The seismic aftershocks of the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas against Israel are being seen on American campuses. We have known it for years: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most passionate and controversial subjects. The prestigious Harvard University is particularly affected. In a joint press release published on October 8, around thirty Palestine solidarity groups, from numerous departments, estimated that “the apartheid regime” Israeli was “fully responsible” ongoing violence. Stressing that the population of Gaza lived in a “open-air prison”the text asserted that “Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for seventy-five years”.
“I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today,” reacted economist Larry Summers. The former president of the university blamed the current management of the establishment for its inability to distance itself from this press release and condemn it. It is true that his first text, published on October 9, was very vague. Recognizing the extent to which the Hamas attack and its consequences had aroused among the student community “feelings of fear, sadness, anger”management offered everyone to“deepen knowledge” on current events on behalf of “our common humanity and shared values”. The words “dialogue”, “empathy” And ” compassion ” were well-intentioned, but they did not directly respond to the inflammatory text from pro-Palestinian groups.
The controversy has redoubled in force. Republican elected officials like Representative Elise Stefanik (New York) and Senator Ted Cruz (Texas), a Harvard Law School graduate, have questioned the school’s management. Democrat Jake Auchincloss (Massachusetts) was on the same line. At Harvard, an alternative text emerged, supported by several thousand students or former students, as well as part of the teaching staff. He describes the pro-Palestinian statement as “completely wrong and deeply offensive”, calling on the signatories to remove their names from the list. Billionaire Bill Ackman, who heads the investment fund Pershing Square Capital Management, reacted on X (formerly Twitter) by affirming that the list of signatories should be made public. He says he was contacted by other bosses wanting to avoid “inadvertently recruit” the least of them.
You have 38.04% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.