CEOs Looking to Blacklist Harvard Students Who Signed Anti-Israel Letter

The Harvard University campus is shown in Cambridge, Mass., on March 23, 2020. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Multiple American CEOs have expressed a willingness to blacklist Harvard students who blamed Israel for the violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli citizens.

On Oct. 8, the day after Hamas terrorists killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, 33 student groups at Harvard University co-signed the controversial letter.

Authored by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), the letter accused the Israeli government of being “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” In an Oct. 10 post on X, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said that he has been asked by several CEOs if the university would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that supported the letter “so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”

“If, in fact, their members support the letter they have released, the names of the signatories should be made public so their views are publicly known,” he said.

Mr. Ackman’s comments received support from several business leaders.

“I would like to know so I know never to hire these people,” Jonathan Neman, CEO of restaurant chain Sweetgreen, said in an X post.

“I second this,” Jake Wurzak, CEO of DoveHill Capital Management, said in a reply to Mr. Ackman’s post. “We are in as well,” said Michael Broukhim, the CEO of lifestyle firm FabFitFun.

In the Oct. 8 letter, the student groups insisted that the terror attacks “did not occur in a vacuum.” Instead, “the apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years.”

Some of the groups that signed the letter include Harvard Pakistan Student Association, Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association, Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association, Harvard Jews for Liberation, Harvard Islamic Society, and Harvard Kennedy School South Asia Caucus Leadership.

Student Organizations Withdraw Support

Amid intense criticism, five student groups that initially signed the letter—Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association, Harvard College Act on a Dream, Amnesty International at Harvard, the Harvard Islamic Society, and Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo—withdrew their support, according to The Harvard Crimson student newspaper.

“We regret that our decision to co-sign the latest PSC statement to call attention to historical injustices against Palestinians, with an earnest desire for peace, has been interpreted as a tacit support for the recent violent attacks in Israel,” the Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association said in a statement withdrawing support.

A man walks next to a car destroyed in a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Oct. 10, 2023. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

John Hasson, a contributor for conservative media outlet Townhall, pointed out in an X post that “Harvard’s Arab Alumni Association (HAAA) is asking members to support Arab students whose groups signed the Hamas letter.”

Screenshots of the letter show that HAAA said Harvard Arab students are being “subjected to relentless bullying and intimidation” and that the situation is “rapidly deteriorating” as some of them have been placed on watchlists. The organization asked for “legal counsel, healthcare, mental health support, financial aid, or mentorship” from the alumni.

Mr. Ackman said that students who disagree with the statement issued by their organization should either withdraw from the group, modify the statement to reflect the view of the organization’s members, or resign in protest.

Alternatively, students can “stay silent and have the entire world conclude that you stand by the statement,” he said.

“Claiming that you had no involvement or knowledge of the statement, but remaining a member of the organization without it withdrawing the statement is perhaps the worst of the alternatives, as it appears to simply be an attempt to avoid accountability while continuing to be a member of the organization.”

The Epoch Times has contacted Harvard for comment.

Pressure on Harvard

The letter from the student organizations has also raised scrutiny of the university, including from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

“Given the choice between standing with Israel or supporting terrorists who are raping, kidnapping & killing thousands of women & children … 31 student groups choose the terrorists. Their blazing hatred & antisemitism utterly blinding,” he wrote on X.

Thousands attend a 'New York Stands With Israel' vigil and rally in New York City on Oct. 10, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Former Harvard President Larry Summers, who also served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, said that Harvard was being “defined by the morally unconscionable statement” from the student groups.

“I am sickened. I cannot fathom the Administration’s failure to disassociate the University and condemn this statement,” he wrote in an Oct. 9 X post.

On Oct. 10, Harvard President Claudine Gay issued a statement, saying that “while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group—not even 30 student groups—speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.”

“Let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region,” she wrote.

The Harvard University Leadership also issued a statement, saying it was “heartbroken by the death and destruction unleashed by the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend,” and reiterated the administration’s “commitment to fostering an environment of dialogue and empathy.”

Over 350 faculty from Harvard have signed an open letter criticizing the Harvard administration’s statement for being inadequate.

“This could have been a teaching moment and an opportunity to remind our students that beyond our political debates, some acts such as war crimes are simply wrong. However, the statement by Harvard’s administration fell short of this goal,” the letter said.

“While justly denouncing Hamas, it still contributed to the false equivalency between attacks on noncombatants and self-defense against those atrocities. Furthermore, the statement failed to condemn the justifications for violence that come from our own campus, nor to make it clear to the world that the statement endorsed by these organizations does not represent the values of the Harvard community.”