Hillel International at Harvard has issued a statement calling on the Ivy League university to hold those who disrupted classes with antisemitic and genocidal chants accountable.
“On November 29th, Harvard College students had classes disrupted by a coordinated protest using bullhorns to blast abhorrent antisemitic calls to ‘globalize the intifada,’ and demands for the elimination of the Jewish state ‘from the river to the sea,'” Hillel explained in its statement.
From Harvard Hillel: Wednesday classes disrupted by students with bullhorns chanting "globalize intifada" and "river to the sea."
— KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) December 1, 2023
Statement: "protests of this nature have become increasingly normalized on our campus."
Urges univ to enforce--as it hasn't done--its own rules. pic.twitter.com/GbZ8OwouRL
“These calls for genocide and anti-Jewish violence throughout the world represent antisemitic speech and are not protected by the University’s community standards. The interruptions of classes are not protected by the University’s free speech guidelines,” the organization added.
Claudine Gay named 30th president of Harvard University (Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Supporters of Palestine gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2023. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
Harvard Hillel added, “We wholeheartedly support free speech on campus — a sacred right necessary in a free and democratic society. Yet that right does not encompass disruptions to University classes not hateful slogans chanted on University property. Harvard recognizes this distinction, and therefore rightly does not protect threatening speech or speech that is disruptive to learning on campus.”
The organization continued:
Students were terrified by this protest and the violence it endorsed, and some were unable to resume work for hours after the protests passed. Protests of this nature have become increasingly normalized on our campus, causing Jewish and Israeli students to avoid class, University events, and dining halls.
We therefore call on the University to hold both the individuals and organizations involved in this protest accountable, including the PSC who promoted these actions that are inconsistent with University policies. Further, we ask that President Gay send a University-wide email to students, staff, and faculty, explaining why such actions are beyond the University’s protected speech and clarifying the regulations and the consequences for violating them.
“President Gay has written that Harvard is a ‘place of civil behavior and civil discourse’ and will not ignore ‘antisemitism, Islamophobia, acts of harassment or intimidation, or threats of violence.’ These inspiring words must be followed by action,” Hillel concluded.
As Breitbart News reported, pro-Palestinian Harvard students disrupted classes on Wednesday to accuse the Ivy League university of being “complicit in genocide” while calling on fellow students to walk out of class, or else they will be “complicit,” too.
This comes after more than 30 Harvard student groups signed a pro-terror statement in the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian terror group Hamas — which left more than 1,400 Israelis dead — blaming Israel for the terrorist attack against them, writing, in part, “We hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
