ANOTHER Anti-Semitism Controversy Erupts At Harvard: Pro-Palestine Faculty Group Publishes Cartoon Showing Jew Hanging Black And Arab Men

Harvard University has again been hit by backlash over anti-Semitism after a faculty organization that claims to support Palestine posted a cartoon on Instagram showing a Jew hanging black and Arab men.

It comes just over a month after disgraced former President Claudine Gay resigned from office following disastrous testimony to Congress that failed to condemn campus anti-Semitism.

The cartoon dates back to 1967, according to Tablet Magazine, and was originally published in a magazine affiliated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

It was reposted on Instagram by the Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine group, which was founded weeks after Gay's departure, and includes a letter signed by 112 staff members.

The cartoon was shown as part of an Instagram post that purported to show that “African people have a deep understanding of apartheid and occupation.”

Harvard University has again been hit by backlash over anti-Semitism after a faculty organization that claims to support Palestine posted a cartoon on Instagram Sunday showing a Jew hanging black and Arab men

The cartoon dates back to 1967, according to Tablet Magazine, and was originally published in a magazine affiliated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

The image shows a hand with a dollar sign inside a Star of David – the symbol of Judaism. Associating money with religion is a deeply offensive anti-Semitic stereotype.

Rabbi David Wolpe, a Harvard Divinity School scholar who resigned from the school's Anti-Semitism Advisory Committee in December, highlighted the cartoon in a post on X-Monday.

“This was posted today by 'Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.'” “The cartoon is despicable and undeniably anti-Semitic,” he wrote. “Is there no limit?”

The group says it is “committed to supporting the cause of Palestinian liberation” and “fully rejects” this.[s] “Accusations that criticism of the Israeli state is anti-Semitic,” apologized humbly later on Monday.

“We became aware that a post containing antiquated cartoons that used offensive anti-Semitic phrases was linked to our account.” We removed the content as soon as we became aware of it. “We apologize for the harm these images have caused and do not condone them in any way,” they wrote.

“Harvard FSJP stands against all forms of hatred and bigotry, including anti-Semitism,” it continued.

An Instagram package with similar sentiments, but without the offensive cartoon, was later republished by Harvard University's Palestine Solidarity Committee.

has reached out to Harvard's Justice in Palestine faculty and staff for comment.

The student-run version of the group, Students for Justice in Palestine, was one of the leading voices supporting Hamas terrorists in the days after the attacks.

Rabbi David Wolpe, a Harvard Divinity School scholar who resigned from the school's Anti-Semitism Advisory Committee in December, highlighted the cartoon in a post on X-Monday

It comes just over a month after disgraced former President Claudine Gay resigned from office following disastrous testimony to Congress that failed to condemn campus anti-Semitism

An Instagram package with similar sentiments but without the offensive cartoon was later reposted by Harvard University's Palestine Solidarity Committee

In fact, it was the student-run branch of SJP at Harvard that published a controversial letter blaming Israel for the terrorist attack by Palestinian extremists.

The letter sparked an outcry from many Harvard alumni and led to dozens of high-profile donors withdrawing their tens of millions from the school.

It was this series of events that set the ball rolling that ultimately led to the downfall of Harvard President Claudine Gay.

Gay, 53, remained in the position for just six months – the shortest term for a president in the school's history. Her resignation came 28 days after her shocking testimony before Congress about anti-Semitism on campus, in which she refused to classify calls for genocide against Jews as harassment or to recognize that Jewish students had a right to attend Ivy League schools not feeling safe.

In her resignation, Gay wrote that she resigned after a “consultation” with school administrators, who were under pressure to replace her after she defended her comments.

She didn't admit where she made a mistake – she didn't mention the Dec. 5 testimony or the mounting plagiarism allegations against her – but said she was the victim of racist threats.

“It has become clear that it is in Harvard’s best interest for me to step down so that our community can meet this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual,” Gay wrote.

Still, dozens of faculty at the elite institution have called for support for those students and others accused of significant anti-Semitic behavior since the outbreak of war.

The Harvard FSJP letter covers these students, claiming that they are the ones who are “being subjected to a concerted and escalating campaign of harassment, intimidation and racist hate speech because they stand up for the rights of Palestinians.”

“We are committed to supporting, defending and protecting our students, faculty, staff and all Harvard affiliates that advocate for Palestinian human rights, justice and peace in Palestine/Israel,” it continued.

The faculty — nearly half of whom are affiliated with Harvard Medical School — also declare their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which aims to deprive Israel or Israeli companies of all financial or other support.

“As education workers, we are focused on boycotting Israeli academic institutions that support apartheid and colonial occupation,” they wrote, as well as any companies “that support Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians.”

Protesters are seen at Harvard on October 14th. Gay has been criticized for being slow to condemn students' justification of Hamas terror attacks in Israel

In November, about 100 Harvard faculty members signed another letter criticizing then-President Claudine Gay's initiative to “combat anti-Semitism,” which had been identified as a problem on campus.

The letter alleged that the school had mistakenly taken cues from “donors, alumni and even some on this campus” who were trying to “silence” those critical of Israel's response to the Hamas terror attack.

They argued that the school should not restrict free expression by banning students from singing “from the river to the sea,” a phrase that is almost universally understood as a call for the destruction of the state of Israel and its Jewish residents.

The faculty's latest letter goes a step further, saying that the world is watching “Israel's genocidal war and ethnic cleansing in Gaza” and that such criticism does not rise to the level of anti-Semitism.

The group claims it seeks the “emancipation of all peoples with a liberated future for both Palestinians and Israelis.”

“Because systems of oppression are deeply interconnected, we are also committed to combating all forms of discrimination and racism at Harvard and beyond its walls, including anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Muslim racism, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism “, write.

A handful of signatories are support staff at the Harvard School of Arts and Sciences, including staff responsible for student welfare and academic performance, as well as librarians and academic advisors.

Ousmane Oumar Kane, professor of African and African American studies, and denominational advisor for Muslim students signed the letter

Self-proclaimed climate justice scholar and advocate Jennie C. Stephens, who is this year's Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard University, signed the letter

Law professor Duncan Kennedy (left), best known as one of the minds behind the critical legal studies movement that gave rise to critical race theory, signed the letter. Professor John Womack Jr. (right), a longtime Mexican history professor and grandfather of the late rapper Lil Peep, signed the letter

Notable faculty members who added their names to the pro-Palestinian pledge include Ousmane Oumar Kane, professor of African and African American studies and denominational advisor for Muslim students.

Kane is currently the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society. He is known for his work on Muslim globalization.

He was on leave during the fall 2023 semester, and if that meant spending time off campus, he likely wasn't able to personally witness the aftermath of October 7 at Harvard.

Michelle E. Morse, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the first chief medical officer of the New York City Department of Health, signed the letter. Her latter position was established as part of NYC's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Morse wrote an editorial in the Boston Review advocating for federal reparations for racial minorities who have received substandard health care from the U.S. health care system. She co-wrote the article with Harvard Medical School colleague Bram Wispelwey.

Dr. Wispelwey is a resident in the Division of Global Health Equity in the School of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

His faculty page at Harvard states, “Bram's research, education, and implementation efforts focus on anti-racist strategies to address disparities in hospitalization, impacts on community health workers, and settler colonial determinants of health.”

Michelle E. Morse, professor at Harvard Medical School and first chief medical officer of the New York City Department of Health

Vijay Iyer – Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of Art – signed the letter

Another notable endorsement of the letter came from Professor John Womack, a historian who spent virtually his entire academic and professional life at Harvard. His work focuses on Mexican history, and somewhat coincidentally, he was also the grandfather of the late rapper Lil Peep.

Duncan Kennedy, a law school professor best known as one of the minds behind the critical legal studies movement that gave rise to critical race theory, signed the letter. He had also signed the one written in November.

Self-proclaimed climate justice scholar and advocate Jennie C. Stephens, who is this year's Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard University, signed the letter. Her research focuses, among other things, on the “integration of transformative social justice as well as feminist and anti-racist perspectives into climate and energy policy”.

Vijay Iyer is the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of Art. He is a composer and “transforming presence in American music” and one of the signatories of the letter.