Harvard's Antisemitism Problem is a Hamas Problem
Ivy League scapegoats will not address the real problem, Part 2
In December 2023, Africa-Israel Weekly (AIW) published a piece entitled Ivy League scapegoats will not address the real problem in which the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (IBSI) criticized Capitol Hill hearings on college campus antisemitism as pure theater. The focal point of those hearings was the presidents of three Ivy League universities: Claudine Gay of Harvard, Liz Magill of UPenn, and Sally Kornbluth of MIT. And why did IBSI dismiss the Capitol Hill hearings? Because the real impetus for the anti-Israel, anti-American bedlam on US college campuses is the billions in Islamist and Communist foreign money pouring onto those campuses. From the AIW piece:
It has been well-documented that the government of Qatar (among others) has been funding anti-Israel, antisemitic curricula and faculty (and much more) on US college campuses for years. Along with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Qatar is also among Hamas' top funders and hosts the terrorists in lavish penthouses in Doha.
While there are endless mainstream media articles discussing the three Ivy League presidents like a soap opera, we’ve heard almost nothing in related reporting about billions in Qatari or Chinese funding flooding our colleges. Why? Because the [Biden] administration and their propagandists in the mainstream media are busy deceiving you into thinking they're about to do something to end the Jew-hatred…on our campuses. They're not.
Claudine Gay was eventually forced to resign her position as Harvard President, not because of her refusal to address the violent, post-October 7 antisemitism on her campus, but because of a plagiarism scandal. However, in the midst of Harvard’s very public dispute with the Trump administration over the subject of antisemitism, it has been revealed that Palestinian-American billionaire and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government board member, Bashir Masri, may have ties to Hamas. From the Jerusalem Post:
Masri has been accused of using United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and international-funded Gazan infrastructure projects to facilitate Hamas tunnel systems, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday on behalf of American October 7 massacre victims.
The lawsuit – filed by law firms Osen LLC, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP, and Motley Rice LLC – alleged that following the 2021 conflict, Masri had rebuilt the Gaza Industrial Estate (GIE), which had been established in 1997 with support from USAID, turning it into a hub of Hamas operation.
While GIE housed legitimate businesses, the lawsuit alleged that it also hosted a terrorist tunnel network, including a passage under the border to allow Hamas to attack Israelis.
According to the Harvard Crimson:
Masri had served on the Dean’s Council — a group of roughly 70 high-profile donors and business executives that directly advised HKS Dean Jeremy M. Weinstein — since 2014. Since 2018, Masri has also funded the Rawabi Fellowship, which pays for Palestinian students to attend HKS.
In 2020, Harvard’s Kennedy School welcomed Chief Palestinian Negotiator for Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat. No doubt, Masri was a vital part of that decision. Erekat was the propaganda mouthpiece for the murderous PLO while constantly accusing Israel of massacres and genocide, exactly as Hamas is doing today. Who knows how many other alleged terrorist-sympathizers like Bashar Masri are part of Harvard’s or any other US college or university’s leadership?
Yes. The 2023 Capitol Hill hearings on campus antisemitism were a dog-and-pony show. But there’s one other pertinent item that must be addressed.
The terrorism lawsuit against a Harvard board member is further proof that anti-Israel student groups (Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim Students Association, etc) are nothing but pawns and distractions. The real threat was always the billions in Islamist and Communist money and the campuses’ direct ties to jihadists. This was always a matter of national security that required the actions of the Department of Justice and the State Department, not pro-Israel student groups.
Finally, until the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist states like Qatar are designated as terrorist organizations, none of these recent scandals will do anything to stop the Jew/Israel-hatred that is consuming American academia. This includes more hearings on Capitol Hill. The US hasn’t even scratched the surface of the problem.
As usual society is distracted by shiny objects and can't be bothered to dig a bit deeper. Perhaps they will listen to Mr. Washington and his excellent organization. In the meantime we need to amplify the message until our government hears it. Bless you.
I have long been wondering why foreign money in particular directed to education have never come at least under some sort of scrutiny. As long as various apparently innocuous associations that are really Islamists receive huge funding from Qatar, fighting terrorism will be empty words. Generally speaking, as long as Islamic terrorism is lavishly funded, nothing will happen.