Gaza war: Harvard students call out 'apartheid Israel' in letter

A coalition of 34 Harvard student organisations has denounced Israel's "apartheid regime" in a statement reacting to the Israel-Gaza war.

The students of the most influential university in the United States - which had produced eight former presidents and nine current Supreme Court justices - said they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence" between the Palestinians and Israelis following decades of occupation, adding that "the apartheid regime is the only one to blame".

"Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years," the statement said.

"From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden," the statement added. "The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation."

The statement's signatories included Muslim and Palestinian support groups, as well as the Harvard Jews for Liberation and the African American Resistance Organization.

Ignoring the decades of occupational violence, Western powers continue to enable Israel's crimes and impunity. But in streets around the world, the Palestinian flag flies high in solidarity with their fight for liberation, writes @RandaAFattah https://t.co/Zd3PT4X06K

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 10, 2023

Prominent Harvard University alumni denounced the pro-Palestinian statement and urged the university to take action against the signatories on Monday.

On Saturday, some 100 pro-Israel Harvard students and affiliates attended a Harvard Hillel to show support for Israel, with leaders of Harvard Chabad also taking part in the event.

Harvard Hillel, a Jewish organisation with right-wing politics, organised the gathering.

Hillel says it views Israel as a "core element of Jewish life" - a conflation that critics say obstructs genuine criticism of the Israeli state.

Former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, the former US Treasury Secretary under Democratic President Bill Clinton, heavily criticised the current Harvard leadership.

"The silence from Harvard's leadership... has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel," Summers wrote on social media platform X. "I am sickened."

Following the backlash, Harvard President Claudine Gay and senior leadership including 15 deans issued a statement on Monday that said they were "heartbroken by the death and destruction unleashed by the attack by Hamas that targeted citizens in Israel this weekend."

But the statement avoided direct references to the students' letter or reactions to it.

The recent developments signify ongoing challenges for Claudine Gay, who recently became Harvard’s newest president this summer.

The university has been historically targeted by conservatives who claim that American higher education conforms to elitist and liberal viewpoints, as Harvard underwent the Supreme Court case which toppled affirmative action earlier this year in June.

On Sunday, students at Columbia University followed suit by also speaking out on the Gaza issue.

The Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine posted on Facebook that Saturday's events were "a historic moment for the Palestinians of Gaza" and that the people of Palestine "tore through the wall that has been suffocating them".

"Despite the odds against them, Palestinians launched a counter-offensive against their settler-colonial oppressor - which receives billions of US dollars annually in military aid and possesses one of the world's most robust surveillance and security apparatuses. Any omission of this context — any rhetoric of 'an unprovoked Palestinian attack' — is shamefully misleading," the post said.

"As long as you perpetuate this narrative, fighting will continue to break out until justice is achieved. Because nothing else is working."

The university student group additionally condemned several university officials who released statements in support of Israel amid the ongoing conflict and demanded that the university divests from Israel, including by ending a dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.