More Than 150 Harvard Faculty Sign Letter Criticizing Student Groups’ Pro-Palestine Statement, School’s Response

Over 150 faculty members at Harvard issued an open letter Wednesday condemning the school’s response to deadly terrorist attacks in Israel, as well as comments made by student groups.

Over 30 Harvard student organizations issued a joint letter in support of Palestine following the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel which killed over 1,000 people, resulted in dozens of kidnappings and left thousands injured, prompting widespread online backlash. Harvard released a letter responding on Monday, which faculty said “failed to condemn” Hamas in strong enough terms. 

“The statement failed to condemn the justifications for violence that come from our own campus, nor to make it clear to the world that the statement endorsed by these organizations does not represent the values of the Harvard community,” the letter continues, discussing the student letter in support of Palestine.

Multiple student groups at other elite universities, such Columbia University, Yale University and George Washington University, have put out statements supporting Palestine following the brutal terrorist attack on Israel.

Former Harvard President Lawrence Summers criticized the administration’s lack of a statement about Israel over the weekend after the terrorist attack, according to a tweet.

“Harvard’s silence — in the face of 31 student groups blaming Israel for Hamas terrorists’ thousands of murders, rapes & kidnappings — is utterly indefensible,” Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Harvard grad, tweeted.

Billionaire hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman wrote on Twitter Tuesday that students who signed the Harvard letter should have their names released and companies would know not to hire them after their support of terrorism.

Following the release of the names of the students, multiple student groups have retracted their signatures to the statement, according to the Harvard Crimson.

Harvard did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.