More than 5,000 students from more than 650 colleges and universities across the United States signed a joint statement in support of Israel in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in Israel by the Palestinian terror group Hamas.
“On the morning of Oct. 7, Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist group, massacred, tortured, raped and burned Israeli victims, mostly civilians, including women, children and infants. The death toll is now more than 1,300,” Williams College student Alec Bachman and Tufts University student Samuel Ben-Ur began in their joint statement. The letter, originally published by the New York Times, indicates it has been cosigned by more than 5,000 students from 650 colleges and universities including Princeton University, New York University, Cornell University, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Tulane University, Boston University, University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State University, University of Maryland, Rutgers University, and MIT, amongst many others.
“We as students are sickened by the actions of Hamas,” they continued. “We are unable to look away from the massacre of our friends and family from afar, and our desperate calls go to voicemail as we try to cope with our isolation from our families and now our own campus communities.”
Supporters of Palestine gather at Harvard University to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2023. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
The statement went on to call out the universities that have failed to quickly condemn Hamas, as well as their pro-Hamas students, while being so quick to condemn other issues, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
Many university administrations have yet to call out the atrocities committed by Hamas and provide us with the support we desperately need. These same universities that were quick to condemn events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and recent Supreme Court decisions now remain silent.
Just as they have failed to condemn the actions of Hamas in Israel, they have yet to condemn the students who are celebrating these atrocities on campus.
“Since administrators have failed to speak to us, it’s time we speak to them,” the student continued. “Condemn Hamas. Condemn the students supporting Hamas.”
“Support your Jewish and Israeli students,” they added. “We are grieving, and the only thing that hurts almost as much as the cries of our brothers and sisters is your silence.”
The students were reacting, in part, to the more than 30 Harvard student groups that issued a joint statement blaming Israel for the recent terrorist attacks against the world’s only Jewish state, which left more than 1,300 Israelis dead, and also involved rape, beheadings, bodies being set on fire, and kidnappings.
In their letter, the Ivy League students declared, in part, “We hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
Initially, Harvard leadership reacted by issuing a general statement condemning violence, but made no mention of its students’ pro-terror statement. After intense nationwide backlash, Harvard President Claudine Gay issued a follow-up statement trying to distance the school from its student groups.
The mass murder of Jews in Israel by the Palestinian terror group Hamas also galvanized students across the U.S. into putting on pro-Palestine, anti-Israel demonstrations on their college campuses, with one student at Ohio State University even referring to the slaughtering of Jews by Hamas as “a resistance movement.”
The reaction from pro-Palestine students across the U.S. appears to have opened the eyes of many, as it showcases how widespread antisemitism is on college campuses.
Now, employers are taking a harder look at applicants from Ivy League schools, noting which organizations they have been involved with during their time as a student. Meanwhile, a top law firm has already rescinded three job offers from graduates of Harvard and Columbia University.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.