Harvard University is being denounced from several quarters after dozens of its student groups issued a statement claiming that Israel was “entirely responsible” for the brutal Hamas attacks on the country this past Saturday.
The controversy was sparked by a joint statement, endorsed by more than 30 student groups, titled “Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine.” In addition to saying “we… hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the statement reads, in part:
Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.” It added, “the apartheid regime is the only one to blame.
large number of harvard student organizations blaming israel solely for hamas terrorist attacks killing 700 civilians.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 8, 2023
can’t imagine who would want to identify with such a group. harvard parents—talk to your educated kids about this. pic.twitter.com/q9StJ3MJpf
Signed by President Claudine Gay and 17 other administrators, the statement was lambasted by several public figures. Harvard alum Representative Jake D. Auchincloss (D-Mass.), ridiculed it as “a word salad approved by committee,” according to The Harvard Crimson.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and a Harvard Law School graduate, wrote on X: “What the Hell is wrong with Harvard?”
The reactions had students scrambling to retract
As the implications of supporting terrorism sank in, many students panicked. Their bubble permits them to say outrageous things and merely call anyone who argues with them a racist or colonizer. They believed they were beefing up their DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) credentials for their CV as they graduate into the major law firms, consultants and other laptop class virtue signalers.
When the real world implications hit them from X posts like this one, they panicked.
I have been asked by a number of CEOs if @harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their… https://t.co/7kzGOAGwp9
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) October 10, 2023
Some of the organizations have already attempted to scrub their websites and instagrams. They have of course, all been archived.
The Nepal Students Association rightfully reversed in a heartfelt retraction. Hamas tortured, murdered and mutilated 10 innocent Nepalese students in their attack. It is shameful they even considered participating in this fatuous effort to display their woke DEI credentials for future employers to see.
Nepal Students Association in Harvard now backtracked their support of Palestine after Ackman posted that they will never hire the students in future who supported Palestine. pic.twitter.com/LsVp2AnRJ0
— 🔆Rohit🔆 (@rohithverse) October 11, 2023
Among the many students listed in the list are: Editor in Chief of the Harvard Human Rights Journal; Two law clerks for the Supreme Court of Pakistan; Two students who interned at organizations either currently or previously funded by George Soros. More at TownHall.com.
Please teach your children studying in American universities to study, and not waste their time in ‘woke social activism’, or they will have egg on their faces like so many students at @Harvard did, as they scramble to rescind their support to Izlamic Terr0r in #Israel.
— Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) October 11, 2023
And it wasn’t just Harvard – all the sneering liberal elite colleges are onboard with it
Stanford University students hang a bedsheet DEFENDING Hamas's butchery of Jewish women and children.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 10, 2023
Stanford, Columbia, Harvard…
Noticing a trend? pic.twitter.com/vZgt2IILLE