WASHINGTON — George Washington University said Wednesday it was investigating after several anti-Israel messages were projected onto a library named after a Jewish alumnus and his wife.
Messages reading “Glory to our martyrs” and “free Palestine from the river to the sea” were projected Tuesday evening onto the Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library at the school’s Foggy Bottom campus. The library is named for real estate developer and philanthropist Melvin Gelman and his wife, Estelle, who served as a university trustee, a member of the U.S. Holocaust Museum's board and the first female president of the American Cancer Society. The Gelmans, who were Jewish, also endowed a chair of Judaic studies at the university, and the library houses a collection of nearly 30,000 volumes of Hebrew and Judaic studies.
According to the university, the projections violated school policy and were quickly removed. On Wednesday, the university released a statement disavowing the projections and promising the individuals responsible would be held accountable.
“The statements made by these individuals in no way reflect the views of the university,” GW wrote in a statement. “We are reviewing this incident and will take any appropriate steps with respect to the individuals involved in accordance with university policies.”
The projections drew a swift and vocal response, including on the floor of the U.S. Senate, where Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday morning described them as a call for “the destruction of the Jewish state.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, international Jewish advocacy group the American Jewish Committee said the projections were antisemitism and called for them to be “condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
According to GW Hillel, the university’s undergraduate population is approximately 27% Jewish – making it one of the largest Jewish student populations at a private university in the country.
The projections at GW come days after American University reported two swastikas and a Nazi slogan were found graffitied in a campus dorm. The university’s president said an investigation had been launched and those responsible would be held accountable.
Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a briefing that both antisemitic and Islamophobic threats have been on the rise since Hamas invaded Israel. In a statement to the GW community on Oct. 9, President Ellen M. Granberg urged students to prioritize “coming together and caring for one another” in response to the war.
“These messages of compassion and understanding remain the foremost priority for the university,” Granberg’s statement read.
The university said Wednesday that Granberg intended to communicate directly with the school community about the projections.