The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted eight people accused of taking part in a coordinated campaign of threats and vandalism that targeted University of Michigan officials, local businesses and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

The federal charges follow more than a year of nighttime attacks on the homes and workplaces of Jewish and university leaders across metro Detroit, many of them tied to demands that the university divest from Israel.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has described nearly a dozen related incidents dating back to February 2024, causing roughly $100,000 in damage. The acts mostly occurred late at night and included smashed windows and the use of noxious chemical substances, with political slogans such as “Free Palestine” left behind at each site.

The highest-profile target was Jordan Acker, a Jewish member of the university’s Board of Regents. In December 2024, vandals threw Mason jars, which police believed were filled with urine, through the front window of his Oakland County home while his family slept, and spray-painted his wife’s car with “Divest” and “Free Palestine.” The graffiti also included an inverted red triangle, a symbol Hamas has used to mark Israeli targets. Months earlier, in June 2024, his Goodman Acker law firm in Southfield was hit with red paint and graffiti reading “Free Palestine,” “Divest now,” “UM Kills” and other slogans.

Other targets stretched across the region. The Jewish Federation of Detroit, the home of university President Santa Ono, the home of chief investment officer Erik Lundberg, an officer’s home, a country club, a car dealership, an office and the historic Wilcox House were all targeted. On the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, Ono’s home and several Jewish-linked sites were tagged with words including “intifada” and “coward.” A group called Unity of Fields, formerly known as Palestine Action U.S., claimed responsibility for that wave, saying it had targeted everything from businesses to universities.

State efforts to prosecute the vandalism collapsed. In April 2025, federal and state agents raided homes in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Canton as part of the investigation. But weeks later, Nessel’s office dropped felony charges against seven pro-Palestinian protesters after learning that the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor had sent a statement supporting her prosecution to the court. Nessel said the impropriety of that contact forced the decision. The reversal meant that, until now, no one had faced trial.

The federal indictment fits a broader pattern. Shortly after taking office, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to more aggressively pursue antisemitism cases under federal civil rights law, and the DOJ created a multi-agency task force focused on harassment on college campuses. The department has since brought a series of antisemitism-related prosecutions, including charges against Pennsylvania men in connection with the ramming attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, earlier this year.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)