Harvard student groups blame Israel

(JNS) — The Harvard Divinity School student group Jews for Liberation doesn’t mince words in its description on the school’s site. 

The group “offers warm, creative spiritual and political space for anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jews, as well as Jews questioning their relationship with Zionism,” it states. 

Student groups must register annually with the school’s Office of Student Life, which “prioritizes anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices” and “reflects the rich diversity and plurality of our community,” but evidently doesn’t consider avowed anti-Zionists to be oppressive or racist.

Jews for Liberation is one of dozens of Harvard student group signatories to a joint statement of Harvard “Palestine solidarity groups on the situation in Palestine.”

“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the groups state.

“The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years,” the groups add. “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.”

“Even Hamas doesn’t believe these talking points. These are the same students who think words are violence. I’m so ashamed,” wrote Yael Bar tur, a consultant and former NYPD director of social media and digital strategy. “Sick to my stomach.”

The signatories are:

African American Resistance Organization

Amnesty International at Harvard

Bengali Association of Students at Harvard College

Harvard Act on a Dream

Harvard Arab Medical and Dental Student Association

Harvard Chan Muslim Student Association 

Harvard Chan Students for Health Equity and Justice in Palestine

Harvard College Pakistan Student Association

Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association

Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association

Harvard Graduate School of Education Islamic Society

Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine

Harvard Islamic Society 

Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine

Harvard Divinity School Students for Justice in Palestine

Harvard Jews for Liberation

Harvard Kennedy School Bangladesh Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Women’s Caucus 

Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School South Asia Caucus Leadership

Harvard Muslim Law School Association

Harvard Pakistan Forum

Harvard Prison Divest Coalition

Harvard South Asian Law Students Association

Harvard South Asians for Forward-Thinking Advocacy and Research

Harvard TPS Coalition

Harvard Undergraduate Arab Women’s Collective

Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo

Harvard Undergraduate Muslim Women’s Medical Alliance

Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Students Association

Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee

Middle East and North African Graduate School of Design Student Society

Neighbor Program Cambridge

Sikhs and Companions of Harvard Undergraduates 

Society of Arab Students