Posted on 10/22/23
| News Source: NY Post
College campuses across the US have become flashpoints as groups protest and clash over the reaction to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel.
Although some faculties and professors stood in solidarity with the Jewish people, others have resorted to antisemitism under the guise of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Here is what’s happening at a selection of the country’s top institutions and where they stand in relation to the conflict:
University president Minouche Shafik said she was “devastated by the horrific attack on Israel this weekend,” on October 9, but did not mention Hamas or terrorism.
A day earlier politics and history teacher Joseph Massad wrote an article online in which he praised Hamas’ terror attacks, calling it “astonishing,” “astounding,” and “incredible” as well as a “stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance” against “cruel colonizers.”
A petition calling for his removal reached over 45,000 signatures before being placed “under review” by Change.org. Columbia refused to comment on the situation when approached by The Post.
On October 11, a 24-year-old Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside the University’s main library, leading to 19-year-old Maxwell Friedman, who uses she/her pronouns, to be charged with second and third-degree assault, both as hate crimes.
Campus protests continued the next day, with thousands of people representing both sides filled its main square.
A day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, a coalition of 34 student groups including the campus Amnesty International chapter signed a letter claiming Israel was “entirely responsible” for the terrorism which left over 1,400 dead, including babies, children and the old and defenseless.
President of Harvard, Claudine Gay, was criticized for her lukewarm official reaction to Hamas’ attack and had to issue three statements in total before finally coming out against the “barbaric atrocities perpetrated by Hamas”.
Those outside the university were quicker to action, with a “doxxing truck” driving around the campus with digital billboards reading “Harvard’s Leading Antisemites” in gothic script over a slideshow of the names and photos of students who allegedly signed the letter.
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman said he would blacklist any of the people who had signed up to blame Israel and was quickly joined by a dozen other top CEOs.
Others pulled funding including former Victoria’s Secret CEO Leslie Wexner’s foundation, commiserating the Ivy League school’s “dismal failure” over the handling of the incident.