THE POSTING OF AN OFFENSIVE CARTOON BY 112 FACULTY MEMBERS SHOWS JUST HOW DEEP ANTISEMITISM RUNS AT HARVARD ..... THE UNIVERSITY NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN

Harvard hit with ANOTHER antisemitism row: Pro-Palestine faculty group posts cartoon depicting a Jewish person hanging black and Arab men - before issuing a groveling public apology

The cartoon was posted by 'Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine' and features a letter signed by 112 faculty members

 

By Stephen M. Lepore

 

Daily Mail

Feb 119, 2024

 

 

Harvard University has been hit with backlash over antisemitism again after a faculty organization claiming to support Palestine posted a cartoon depicting a Jewish person hanging black and Arab men on Instagram Sunday

 

Harvard University has been hit with backlash over antisemitism again after a faculty organization claiming to support Palestine posted a cartoon depicting a Jewish person hanging black and Arab men on Instagram.

It comes just over a month after disgraced former President Claudine Gay resigned from her post after disastrous testimony to Congress that failed to condemn campus antisemitism.

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

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

The cartoon was displayed as part of an Instagram post claiming to show how 'African people have a profound understanding of apartheid and occupation.'

 

 

The fact this was reposted by faculty and staff – let alone posted at all to begin with – is highly troubling and shows just how deep the antisemitism runs at Harvard.

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

 

The image includes a hand with a dollar sign inside a Star of David - the symbol of Judaism. Linking money to the religion is a deeply offensive antisemitic stereotype.

Rabbi David Wolpe, a Harvard Divinity School scholar who resigned from the school’s antisemitism 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 despicably, inarguably anti-Semitic,' he wrote. 'Is there no limit?' 

The group, which says it is 'committed to supporting the cause of Palestinian liberation' and 'wholeheartedly reject[s] accusations that critique of the Israeli state is antisemitic' issued a groveling apology later Monday.

'It has come to our attention that a post featuring antiquated cartoons which used offensive antisemitic tropes was linked to our account. We removed the content as soon as it came to our attention. We apologize for the hurt that these images have caused and do not condone them in any way,' they wrote. 

'Harvard FSJP stands against all forms of hate and bigotry, including antisemitism,' it added.

An Instagram package with similar sentiments, but minus the offending cartoon, was later re-posted by Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee.  

DailyMail.com has reached out to Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine for comment. 

The student-run version of the group, Students for Justice in Palestine, was one of the leading voices offering support for Hamas terrorists in the days following 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 her post after disastrous testimony to Congress that failed to condemn campus anti-Semitism

The group, which says it is 'committed to supporting the cause of Palestinian liberation' and 'wholeheartedly reject[s] accusations that critique of the Israeli state is antisemitic' issued a groveling apology later Monday

An Instagram package with similar sentiments but minus the offending cartoon was later re-posted by Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee

 

It was, in fact, the student-run branch of SJP at Harvard that published a controversial letter blaming Israel for the Palestinian extremists' terror plot.

The letter launched an outcry from many Harvard alumni and led to dozens of top-tier donors pulling their tens of millions from the school.

It was that series of events that started the ball rolling toward the ultimate ousting of Harvard President Claudine Gay. 

Gay, 53, lasted just six months in the role - the shortest tenure of any president in the school's history.  Her resignation came 28 days after her shocking congressional testimony about campus antisemitism, where she refused to categorize calls for Jew genocide as harassment or concede that Jewish students had a right not to feel safe at Ivy League schools. 

In her resignation, Gay wrote that she was standing down after 'consultation' with the school's board, which has been under pressure to replace her after defending her remarks. 

She failed to acknowledge where she went wrong - making no mention of  December 5 testimony or the mounting claims of plagiarism against her - but said she had been the victim of racist threats.  

'It has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual,' Gay wrote. 

Yet dozens of faculty at the elite institution have made the call to provide back-up for those students and others who have been accused of significant anti-Semitic conduct since the outbreak of the war.

The letter from Harvard FSJP gives cover to those students and claims that they are the ones being subjected to 'a concerted and escalating campaign of harassment, intimidation, and racist hate speech because of their advocacy for Palestinian rights.'

'We pledge to support, defend, and protect our students, faculty, staff, and all Harvard affiliates organizing for Palestinian human rights, justice, and peace in Palestine/Israel,' it continues.

The faculty - nearly half of whom are affiliated with Harvard Medical School - also declare their support for the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement, which seeks to withdraw any kind of financial or other support from Israel or any Israeli companies.

'As educational workers, we are focused on boycotts of Israeli academic institutions that support apartheid and colonial occupation,' they wrote, as well as any companies 'that sustain Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinian.'

 

Demonstrators are seen at Harvard on October 14. Gay was criticized for being slow to condemn student justification of the Hamas terror attacks in Israel

 

In November, about 100 members of the Harvard faculty signed a different letter that criticized then President Claudine Gay's initiative to 'combat anti-Semitism,' which had been identified as an issue on campus.

The letter claimed the school was mistakenly taking cues from 'donors, alumni, and even some on this campus' who sought to 'silence' those who are critical of Israel's response to Hamas' terror attack.

They argued the school should not throttle free speech by banning students from chanting 'from the river to the sea,' a phrase that is near universally understood to be a call for the elimination of the State of Israel and its Jewish residents.

The newest faculty letter goes several steps further by 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 groups claims to be after the 'emancipation of all peoples, with liberated futures for both Palestinians and Israelis.'

'Since systems of oppression are deeply interconnected, we further pledge to combat all forms of discrimination and racism at Harvard and outside its walls, including anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Muslim racism, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and antisemitism,' they wrote.

A handful of signees are support staff at Harvard's School of Arts and Sciences, including employees responsible for the well-being and academic records of students, as well as librarians and academic advisors.

 

Ousmane Oumar Kane, a professor of African and African American Studies, as well as the denominational counselor to Muslim Students signed the letter

Self-described climate justice scholar-advocate Jennie C. Stephens, who is a Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard this year, signed the letter

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

 

Notable members of the faculty who added their names to the pro-Palestinian pledge include Ousmane Oumar Kane, a professor of African and African American Studies, as well as the denominational counselor to Muslim Students.

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

He was on leave during the fall 2023 semester and if that meant he was spending time away from campus, he likely did not see in person the aftermath of October 7 play out at Harvard.

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

In 2021, Morse wrote an op-ed in the Boston Review, in which she made a case in favor of federal reparations for racial minorities who have received sub-minimal healthcare from the US medical system. She co-wrote the piece with fellow letter-signee Bram Wispelwey, a Harvard Medical School colleague of hers.

Dr. Wispelwey is an associate physician at the medical school's Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

According to his Harvard faculty page, 'Bram’s research, education, and implementation efforts focus on anti-racist strategies to address hospital admission inequities, community health worker impact, and settler colonial determinants of health.'

 

Michelle E. Morse, a Harvard Medical School professor and New York City's first-ever Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health signed the letter

Vijay Iyer - the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts - signed the letter

 

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

Law School professor Duncan Kennedy, best known as one of the minds behind the critical legal studies movement, which birthed critical race theory, signed the letter. He had also signed the one written in November.

Self-described climate justice scholar-advocate Jennie C. Stephens, who is a Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard this year, signed the letter. Her research focuses on 'integrating transformative social justice, feminist, anti-racist perspectives into climate and energy policy,' among other things.

Vijay Iyer is the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts. He is a composer and 'shape-shifting presence in American music,' in addition to being one of the signees of the letter.