A group of 31 Harvard organizations, including Amnesty International, an affiliate of the Ivy League institution, have blamed Israel for Hamas’ brutal surprise attack that killed at least 700 Israelis.
The organizations released a letter to the public on Sunday called the “Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups Joint Statement on the Situation in Palestine” to condemn Israel following the violence.
They claim that Hamas’ attacks, which are still ongoing, “did not occur in a vacuum” and that the Israeli government has forced Palestinians to live in an open-air prison “for over two decades.”
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime solely responsible for all of the unfolding violence,” the groups wrote.
It’s another moment of contention for the school, just a day after a professor was forced to apologize for suggesting the Hamas attack on Israel was an attempt to distract from Benjamin Netanyahu’s “own corruption.”
The Palestine Solidarity Committee holds banners in front of the prestigious college
The groups then repeat a familiar left-wing phrase by accusing the Israeli government of forcing Palestine to live under an apartheid state.
“The apartheid regime is the only culprit.” “Israeli violence has shaped every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years,” they continue.
“From systematic land confiscations to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and forced family separation to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of slow and sudden death.”
Despite the hundreds of dead in Israel, including at least four Americans, the groups concluded the letter calling for an end to the brutalization of Palestinians.
“Today the Palestinian ordeal enters new territory.” The coming days will require decisive resistance to colonial retaliation. “We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.”
The Palestine Solidarity Committee has held inflammatory events related to the conflict, including protests, an “Apartheid Week” and a “Boycott Israel Trek.”
The group also deserves credit for getting the Harvard Crimson — the school’s long-running student newspaper — to support BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel).
The groups include the school’s African American Resistance Organization, Amnesty International, Harvard Act on a Dream, groups of Muslim and South Asian students at Kennedy and Chan schools, the Harvard Islamic Society and Harvard Jews for Liberation.
Robert P. George, a professor of law at Princeton University and director of the James Madison Program on American Ideals and Institutions, criticized the organizations in a tweet.
The Palestine Solidarity Committee has held inflammatory events related to the conflict, including protests, an “Apartheid Week” and a “Boycott Israel Trek.”
The group also deserves credit for getting the Harvard Crimson — the school’s long-running student newspaper — to support BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel).
The letter, released to the public, was signed by several groups that make up the school’s Palestine Solidarity Committee.
The groups include the school’s African American Resistance Organization, Amnesty International, Harvard Act on a Dream, groups of Muslim and South Asian students at Kennedy and Chan schools, the Harvard Islamic Society and Harvard Jews for Liberation
Robert P. George, a professor of law at Princeton University and director of the James Madison Program on American Ideals and Institutions, criticized the organizations in a tweet
’31 – yes 31 – Harvard organizations have stated that the murders, rapes, kidnappings and other atrocities that Hamas commits against innocent people are in no way the fault of Hamas, but entirely the fault of… Israel. “Something is deeply wrong with science,” he wrote.
It comes just a day after Harvard professor emeritus Laurence Tribe, who teaches constitutional law, posted the remark on X, formerly Twitter, just hours after a surprise Hamas attack on Israel.
Militants opened fire early Saturday morning, killing dozens of civilians and soldiers near the Gaza Strip.
Tribe expressed regret over what he called an “ill-informed” claim and quickly deleted the post.
Those who saw it were outraged and called the professor an “idiot” who needed to “settle himself” somewhere.
Liberal political commentator Keith Olbermann also criticized Tribe’s claims, calling them “idiotic and baseless,” Fox News reported.
Pictured: Harvard professor emeritus Laurence Tribe, who teaches constitutional law, posted the remark on X, formerly Twitter, just hours after a surprise Hamas attack on Israel early Saturday
A fiery explosion at a Palestinian apartment building following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City following an attack by Hamas militants in Israel
A crying child in his father’s arms stands in front of a building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City early Saturday morning
Reporter Julie Kelly was among those outraged by Tribe’s post, telling him to “get involved somewhere.”
Several Israeli news agencies, citing emergency officials, reported that at least 700 people were killed in Israel, including 44 soldiers. The attacks continued into Sunday and Monday, with the country’s Iron Dome intercepting continuous waves of rockets.
A thousand Hamas fighters took part in the first, unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, Conricus said.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 413 people, including 78 children and 41 women, were killed in the area.
About 2,000 people were injured on each side. An Israeli official said security forces killed 400 militants and captured dozens more.
Conricus also confirmed that Americans, British and French were involved in the bloodbath.
He said those abducted included children, babies, the elderly and disabled people.
“We will concentrate all our efforts on the Gaza Strip and deliver a long, hard and tremendously powerful blow,” he said.
Hamas’ surprise attack came just a day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War, in which Israel faced existential threats from hostile neighbors led by Egypt and Syria.
Israeli soldiers and civilians battled Hamas militants on the streets of southern Israel after the Palestinian terrorists fired 2,000 rockets across the border in a brutal ground attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately declared a state of war and has since promised “mighty revenge” against Israel’s aggressors, which would end in victory for his country.
The Israel Defense Forces have begun bombing key Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip and have warned civilians in certain regions to leave the Strip before a wave of retaliatory attacks begin.
In his speech on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a strong warning to Hamas fighters: “I say to Hamas: you are responsible for the well-being of the prisoners. Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them.”
An Israeli airstrike on a Hamas weapons depot in Gaza on Sunday night
After the attacks on Saturday morning, Hamas took dozens of Israeli civilians hostage
Fire and smoke rise over buildings in Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 8, 2023. Israel, reeling from the deadliest attack on its territory in half a century, formally declared war on Hamas on Sunday as the Israeli death toll rose to over 700 after the Palestinian militant group launched a massive surprise attack from Gaza
Israelis walk past a blown-up police station in Sderot, which was destroyed in a battle with Hamas militants who had taken over the building
An Israeli soldier drives armored vehicles en route to the southern border with the Gaza Strip in Sderot, Israel, Oct. 8, 2023. The country is preparing a comprehensive counteroffensive against the terrorist organization
Israel has no choice but to meet force with force. The only democracy in the Middle East has every right to defend itself (Image: Gaza on Sunday)
He vowed to defeat the group but said the war would “take time” and continued: “What happened today has never happened before in Israel, we will take powerful revenge for this black day.”
He promised to reduce Gaza to rubble and called on innocent Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip immediately. Hamas, he said, would pay “a price it has never known.”
Joe Biden hosted a barbecue for his staff at the White House while at least four Americans died in Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Saturday and Palestinian sympathizers protested at the presidential gates.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog confirmed earlier reports that several Americans were missing following the Hamas attack.
Later Sunday, at least four Americans were confirmed dead and Hamas is believed to be holding more than 100 hostages.
The terrorists shot as many revelers as possible and horrifying photos emerged of bodies piled up in a tent at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, near the Gaza Strip.
Authorities believe 260 people were massacred at the event, which was attended by between 3,000 and 4,000 people.
The full horror of what unfolded at the dance festival became clear when drone footage from above provided a bird’s eye view of the site.
The Jewish nation is now raining fire on militants in the Gaza Strip in a ruthless counteroffensive in the south, while also shelling Lebanon with artillery in the north.
On the deadliest day of violence in Israel in 50 years, the Middle Eastern country’s warplanes bombed densely populated Gaza City in retaliatory strikes.
Fire and smoke rise after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City
An Israeli soldier controls a self-propelled howitzer near the southern city of Ashkelon
Attendees at an outdoor party near Kibbutz Urim — the same one Hersh Golberg-Polin attended — fled for their lives after hearing gunshots
According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Hamas militants have also captured an unknown number of civilians and soldiers in Gaza – including several US citizens.
Yesterday, brazen Hamas fighters knocked on the doors of residents expecting to find Israeli soldiers trying to reassure them about air raid sirens.
Instead, the violence unleashed one of the worst atrocities Israel has seen in decades.
Innocent mothers with children, settlers and even frail elderly people became the “spoils of war” of the masked terrorists who abducted them at gunpoint.
Their actions – which horrified the international community – brought back grim memories of masked Islamic State terrorists in Syria parading hostages on social media before executing them.
Chilling footage on social media showed terrified hostages being taken into Gaza by Hamas militants, chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is great) as they led them away.
A pro-Palestine rally took place in New York shortly after noon on Sunday, with a sympathizer displaying a Nazi swastika. The state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, condemned the protest.
Protesters are expected to take over Times Square – the social and cultural epicenter of New York – the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.
This morning it was revealed that the daughter and son-in-law of a Boston college professor were among the victims killed in Israel following a series of violent Hamas attacks.
Professor Ilan Troen, 83, recently retired from his position at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and moved to Israel to be with his family.
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site in Ashkelon that was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip
Israeli civilians were allegedly taken off the streets and driven back into Gaza
The Boston-born academic recalled how his daughter and son-in-law were killed by Gaza gunmen on Saturday – and how the two managed to save their teenage son by throwing their bodies over him.
The family was together in a safe room in their home when Hamas fighters broke in.
The little boy, Troen’s grandson, was shot in the stomach and is in the hospital.
Troen taught Israeli studies at the private school after studying there himself as an undergraduate before earning his doctorate at the University of Chicago.
In his speech on Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a strong warning to Hamas fighters: “I say to Hamas: You are responsible for the well-being of the prisoners. Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them.”
He vowed to defeat the group but said the war would “take time” and continued: “What happened today has never happened before in Israel, we will take powerful revenge for this black day.”
He vowed “mighty revenge” and vowed to reduce Gaza to “rubble” and called on innocent Palestinians to leave the country immediately.
Shortly afterwards, it was reported that an armored truck was heading towards the Gaza border.
Late Saturday, an Israeli military spokesman said the situation in the south of the country was “still not fully under control.”