EXCLUSIVE Harvard campus hostage posters defaced with antisemitism as terrified Jewish students return to class
Jewish students told DailyMail.com they didn't feel safe returning to school
By Jen Smith
Daily Mail
Jan 22, 2024
A defaced poster of Hamas hostage Kfir Bibas remains in the center of Harvard Yard today as students return to classes
Jewish students who returned anxiously to Harvard for the spring semester last night were met with yet more vile antisemitism plastered all over posters of Hamas hostages.
The posters were vandalized with vile remarks, comparing some of the victims to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and blaming 'Israel' for 9/11.
In one sick jibe, thugs wrote 'evidence, head still one' on a photo of ten-month-old Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage taken, who remains separated from his family more than 100 days later.
Others were defaced with conspiracy claims about Israel being responsible for 9/11
A posterof hostage Romi Gonen is defaced with the sarcastic pop culture slur, 'sure, Jan', commonly used to cast doubt on far fetched claims
Gad Haggai, who was murdered on October 7th, is seen in this poster defaced by pro-Palestine students
Another poster, featuring Haggai's wife Judith, was also defaced
The slur is in reference to the disputed claims that Hamas beheaded babies during the October 7 massacre.
Harvard is yet to comment on the posters.
Student Shabbos Kestenbaum - who is suing the school for a tuition refund - said it's further proof that Jewish students are not safe at the school.
'The night before Harvard begins a new semester, every single Jewish hostage poster on campus has been defaced with vile antisemitism.
'Jews are neither safe nor welcomed at Harvard.'
He previously told DailyMail.com how his parents had begged him not to return to the campus.
'There’s a tremendous amount of tension, nerves, anxiety… I am home just now for the break and my parents don’t want me to go back to campus.
The Harvard 'H' is turned into 'Hamas' in a sign in the center of Harvard Yard on Monday, January 22
A sign in the center of Harvard Yard bears both the defaced posters and a call for the hostages to be released
Kestenbaum said he was horrified by Gay's congressional testimony. 'We had no reason to doubt her leadership abilities then literally almost overnight October 7th to 8th, there was a total abdication of moral responsibility,' he said
'They’re afraid for my physical safety... I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if there are physical attacks on Jewish students when we go back.
'We have no reason to believe the spring semester will be any better, and actually a lot of reason to believe that there will be increased and intensified acts of antisemitism given the accelerated antisemitic posts on social media,' he said on January 13.
Tensions had bubbled on campus in December, after Claudine Gay's disastrous testimony before Congress.
When she stepped down, classes were out for the winter break.
How the school's new president, Alan Garber, will respond to the issue remains to be seen.
Since Claudine Gay resigned, Kestenbaum says this type of antisemitism on the school's internal social media has soared
Harvard's new president, Alan Garber, is yet to comment on the defaced posters
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