Swastika image sent to cellphones of students at suburban Chicago high school

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(JTA) — An image of a swastika was sent to the cellphones of students during an assembly at a suburban Chicago high school.

The image was “air-dropped” Friday morning on an Apple device to students attending the Tradition of Excellence assembly at the Oak Park and River Forest High School.

The sender was later identified as a student who was in the auditorium at the time, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The incident follows two incidents of racist and anti-Semitic graffiti found on the school’s campus since the beginning of the month.

On Nov. 2, racist and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered outside the school building on a shed near the campus tennis courts. Days later, “hate-speech graffiti” including a swastika and racist and anti-Semitic comments, including “GAS the Jews,” was discovered inside a campus bathroom.

The school held a panel discussion Nov. 7 with students, religious leaders and school board members titled “Community Conversation Around Hate Crimes: Coming Together for Change.” The program also was in response to recent hate-driven events, such as the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, according to the report.

Meanwhile, a Jewish student at a Chicago public school, the Oscar Mayer Magnet School, found a swastika drawn on his locker last week, as well as what the school called other “derogatory symbols.”

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