18 | JUNE 17 • 2021
T
here is a war of words — and paint —
going on at “The Rock” in Ann Arbor.
Ordinarily, students and locals
paint The Rock, located just blocks off cam-
pus from the University of Michigan on
Washtenaw Avenue, with Greek letters for
their fraternity or sorority, to cheer “Go Blue”
before a sporting event or declare love for a
sweetheart as a romantic gesture. Over the
decades, there have been political messages
protesting everything from the Vietnam War
to supporting Black Lives Matter.
Over weeks that have transpired following
Hamas’ latest round of violence with Israel,
The Rock has been painted with the words
“F*** Israel” and “boycott Israel” and “Israel
commits genocide,
” along with Palestinian
flags. The vulgar language was found on the
side of the rock that faces the Hillel building
across the street.
Hillel at the University of Michigan released
a statement calling the “hateful” slurs “anti-Is-
rael, antisemitic and intended to target our
Hillel community.
”
“We won’t allow these messages to intimi-
date us,
” the statement continued. “This is not
a Jewish issue; it is a campus issue in which
language and vandalism are escalating to
unacceptable levels of hate and intimidation.
We are the Leaders and Best. We are better
than this.
“We call on our campus partners and lead-
ers to show your support of our Jewish com-
munity and condemn these hateful messages.
Thank you to the University of Michigan
administration for condemning the hateful
messages on The Rock and around campus,
sending messages of support to our student
leadership, and making spaces available for
our students to come to you to report inci-
dents of bias and hate.
“Love will always overcome hate! We
encourage our campus community to join us
in bringing positive messages of community,
peace and respect to our campus. The answer
to those who use free speech for their hateful
messaging against others is more speech. Let’s
flood our campus and The Rock with messag-
es of love to overcome hate!”
STUDENT TAKES ACTION
At the sight of the hateful messages, U-M
2019 graduate, professional photographer and
incoming graduate student at the Ross School
of Business Samii Stoloff repeatedly painted
and repainted over the anti-Israel messages.
She painted over the hate first with blue and
white paint and stars of David. Come June,
she decided she would cover the hate with
love. Her palette of choice: a rainbow in honor
of Pride month. Hillel donated some cans of
paint to Stoloff’s work.
“Since mid-May, every hate slur you can
possibly imagine about Israel was painted
and then repainted on that rock,
” Stoloff said.
“The first time, I used blue and white spray
paint and wrote the words ‘Israel wants peace,
’
but because June is Pride month, I just want-
ed to paint a rainbow all over the hatred.
”
As she and a friend painted and covered up
the anti-Israel messages, she said about 20 dif-
ferent people driving by in cars shouted at her
asking her why she supports Israel and why
she hates Palestine.
“People were shouting accusatory remarks
at me, but I just told them that I had just
OUR COMMUNITY
Rock Wars
Student paints over anti-Israel slurs
left on Ann Arbor landmark.
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
COURTESY OF SAMII STOLOFF
Samii Stoloff painted over anti-
Israel slurs several times.