Harvard University condemned Monday the use of antisemitic imagery in a post by pro-Palestine groups and announced it would be investigating the matter, The Harvard Crimson reported.
“Such despicable messages have no place in the Harvard community,” the university reportedly said in an Instagram story statement, “We condemn these posts in the strongest possible terms.” (RELATED: Yet Another Harvard University Official Accused Of Plagiarism)
The university said they will refer the posts to their Ad Board for review, which has raised the possibility of disciplinary action toward the groups responsible, The Crimson reported. The post was reportedly created by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and the African and African American Resistance Organization, two student groups, but was shared by a group called Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (Harvard FSJP).
The entire Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine was included in a tweet by Shabbos Kestenbaum. A Jewish student at Harvard Divinity, he was one of six who began a lawsuit against the school over its alleged failures in addressing antisemitism on campus, according to The Crimson.
Harvard *faculty* just posted an explicitly antisemitic poster depicting a Jewish hand controlling the black mind. With Professors like these, it’s easy to see why we Jewish students don’t feel safe in class pic.twitter.com/AiqADJSIFw
— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) February 19, 2024
Kestenbaum also shared a close up of the image that was particularly full of classic antisemitic canards.
— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) February 19, 2024
The image was that of a hand branded with the Star of David — a Jewish symbol — and a dollar sign holding a noose around what appears to be the visages of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser and Muhammad Ali with a black arm symbolizing the Third World holding a sword labelled Liberation Movement trying to cut the noose.
“The cartoon is despicably, inarguably antisemitic. Is there no limit?” Rabbi David Wolpe, a former member of Harvard University’s antisemitism advisory committee, tweeted.
The scandal even received the attention of the House of Representatives. “This repugnant antisemitism should have no place in our society, much less on Harvard’s faculty,” the House Committee on Education & the Workforce tweeted. This committee is already investigating Harvard University over antisemitism and on Friday issued several subpoenas against the prestigious university, a press release stated.
Harvard FSJP posted their apology for sharing what they accepted were “offensive antisemitic tropes” on their Instagram page and announced they had removed the offending image.
“Harvard FSJP stands against all forms of hate and bigotry, including antisemitism,” the apology concluded.
The post, made Sunday, was deleted and reposted Monday with the antisemitic image removed, The Crimson reported.