A Jewish student at Michigan State University was the victim of a hate crime where he was beaten unconscious and had his mouth stapled while his attackers made anti-Semitic taunts.
Jewish Student’s Mouth Stapled by Neo-Nazis
A Jewish student at Michigan State University was the victim of a hate crime where he was beaten unconscious and had his mouth stapled while his attackers made anti-Semitic taunts.
Zach Tennen, 19, was at a party close to Michigan State University campus in the early hours of Sunday when he was set upon by two men who he said asked if he was Jewish.
The attackers, who claimed to be Ku Klux Klan, then raised their arms in a Nazi salute, saying ‘Heil Hitler’ and began hitting the teenager.
Zach told Local 4 that while he was passed out, the attackers managed to staple through his gums.
He said: ‘It was coming up in my two bottom teeth and it started in my gum, so, somehow they managed to staple it.’
His mother told the Detroit Free Press that around 20 people at the party watched the attack but no one helped her son. He was then thrown out of the party.
The teenager, of Franklin, Michigan, also has a broken jaw below his bottom teeth which will require being set with wire.
His family contacted the Anti-Defamation League, an organization which fights anti-Semitism, on account of the assault.
In a statement to MailOnline, ADL Detroit Regional Director Betsy Kellman said: ‘We are horrified by this violent assault and allegations that the student may have been viciously attacked because he was Jewish.
‘We are confident that the East Lansing Police will thoroughly investigate this deeply troubling case and, given the allegations, treat it as a possible hate crime. We hope the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice.’
Zach, who graduated from Birmingham Groves High School last year and studies journalism at MSU, said he had drank alcohol at the party but only a small amount.
After his attackers fled, he called a cab to take him to Lansing Sparrow Hospital.
The hospital did not call the police but said that it was standard policy to alert authorities if someone reported being a victim of assault. Zach later had surgery at a Detroit hospital to have his jaw wired shut.
East Lansing police department had yet to respond to MailOnline about the attack after the Tennen family filed a report.
Michigan State’s Student Affairs and Services released this statement: ‘Michigan State University’s Student Affairs and Services office has reached out to the family of the student assaulted in East Lansing to provide the academic and other support the student needs.
‘MSU will work with the student and his professors to ensure he can fulfill his academic requirements, as we would with any student in need.
‘As the incident occurred off campus in East Lansing, all questions about the police investigation need to go the East Lansing Police Department.’
Sara
Just horrible!! May Zach have a refua shleima b’karov mamosh. And may his attackers be caught and pay a substantial price VERY soon!
Mendel Z
no worries, theres a great shliach there who will take care of things
Nate Birnboim, Boro Park
This is as brutal and mean as it gets from these punks. Let the Lansing Police catch them, as it’s easy, identify them and throw them in the slammer asap and I mean for a good number of years on racist charges!!!!!!!!!! Do you get my drift????
what in the world?
Oy, Hashem Yishmor!
yossi b
catch them and kmill em
to number 5
make them suffer before then kill them with no mercy
mottel
to #2 I don’t understand – take care of what? This guy had a terrible experience – having a shaliach or not there is not going to undo the trauma? Explain??
horrible and very very very scary
wake up Yidden!
disappointed
They won’t be caught 7the ADL will do or say nothing more it will be swept under the rug quietly & quickly & don’t count on the feds either since it wasn’t a black man attacked who cares!!
Realist Jew
Ku Klux Klan. Wow. White supremacy reign supreme? They have been really showing their hate lately.
Nate Birnboim, Boro Park
Number 7: I fully agree. The damage has been done Number 2: What in the world will this holy shaliach do now? Bench him with a ksiva v’chasima tova? That’s about it. The shliach should not get into the limelite and stay low, and just keep his chabad house working. Let this poor Jewish boy recover in peace. He wants to be alone.
Levi
Moronic Ease Lansing Police Department have added insult to injury by claiming that “it doesn’t seem to be antisemitic.”
The Police in East Lansing are solely there to intimidate and bully the students, take a look at CedarFest 2008, where East Lansing Police tear gassed hundreds of students.
All they do is prey on young students for underage drinking, parking their cars incorrectly, or drinking alcohol on public property.
Shame on you, Police Department of East Lansing.
Mendel Z
to #7, if you don’t understand of having the value of a shliach to the Rebbe in an area, then you should just remove yourself from this site.
Leah
The shliach at Michigan State University is amazing and is a tremendous support to the Jewish families and students. They should continue to do the Rebbe’s work and be bentched with everything they need to do so.
This young yid should have a speedy recovery and continue to always be a proud jew.
And we ALL should REALLY do everything we can to bring Moshiach NOW!
Milhouse
#10, what are you talking about? The KKK doesn’t even exist any more in any real sense; there are maybe a few hundred people in the whole USA who identify with it.