Two Jewish students attacked at Chicago's DePaul University

(Reuters) - Masked men attacked two students who were demonstrating in support of Israel at Chicago's DePaul University on Wednesday, resulting in minor injuries and raising concern about potential antisemitism on the Catholic campus.

The university said it was working with Chicago police to determine if the assault was a hate crime.

Violence against Jewish and Palestinian Americans has surged across the country in the 13 months since the militant group Hamas attacked Israeli and Israel's subsequent assault on Hamas-governed Gaza.

One of the victims was a former member of the Israel Defense Forces who was wearing a sign identifying him as such and inviting conversation, said Josh Weiner, a co-founder of the Chicago Jewish Alliance, who said he knows both victims and had spoken with them since the incident.

University President Robert Manuel said the students received minor injuries and declined medical treatment. "We are outraged that this occurred on our campus," he said.

"We recognize that for a significant portion of our Jewish community, Israel is a core part of their Jewish identity. Those students – and every student - should feel safe on our university campus," Manuel said in a letter to faculty, staff and students.

Chicago police identified the victims as two men, ages 21 and 27, and said two male offenders struck the 27-year-old about the face and body and pushed the 21-year-old to the ground then fled on foot. Weiner said the students were standing near the student center just off campus property.

Detectives were investigating but there was no mention of hate crime in a brief press statement issued by police.

The Chicago Commission on Human Relations reported 50 anti-Jewish hate crimes in the city in the first half of 2024, equal to the number in all of 2023, while finding the number of attacks against Muslims and Arabs was down.

The city was rocked by the Oct. 26 shooting of 39-year-old Jewish man wearing a religious skullcap as he walked to synagogue. Police have charged a 22-year-old suspect with terrorism, hate crime and attempted murder in what they called an unprovoked attack.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Frank McGurty and Cynthia Osterman)