Harvard students who authored a letter blaming Israel for the Hamas terror attacks are being ridiculed as “intellectually weak and morally repugnant.”
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, and former Harvard president Larry Summers are lining up to call out the Cambridge university students — and the “leadership” remaining silent.
UPDATE: Harvard’s President Claudine Gay responded today (Tuesday, 10/10), condemning “the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.” And, in a direct hit at students blaming Israel for the terror attack, Gay adds: “While our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.”
The Herald has asked for an interview with Gay to expound on her three-graph statement made following blistering blowback from all corners as news was still coming out of Israel of rapes, kidnappings and executions by Hamas terrorists.
Rep. Moulton — a Harvard alum and War on Terror veteran — was quick to respond Monday.
“Terrorism is never justified nor someone else’s fault. As hundreds of Israelis and others, including several Americans, remain kidnapped, injured, or dead, the 31 Harvard organizations that signed a letter holding Israel ‘entirely responsible’ for Hamas’ barbarous terrorism should be condemned, as should Harvard leadership for whom silence is complicity,” said Moulton, who added “I cannot recall a moment when I’ve been more embarrassed by my alma mater.”
Summers tweeted: “In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today.”
Summers is the former Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, advised former President Barack Obama, and was Harvard’s president from 2001 to 2006.
Both were reacting to a statement by the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups that read, in part: “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all the unfolding violence.” Thirty-one groups signed on, according to the New York Post, including the Ivy League’s affiliate of Amnesty International.
The groups claim Hamas’ attack “did not happen in a vacuum,” and the Israeli government has forced Palestinians to live in an “open-air prison for over two decades,” according to the letter obtained by The Post.
Moulton, in comments sent to the Herald, added: “You can stand up for Palestinian rights while condemning Hamas terrorists, just as you can fiercely criticize the extremist, anti-democratic actions of the Netanyahu government while supporting the nation of Israel’s right to defend itself from people, terrorist groups and states that want it wiped out of existence.”
Moulton called on the college to engage in “intellectually and morally honest debate” to “honor the millions of peace-loving Israelis and Palestinians who want a bright and prosperous future for their families, and who have regularly stood up to the extremists.”
He then said, “In contrast, what’s happening at Harvard right now is intellectually weak and morally repugnant.”
This all comes as President Biden said Monday 11 Americans have been killed in the Hamas attacks and it is unknown if any are being held hostage. Israeli women, children and elderly have been killed or are being held captive.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, put it bluntly on social media: “What the hell is wrong with Harvard?”
Others also called out the crass college students for being politically tone-deaf.
“This is the final crack in my broken heart,” one woman wrote.
