Harvard president condemns pro-Palestinian slogan
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After pro-Palestinian groups expressed their solidarity with Palestine, Harvard University is now condemning Palestinian slogans.
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Claudine Gay addresses an audience during commencement ceremonies on Harvard's campus, in Cambridge, Mass on May 25, 2023. (AP)
On Thursday, the president of Harvard University condemned the pro-Palestinian slogan "from the river to the sea" and referred to other phrases she deemed "similarly hurtful" in an email addressed to the university community.
“Our community must understand that phrases such as ‘from the river to the sea’ bear specific historical meanings that to a great many people imply the eradication of Jews from Israel and engender both pain and existential fears within our Jewish community,” wrote Claudine Gay.
According to Politico, many viewed the slogan as a call for "violence against Israel and a rejection of Israel's right to exist," but Palestinians argue that it's only a call for independence from the Israeli occupation and for the Palestinians to reclaim their land.
The slogan has sparked controversy in various contexts. Earlier this week, the House of Representatives voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the sole Palestinian-American in Congress, for posting the slogan on social media.
Representative Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), a Harvard alumnus, expressed to Politico that the statement from the student groups was "morally depraved." He labeled the university's response as "moral cowardice."
Gay and other university leaders encountered severe criticism in the aftermath of the issuance of the statement.
Critics, including prominent Harvard alumni like Auchincloss, former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), contended that the university's response was delayed and lacked a sufficiently strong condemnation of both Hamas' and the student groups' positions.
This comes after a student statement from Harvard University blaming "Israel" for the attacks on Gaza is being criticized and Harvard is being called out by some of its most prominent political alumni for not condemning the statement.
Lawrence Summers, a former Harvard president and longtime Washington economic policy hand, wrote on X: “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."
The Democrat who served as Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton added: “I am sickened. I cannot fathom the administration’s failure to disassociate the university and condemn this statement.”
The mostly Republican figures who graduated from Harvard called out their alma mater for not siding with "Israel".
