Harvard President Condemns Controversial Pro-Palestinian Slogan And Speaks Out Against Antisemitism

Forbes Business Breaking Harvard President Condemns Controversial Pro-Palestinian Slogan And Speaks Out Against Antisemitism Molly Bohannon Forbes Staff I cover breaking news. Following Click to save this article. You’ll be asked to sign into your Forbes account.

Nov 9, 2023, 06:02pm EST Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Harvard University president Claudine Gay released a statement Thursday reiterating the school’s rejection of “all forms of hate,” and saying she “condemn(s)” the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a rallying cry used by some pro-Palestinian protesters that has been deemed antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League. Harvard president Claudine Gay said she condemns the phrase “from the river to the sea,” and other . .

. [+] “similarly hurtful phrases. ” (Photo by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Boston Globe via Getty Images Key Facts In the statement , Gay said the phrase — and “any similarly hurtful phrases” — “bear specific historical meanings that to a great many people imply the eradication of Jews from Israel and engender both pain and existential fears within our Jewish community,” leading to her condemnation of it.

“From the river to the sea” is a pro-Palestinian rallying cry suggesting Palestinians should reclaim the land encompassing Israel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N. Y.

) said earlier in the week that the slogan is “widely understood as calling for the complete destruction of Israel. ” Seemingly in response to criticism from alumni and donors who said the school wasn’t doing enough to protect Jewish students, Gay announced that Harvard is expanding its Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging to “more fully integrate” antisemitism into its work and has created an Antisemitism Advisory Group made of faculty, alumni and students. Gay also addressed a situation on Oct.

18 in which a Jewish student was allegedly removed from a pro-Palestinian event, saying the “incident is being investigated by the FBI” and university police. Crucial Quote “Harvard has been and is a place of civil behavior and civil discourse,” Gay wrote in the statement. “We do not condone — and will not ignore — antisemitism, Islamophobia, acts of harassment or intimidation, or threats of violence.

” Key Background Harvard first made headlines related to the Israel-Hamas conflict last month when more than 30 student groups signed a statement that argued Hamas’ military assault on Israel “did not occur in a vacuum” and compared the Gaza Strip to an “open-air prison,” according to Harvard’s student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. Billionaire hedge fund manager and Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman — who has been perhaps the most outspoken critic of Harvard’s response — took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call for the release of the names of students who signed it so they weren’t hired by his company. Ackman later called on the university to immediately suspend students involved in the Oct.

18 incident. Harvard is just one of a number of elite universities in the U. S.

that have come under fire for their responses to the Israel-Hamas conflict, or have had escalated issues on campus. At Columbia University, billionaire Leon Cooperman said he would stop donating unless he saw a change in the university’s response. At Cornell University, a student was arrested — and is facing up to five years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000 — after posting threats toward Jewish students on an online forum.

The Biden administration launched an initiative last week that will work to monitor and curb the rise in antisemitism on college campuses. Tangent On Tuesday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.

) was censured in the House of Representatives — in part due to her sharing of a video that used the phrase “from the river to the sea. ” More than 20 Democrats crossed party lines in voting to censure Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress. In a tweet prior to the censuring, Tlaib said the phrase is “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.

” Further Reading MORE FROM FORBES Billionaire Ackman Calls On Harvard To Suspend Students Who Allegedly Removed Jewish Student From Protest By Brian Bushard MORE FROM FORBES Billionaire Ackman, Others Pledge They Won’t Hire Harvard Students Who Signed Letter Blaming Israel For Hamas Attack By Brian Bushard MORE FROM FORBES Billionaire Leon Cooperman Cutting Off Donations To Columbia Over Student Protests Of Israel-Hamas War By Molly Bohannon POLITICO Harvard president condemns pro-Palestinian slogan MORE FROM FORBES Rep. Rashida Tlaib Censured Over Controversial Israel Comments – With The Help Of Multiple Democrats By Sara Dorn Follow me on Twitter . Send me a secure tip .

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