Simon Fraser University was among those targeted by a hacker spewing antisemitic hate. (photo from facebook.com/PeakSFU)
Simon Fraser University was among many universities targeted by a white supremacist computer hacker purveying antisemitic hate.
Andrew Auernheimer, an Arkansas native now living in Abkhazia, a secessionist region of the republic of Georgia, told the Washington Post that he was responsible for causing at least 20,000 printers and fax machines throughout North America to spew out copies of an anti-Jewish hate poster.
SFU was among the campuses whose fax machines were affected last month, according to Nancy Johnston, executive director of student affairs.
“They weren’t actually posted, they just arrived on people’s faxes,” Johnston said. “It was all just removed and trashed here.”
The sheet featured two swastikas and the words, “White man, are you sick and tired of the Jews destroying your country through mass immigration and degeneracy? Join us in the struggle for global white supremacy at the Daily Stormer,” followed by the web address for the neo-Nazi hate site.
The printer hacking affected administrative and departmental offices at campuses in many U.S. states, the Post reported, adding that an official for the Anti-Defamation League said his organization had received many reports from people concerned about the content emerging from their printers and fax machines.
“Any demonstration of anti-Jewish hostility is a cause of serious concern,” said Nico Slobinsky, director of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Pacific region. “This flyer and its contents have no place on any campus in Canada.”
Rabbi Philip Bregman, executive director of Hillel BC, which serves SFU among other campuses, sent this statement to the Independent: “We at Hillel BC are extremely concerned about this latest example of antisemitism that is circulating throughout North American universities. It is our hope and dream that humanity will eventually find a way to live with each other with respect and loving kindness.”