Man arrested after allegedly attacking Jewish students at University of Pittsburgh

A 52-year-old man was arrested Friday after allegedly attacking two Jewish students with a bottle at the University of Pittsburgh .

Jarrett Buba, who lives in the Oakland neighborhood where the university is located, ran across the street and struck two students with a bottle as they were walking along the campus, before being subdued by one of them, according to Pittsburgh police. One of the students had cuts to his face, while the other sustained cuts to the neck area.

Both of the students were wearing yarmulkes, while Buba was wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf that is associated with Palestinians . Agents from the FBI’s Pittsburgh office are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

Buba faces two counts of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and harassment, among other charges. He has no affiliation with the university.

The university condemned the incident, saying, “Neither acts of violence nor antisemitism will be tolerated.” They also said there is no “ongoing threat to the public” as a result of the attack.

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The attack comes as pro-Palestinian protests roiled college campuses in the spring of this year, leading to significant scrutiny of universities’ responses to antisemitism following Hamas’s attack on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. Multiple university presidents resigned, including Harvard President Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, and most recently Columbia University President Minouche Shafik.

The incident occurred just at the end of the University of Pittsburgh’s first week of classes for the fall semester.