by WorldTribune Staff, November 8, 2023
Many of the most egregious acts of anti-semitism following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel occurred on Ivy League campuses.
A Cornell student faces federal charges for threatening to stab and rape Jewish students; a Columbia student was charged with assault and hate crimes for attacking a student who was putting up pro-Israel fliers; Harvard students held an anti-Israel “die-in” where pro-Hamas students screamed “shame” and swarmed a Jewish graduate student as he tried to walk past.
So it came as no surprise to many observers that no Ivy League institutions were included in the more than 100 U.S. universities which signed on to a joint statement condemning Hamas and standing with Israel.
“We Stand Together with Israel Against Hamas,” the open letter from Universities United Against Terrorism, “included the University of Notre Dame and the University of Texas at Austin, as well as numerous religious colleges and the United Negro College Fund,” Valerie Richardson reported for The Washington Times on Nov. 6.
“We are horrified and sickened by the brutality and inhumanity of Hamas. Murdering innocent civilians including babies and children, raping women and taking the elderly as hostages are not the actions of political disagreement but the actions of hate and terrorism,” said the recent letter signed by university presidents.
The letter went on to say that the “basis of all universities is a pursuit of truth, and it is times like these that require moral clarity.”
“Like the fight against ISIS, the fight against Hamas is a fight against evil,” the letter said. “We, the presidents and chancellors of universities and colleges across the United States of America and the world, stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’ cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience.”
Liz Magill, president of the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania, said in a Nov. 1 statement that she was “appalled by incidents on our own campus, and I’ve heard too many heartbreaking stories from those who are fearful for their safety right here at Penn. This is completely unacceptable.”
Penn was not among the letter’s signatories.
Magill’s statement failed to reassure some of the school’s top donors.
Billionaire Marc Rowan “is leading a donor revolt that now includes major benefactors like former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Estee Lauder heir Ron Lauder, venture capitalist David Magerman, and ‘Law & Order’ producer Dick Wolf,” Richardson noted.
Harvard alum Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge-fund manager, fired off an open letter to Harvard President Claudine Gay saying that “the situation at Harvard is dire and getting worse, much worse than I had realized.”
Ackman said those who harassed the Jewish student at the Oct. 18 protest should be suspended, and the admissions process should be evaluated to ascertain “why the university is admitting racist students.”
A group of Harvard alumni launched the One Dollar Pledge, vowing to contribute $1 to the university but no more until Harvard “rediscovers its historic values and takes concrete steps to address the growing problem of antisemitism and intolerance that has taken hold within its gates.”
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