Three dozen Harvard student organizations say Israel 'is the only one to blame'

[Behind the Aegis]

Three dozen student organizations at Harvard signed a statement published online holding “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

It drew rebukes from a wide spectrum of Jews and non-Jews, within and outside the university, who called the statement astonishing for its inattention to the victims of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which began Saturday. The surprise operation included rocket fire on towns and cities, the ambush of a music festival attended by hundreds of young adults, and the kidnapping of more than 100 mostly civilian Israelis, including the elderly and children. About 800 Israelis and at least 560 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting so far.

The statement from the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups said that the attacks by Hamas and ongoing retribution by Israel in Gaza “did not occur in a vacuum.”

The groups describe Gaza as an “open-air prison” where “Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.”


The Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee created this installation in March. A letter made public Sunday and signed by three dozen Harvard student organizations blamed Israel for “all unfolding violence” following Hamas’ attacks Saturday. Courtesy of Harvard Crimson (photographer Addison Y. Liu)

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[lapfog_1]

1. Harvard needs to expel these people - n/t

if they don't many alumni will reconsider those large gifts to the endowment association.

[Silent3]

5. Their opinions are horrible, but expel them?

College is a place for protecting diversity of opinion, even for opinions you find repugnant, not punishing it.

We're talking about student organizations here too, not staff or faculty, where Harvard would have greater justification for defending its reputation.

[BlueMTexpat]

6. THIS!!! eom

[AZLD4Candidate]

18. Students get expelled for racist speech in universities.

Speech has consequences.

Where in the constitution does it say you have the right to an education?

[Silent3]

42. I realize this isn't a First Amendment issue

Because it's a private university (it would be a First Amendment issue for a publicly funded university).

It is, however, an important academic principle nevertheless, to protect the free speech of students. Tenured professors are similarly protected.

[AZLD4Candidate]

50. Professors have lost their positions for spouting racism and intolerance

First amendment isn't absolute and speech has consequences.

Being a student isn't a cover-all for everything, and this is from a social studies teacher that will defend to the death a student's free speech.

[Silent3]

51. Although there's a lot of uncomfortable overlap...

...being against the Israeli government and its policies toward Palestinians isn't the same thing as racism and antisemitism. It can be a purely political viewpoint.

I don't know why you bother to repeat, "First amendment isn't absolute", since I both acknowledge that and already said this isn't a First Amendment issue. But until a student explicitly voices racist or antisemitic views, guilt by association with pro-Palestinian antisemites should in no way be cause for ejection from a private school that values the free speech of students.

I think that even a lot of the strongly pro-Israeli people here on DU, myself among them, greatly dislike Netanyahu and his nasty right-wing coalition. Although the lion's share of the blame belongs to Hamas here, Netanyahu made a bad situation worse.

[sarisataka]

28. There have been calls on DU for expulsions

For less. Of course we didn't agree with the message in those cases.

[Sympthsical]

36. I suspect it's lack of diversity in opinion that got them there

All these organizations managed to swing that hard to the silly side?

That's not diversity in opinion. Seems like a fairly uniform and widespread ideology on campus is at work to me.

If there were diversity, there would be a lot of debate and push back instead of this uniformity.

[Ms. Toad]

57. There are more than 450 student orgs.

Only 34 signed this letter - around 7.6%.

If there is a fairly uniform and widespread ideology on campus, it certainly isn't in the direction you suggest.

[Ms. Toad]

56. Thank you.

This "Harvard letter" was impliedly attributed to Harvard, itself, in another thread. I found that a bit unbelievable - so I went looking and discovered it was a statement by student organizations, not Harvard.

[Act_of_Reparation]

41. Have I entered some kind of bizarro universe where DU and Freep have switched places?

[wnylib]

2. I would have expected a university like Harvard to have a better

history department. The confinement of Palestinians in Gaza did not occur in a vacuum. It did not happen as a result of racism. It did not happen as a land grab.

It happened as a result of non-stop Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Long before Hamas was involved, the Palestinian people vowed to destroy Israel and allied themselves with neighboring nations in wars against Israel. During and between the wars terrorist cells of Palestinians mingled among Israelis and planted explosive devices in public places. The Palestinian people support and approve those attacks.

Hamas has the support of the Palestinian people because it is committed to the same goal as they are - the destruction of Israel because they do not believe that Israel has the right to exist as a nation.

Palestinians have repeatedly rejected opportunities to establish their own state. They put their energy into attacking Israel instead of building their own nation.

[marybourg]

7. Yes. I'm old enough to remember the

creation of the state of Israel and your summation of the history of Israel-Palestinian interactions is how I remember it. I guess the Harvard students, as is traditional for college students, think history began the day they were born. They don’t even remember the suicide bombers, the bus bombers, the earlier saboteurs whose murderous actions caused Israel to cease allowing Palestinian workers to enter Israel in the thousands each morning as they used to do.

And they certainly don’t remember the peace plan that President Clinton brokered which failed because the Palestinians cut off their noses to spite their faces by insisting on the destruction of Israel before they would accept statehood.

And they certainly don’t remember the unrelenting warfare Israel has been subjected to since its birth, including the raining down of artillery from the Golan Heights for decades. No, they only know what they see now and what happened before they reached the age of awareness interests them not at all. They believe they are supporting the oppressed underdog and that’s always been popular with the young of every generation.

[AllyCat]

14. I was very young, but remember seeing this on the news when my dad was

Watching. He would tell me I shouldn’t see it, but I did before I was shooed away.

[raging moderate]

59. And the Jewish people have lived there for thousands of years.

The Romans tried to destroy the Jewish people, but Romans were not as smart as they thought they were. So of course Jewish people continued to live in Palestine as they had for thousands of years. And the British found a thriving Jewish population, thousands and thousands, when they invaded Palestine around the turn of the last century. It should be emphasized that the Jewish people did not live there only in ancient times, but they kept living there as much as possible during all these centuries. They just had to submit to various conquerors.

[uponit7771]

9. "The Palestinian people support and approve those attack", source? tia

Or are we going to use the same argument OBL made in attacking America on 911?

[AllyCat]

15. My friend is Palestinian. She is worried sick about family

Still in Palestine. She and her family do not support Hamas.

Let’s take care with the broad brush.

[Lonestarblue]

17. Agree. HAMAS is able to recruit young Palestinians because they have nothing else to live for.

Iran gives them money, some of which they use to feed and help civilians, and weapons. We all know what happens when too many young men with nothing to occupy them are pushed in a wrong direction. Israel controls every aspect of Palestinian life in Gaza, which has been described as a hellhole. Their water is too salty because too many people have been forced to live in a space that dies not support that number. They cannot bring in supplies to rebuild after Israeli air strikes unless Israel allows it, which they usually don’t. They have essentially lived in a prison for decades. I’m not excusing HAMAS but not all Palestinians follow their beliefs that Israel must be destroyed.

[ripcord]

45. We always paint with a broad brush here

All republicans are evil, see how easy it is.

[prodigitalson]

21. Palestinians were driven from land they lived on for generations

when Israel was created. That's a fact.

[Mosby]

32. That was the fault of Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

All the Arabs in Israel who didn't run away because the Arab countries told them to became citizens of Israel.

[prodigitalson]

52. Why should they run away from their own homes?

[Mosby]

53. Because the Arab countries attacked Israel when they declared independence

In 1948. The so called Nakba happened because the Palestinians wanted to get out of the way of the Arab armies. They lost so the Palestinians couldn't return in victory, kinda like the Germans after they lost, and Germany was carved up a bit and the refugees stuck wherever.

The Palestinans refugees exist as a by product of failed thisbfailed attempt at Genocide. And it wasn't even over.

They tried in 1967 to kill all the Jews and failed.

They tried in 1973, using a sneak attack on the most holy Jewish holiday, when people were in their houses of worship praying to finally succeed with their genocidal plans and once again failed.

[raging moderate]

55. Yes, you are right!

I have watched these happen, all my life. I saw a TV on-location interview with one of the Arab leaders, back before 1967, and he said they intended to get rid of all the Jews.

I also read old books sometimes, so I know there were many thousands of Jews living in Palestine back when the British conquerors did a census of the place. The British did not really like Jews back in those days, so they had no reason to inflate the numbers. The book said the British were surprised by those numbers.

[Marius25]

39. And 1 million Jews were driven from their homes in Arab lands around the same time period.

That's a fact.

[Fresh Water Falling]

3. No

Netanyahu is the one to blame. He has repeatedly shown his utter contempt for UN Resolutions, the rule of law, and the two-state solution. His ego, his intransigence, and his racism toward Palestinians is vastly more likely to destroy Israel than sustain it.

[uponit7771]

11. That's what I'm seeing too, the party Bibi belongs to leans on the kill them all side of the solutio

[PJMcK]

19. Exactly

Netanyahu is a war criminal and a corrupt politician. I can't understand how he's still in power!

He is as flawed as Trump but he's far more intelligent and devious. He's a true danger to world peace.

[MyNameIsJonas]

23. I think Hamas is the one to blame.

[Amishman]

25. I'd blame the current crisis on the ones who broke the peace

You can go back a millennia or two trying to cobble together the best argument over who has the better historical claim and right to be there. It's such a muddled cluster fuck that it's a pointless game to play.

What really matters is who broke the peace this time, and the atrocities committed. That blame sits squarely with Hamas.

The Palestinians should rise up and cooperate with the Israelis in removing every last trace of Hamas. It is the only way to a better future for all. Not to mention that it would accelerate Hamas's downfall and likely save a lot of innocent lives.

[The Magistrate]

35. I Tend To Agree, Sir

"Fresh grievances must be supplied, lest the people fall back to remembering old ones."

[JI7]

34. Hamas opposes a 2 state solution

[Marius25]

40. I despise Netanyahu but he was right to show contempt for UN resolutions

You can't file more resolutions against Israel than every other country on Earth combined, including Russia, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. and claim your resolutions are not based on Antisemitism.

[DFW]

4. That ought to do wonders for their near-tem endowments

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Apparently these students aren't getting a very good education. Good Grief!

[Igel]

37. There's critical thinking,

then there's thinking critically.

They sound the same but are very different in assumptions about what and how to critique and criticize and whether you strive to find the truth or strive to confirm and implement the truth.

[Dorian Gray]

10. Those organizations

can bite me.

[Aussie105]

12. Easy to play the blame game.

Now smarty-pants students, come up with a solution that sticks.

Not so easy now, is it?

[AllyCat]

13. No, they didn't occur in a vacuum, but a terrorist group

Has killed and kidnapped innocent civilians.

[Layzeebeaver]

16. The entire region is a mess and it will never be fixed.

Its been a hotbed for secondary proxy wars between superpowers for nearly the last century and it will not change.

The culture and behaviours on both sides have now been embedded so deeply in the societies, that its' become a way of life.

Most people look at it from the outside, and with a sense that is crafted by media and political parties. We lose sight of the humanity.

It's something that will continue for another century at least - oh... and special thanks to Henry Kissinger.

[kwolf68]

20. Maybe they can get

"I STAND WITH HAMAS" Tee-shirts. That will really win hearts and minds for their cause.

[Raine]

22. This is the education they're getting, shameful! 🙄👎 nt

[yardwork]

24. Three dozen organizations? How many students belong to each of them?

[yagotme]

31. And, how many crossovers are there?

3 dozen orgs, maybe 50 students overall (a guess,) some students belonging to 3 or more groups???

[yardwork]

54. And probably the same five students running all the orgs.

[Ms. Toad]

58. For reference, there are more than 450 student orgs at Harvard. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. "Some ideas are so stupid only an intellectual could believe them."

-George Orwell

[sarisataka]

27. Antisemitism is endemic in the US

And can be found everywhere

[edhopper]

29. Why do I get the feeling

all these organizations have the same 10 people?

[Mosby]

30. Predictable response here.

[EllieBC]

33. Jew hatred on college campuses?

It’s called every day.

[Sympthsical]

38. I don't even want to look at UC Berkeley

I know you and I have discussed before the, uh, off-kilter points of view that occur there whenever Jewish anything comes up.

I imagine they're having a stellar week.

[Jose Garcia]

43. At least five of the groups have withdrawn their support for the letter:

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/10/11/student-groups-withdraw-israel-statement/

Apparently employers tend to google the names of job applicants.

[MistakenLamb]

44. College campuses are rife with discrimination of Jews based of any perceived connection to Israel

Things like kicking Jews out of student government for going through Birthright or targeting student Jewish groups like Hillel.

[ripcord]

46. I'm not surprised to see college students supporting terrorism

They think they know what is going on but they missed the change in how the whole conflict was perceived when Hamas resorted to full on terrorist tactics. As always they have a right to their opinion and I have the right to think they are fucking idiots.

[Mosby]

47. Consequences.

Link to tweet

[ripcord]

49. Actions do have consequences

[Mosby]

48. "Day of resistance" rallies at US campuses tomorrow.

Link to tweet