Harvard Responds After Backlash Over Students Blaming Israel for Hamas Attacks

Students walk through Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on March 12, 2020. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Harvard University issued a brief statement after the institution was criticized for its silence on Hamas’s deadly attacks on Israel and students blaming the “apartheid regime” for the war in the Middle East.

Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard, published a 119-word statement condemning “the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas” and wrote that “such inhumanity is abhorrent” regardless of individuals’ views concerning the origins of the conflict in the region.

Ms. Gay also noted that its students “have the right to speak for themselves,” but the more than 30 student groups do not speak for the university or its leadership.

“We will all be well served in such a difficult moment by rhetoric that aims to illuminate and not inflame,” she wrote. “And I appeal to all of us in this community of learning to keep this in mind as our conversations continue.”

Some were quick to point out that Harvard ranked last in a 2024 College Free Speech Rankings list by College Pulse and FIRE.

Thirty-three student groups co-signed an Oct. 8 letter authored by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee that held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

“Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the letter said. “The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years.”

Some of the student organizations include the Harvard Islamic Society, the Harvard Jews for Liberation, the Harvard Prison Divest Coalition, and the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

Harvard Slammed

A chorus of alumni and professors swiftly rebuked the students’ statement. Former Harvard president Larry Summers, who also served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, was “sickened” by the letter.

“The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral toward acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel,” Mr. Summers wrote on X.

Harvard was quick to hoist the Ukrainian flag following Russia’s invasion, and Ms. Gay penned a “powerful letter” criticizing police violence after the death of George Floyd, Mr. Summers said. He added that the university is now “being defined by the morally unconscionable statement.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Harvard alumnus, posted on the social media platform, “What the hell is wrong with Harvard?”

“Harvard’s silence—in the face of 31 student groups blaming Israel for Hamas terrorists’ thousands of murders, rapes & kidnappings—is utterly indefensible,” he said.

Harvard Computer Science professor Boaz Barak penned an Oct. 9 letter to Ms. Gay, requesting the school’s leadership “denounce this statement.”

“In the context of the unfolding events, this statement can be seen as nothing less than condoning hate crimes against civilians based only on their nationality,” Mr. Barak wrote. “Freedom of speech is an important principle, but at the very least, I would expect Harvard’s leadership to denounce this statement—just as they should denounce any statement condoning hate crimes by Harvard-affiliated organizations.”

Bill Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square, requested to make the names of the signatories public so their views are publicly known and “ensure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”

Democratic Socialists Condemn Israel

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and its many chapters shared the same sentiments as the Harvard student organizations.

Hours after the devastating attacks, the group pinned the blame on “Israel’s apartheid regime.”

“DSA is steadfast in expressing our solidarity with Palestine,” the self-proclaimed largest and fastest growing socialist organization in the United States wrote on X. “Today’s events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime—a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States. End the violence. End the Occupation. Free Palestine.”

The DSA in San Francisco noted that socialists support the Palestinian people’s “right to resist and fight for their own liberation.”

“This weekend’s events are no different,” the DSA chapter wrote on the social network. “Decolonization is the only path toward peace.”

Mr. Barak mocked the DSA San Francisco, asking if anyone could “share a video of Hamas terrorists using the wrong pronouns?”

Others have expressed questionable positions and gestures in recent days, including the UN Human Rights Council. It held a moment of silence in memory of the “innocent lives” lost in the “occupied Palestinian territory and elsewhere.”

In addition, Ambassador Zaman Mehdi, the deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN in Geneva, took jabs at Israel before the moment of silence.

“On behalf of the IOC member states, we express our deep concerns over the loss of innocent lives in the occupied Palestinian territory and elsewhere,” Mr. Mehdi said. “Regrettably, this huge loss of lives and unabated violence is a sad reminder of more than seven decades of illegal foreign occupation, aggression and disrespect for the international law, including UNESCO resolutions.”

The Latest in Israel

The Israeli death toll from Hamas’s surprise attack is above 1,000, including at least 11 Americans. Thousands more have been wounded, and officials say that more than 100 people are hostages.

President Joe Biden warned that some of the hostages held by Hamas could be U.S. citizens.

“I have directed my team to work with their Israeli counterparts on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts,” President Biden said in a statement.