Growing backlash over Harvard students' pro-Palestine letter


Madeline Halpert - BBC News, New York
Tue, October 10, 2023 

Harvard University campus

A letter from Harvard University student groups blaming Israel for violence in the region has drawn a backlash from prominent alumni and US lawmakers.

The letter, authored by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, stated that students "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence".

It was co-signed by 33 student groups.

"Today's events did not occur in a vacuum," the statement said.

"The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years," the letter added.

The letter comes after Israel says 1,000 people have been killed and 100 kidnapped since Hamas militants launched a surprise attack in the early hours of Saturday. In Gaza, more than 700 people have been killed in retaliatory Israeli air strikes.

The student statement, posted on Saturday, was swiftly rebuked by some professors as well as former Harvard president Larry Summers, who wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was "sickened" by it.

"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 towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel," the former US treasury secretary said.

Harvard University issued its own letter on Monday that did not directly address the controversy but instead said university leaders were "heartbroken" by "the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend, and by the war in Israel and Gaza now under way".

In another statement issued later on Tuesday, the university's president, Claudine Gay, clarified that the school "condemn[ed] 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 said.

She added that while students had the right to "speak for themselves", none had the right to speak on behalf of Harvard.

Mr Summers' criticisms, meanwhile, were echoed by several Republican US lawmakers, including Harvard alumni Ted Cruz who wrote on X: "What the hell is wrong with Harvard?"

Harvard Computer Science professor Boaz Barak also took to social media to condemn the letter, asking the university to remove the student groups' school affiliations.

"I have a lot of criticisms of Israeli policies, but everyone who signed this statement is condoning terrorism, rape, and murder," he said.