fraternity on the first Shabbat of the school year, AEPi considers the incident to be antisemitic, according to a statement released Sunday. “This incident was undoubtedly deliberate, aimed at intimidating our chapter,” AEPi’s statement said.
The vandalism comes two weeks after AEPi’s national office launched a partnership with the Anti-Defamation League. Under the partnership, the fraternity’s umbrella organization will hire a staffer to train members across its 150 chapters to respond to antisemitism and advocate for Israel. AEPi was founded more than a century ago after Jews were excluded from a New York University fraternity, and in a statement, AEPi CEO Rob Derdiger said chapter members are “on the front lines of this battle on college campuses.”
After the shellfish were discovered, Gershon-Friedberg called 911 and said officers arrived at the house quickly. He said he filed police reports with both the city and campus police departments and hopes they will investigate the vandalism as a hate crime. The Berkeley Police Department confirmed that the incident is under investigation, but didn’t specify whether it’s being investigated as a hate crime. Campus police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When the sun rose on Saturday, Gershon-Friedberg saw the full extent of the mess, which left a strong, fishy odor in and around the house.
“We found claws by the side of the house and by the door. We found a fish tail and head in someone’s room,” he said. “It was absolutely disgusting.”
AEPi’s national office paid for a cleaning crew to clear away the shellfish and pressure-wash the deck that morning.
Gershon-Friedberg and Jon Pierce, a former AEPi International president who now serves as the fraternity’s spokesperson, both said the fraternity plans to use the incident to help Berkeley students understand what antisemitism looks like and how to ensure the safety of Jews on campus and more broadly.
“Maybe this is a crime of ignorance as much as a crime of hate,” Pierce said.
Gershon-Friedberg also sent a letter to the school’s administration detailing what happened.
“We are saddened and dismayed by what appears to be a hateful incident of antisemitism targeting the members of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity,” Dan Mogulof, a UC Berkeley spokesperson, said in a statement.
“The campus administration has a long-standing and unwavering commitment to confronting antisemitism, and its expression, as we do with all forms of bias, discrimination, and hatred,” Mogulof added. In response to the incident, UC Berkeley’s vice chancellors of equity and inclusion and of student affairs are offering their support to fraternity members and other Jews on campus, Mogulof said.
“An investigation is underway,” he said, “and we will, as always, ensure there are appropriate consequences if laws, campus policies, and/or the Student Code of Conduct are found to have been violated.”
There are 20 students who live at the AEPi house, and 25 students total in the chapter. The fraternity has eight students who keep kosher, according to Gershon-Friedberg.
“Everyone is still a little shaken up,” Gershon-Friedberg said. “This is our home.”
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The post Shellfish dumped on UC Berkeley’s Jewish fraternity house on first Shabbat of semester appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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FBI Investigating ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, Director Says
FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Trump’s proposed budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday the agency was aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado.
While he did not provide further details, Patel said in a social media post: “Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available.”
According to CBS News, which cited witnesses at the scene, a suspect attacked people with Molotov cocktails who were participating in a walk to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
The Boulder Police Department said it was responding to a report of an attack in the city involving several victims. It has not released further details but a press conference was expected at 4 p.m. Mountain Time (2200 GMT).
The attack comes just weeks after a Chicago-born man was arrested in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. Someone opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel.
The shooting fueled polarization in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
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Terrorist Responsible for Death of 21 Soldiers Eliminated
An Israeli F-35I “Adir” fighter jet. Photo: IDF
i24 News – Khalil Abd al-Nasser Mohammed Khatib, the terrorist who commanded the terrorist cell that killed 21 soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip on January 22, 2024, was killed by an Israeli airstrike, the IDF said on Sunday.
In a joint operation between the military and the Shin Bet security agency, the terrorist was spotted in a reconnaissance mission. The troops called up an aircraft to target him, and he was eliminated.
Khatib planned and took part in many other terrorist plots against Israeli soldiers.
i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel interviewed Dor Almog, the sole survivor of the mass casualty disaster, who was informed on live TV about the death of the commander responsible for the killing his brothers-in-arms.
“I was sure this day would come – I was a soldier and I know what happens at the end,” said Almog. “The IDF will do everything to bring back the abductees and to topple Hamas, to the last one man.”
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Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81
FILE PHOTO: Vice Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve System Stanley Fischer arrives to hear Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney delivering the Michel Camdessus Central Banking Lecture at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Stanley Fischer, who helped shape modern economic theory during a career that included heading the Bank of Israel and serving as vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 81.
The Bank of Israel said he died on Saturday night but did not give a cause of death. Fischer was born in Zambia and had dual US-Israeli citizenship.
As an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fischer trained many of the people who went on to be top central bankers, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank president.
Fischer served as chief economist at the World Bank, and first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis and was then vice chairman at Citigroup from 2002 to 2005.
During an eight-year stint as Israel’s central bank chief from 2005-2013, Fischer helped the country weather the 2008 global financial crisis with minimal economic damage, elevating Israel’s economy on the global stage, while creating a monetary policy committee to decide on interest rates like in other advanced economies.
He was vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017 and served as a director at Bank Hapoalim in 2020 and 2021.
Current Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron praised Fischer’s contribution to the Bank of Israel and to advancing Israel’s economy as “truly significant.”
The soft-spoken Fischer – who played a role in Israel’s economic stabilization plan in 1985 during a period of hyperinflation – was chosen by then Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as central bank chief.
Netanyahu, now prime minister, called Fischer a “great Zionist” for leaving the United States and moving to Israel to take on the top job at Israel’s central bank.
“He was an outstanding economist. In the framework of his role as governor, he greatly contributed to the Israeli economy, especially to the return of stability during the global economic crisis,” Netanyahu said, adding that Stanley – as he was known in Israel – proudly represented Israel and its economy worldwide.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also paid tribute.
“He played a huge role in strengthening Israel’s economy, its remarkable resilience, and its strong reputation around the world,” Herzog said. “He was a world-class professional, a man of integrity, with a heart of gold. A true lover of peace.”
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