By Janjabill Tahsin
Staff Writer
The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee has drawn heavy criticism from notable alumni and U.S. lawmakers for authoring a letter co-signed by over 30 student groups blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks, stating that students “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
The letter comes after a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said that a “significant number” of Israeli civilians and soldiers are being held hostage. Hamas claims the number of Israelis kidnapped was “several times greater” than dozens and that the hostages have since been dispersed throughout the Gaza Strip. Since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, according to AP News, over 1,400 Israelis have been confirmed dead and at least 155 hostages have been seized. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that more than 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded in retaliatory Israeli air strikes.
Former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers took to X and wrote how he has never been as disillusioned and alienated as he was in nearly 50 years of Harvard affiliation.
“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,” Summers said.
Some of the university’s current faculty and staff rebuked the student statement as well, including Harvard Hillel, the university’s Jewish center, which claimed the statement was a sign of “further hatred and anti-Semitism.”
A statement made by Harvard University leadership on Oct. 9 did not directly address the controversy but instead said university leaders were “heartbroken” by the Hamas’ attack on Israel and that “the violence hits all too close to home for many at Harvard.”
In another statement issued by President Claudine Gay on Oct. 10, she clarified that the school "condemn[ed] the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas." She also stated that while students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group speaks on behalf of Harvard University or its leadership.
Later that day, after Gay’s statement was issued, at least five of the original student group co-signers withdrew their endorsements, including Amnesty International at Harvard, Harvard College Act on a Dream, the Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association, the Harvard Islamic Society and Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo, despite the full list of endorsing groups being taken off the public statement earlier, according to the Harvard Crimson.
Harvard Computer Science professor Boaz Barak asked the university’s leadership to denounce the statement for “condoning hate crimes against civilians based only on their nationality.” As of Oct. 11, he has not received a response to this letter. While the statements “partially” address what Barak raised in his letter, he felt that they “still [feel] short of condemning, rather than only distancing from, the outrageous statement by 35 student groups.”
Within 72 hours of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee’s statement, they have since been forced to postpone their vigil due to credible safety concerns and threats against student security, reporting to be flooded with “racist hate speech and death threats,” with hundreds of students being persecuted both on campus and online, even without affiliation with the committee.
Several CEOs have contacted the university to release the names of the student groups tied to the letter, according to USA Today, to prevent their companies from hiring them in the future. The conservative media group Accuracy in Media also claimed to be responsible for a truck driving around Harvard University’s campus on Oct. 11, displaying the names and faces of several students allegedly affiliated with the student statement.
The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee rejects the notion that Palestinian solidarity groups are always expected to preempt their statements with condemnation of violence and claims that the university “invests in Israeli apartheid” and how they, as students, reserve the right and responsibility to interrogate and educate about the core reasons of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“We hope to open up a space for grief and processing in the coming days, and will be in communication as soon as possible,” the committee posted on Oct. 11.
