After refusing to condemn calls for the genocide of Jews during a recent congressional hearing, calls for Harvard University President Claudine Gay’s resignation were met with a statement of “unanimous” support for her by the Ivy League school’s board.
JUST IN – Harvard board "unanimously stand in support" of Claudine Gay. pic.twitter.com/J7R5OdGrpt
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 12, 2023
The development has apparently emboldened the antisemitic activists on Harvard’s campus, as evidenced by a troubling warning the university issued to one of its Jewish student groups.
According to reports, the organization was advised to keep their menorahs hidden during Hanukkah in order to placate those who might be inclined to target them.
Harvard Chabad founder Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi recalled the request the group has received each night since the menorah-lighting began.
“On our campus in the shadow of Widener Library, we in the Jewish community are instructed, ‘We’ll let you have the menorah, you made your point. OK, pack it up. Don’t leave it out overnight because there will be criminal activity, we fear, and it won’t look good.’”
Instead of appeasing the growing antisemitic mob that necessitated Gay’s controversial testimony in the first place, Zarchi asserted that the only way to reverse course is to empower students to embrace their faith publicly and without fear.
“You know when change is going to happen on this campus?” he asked. “When we don’t have to pack up the menorah.”
Of course, Harvard is not alone in experiencing an uptick in targeted actions and threats against Jews since the deadly Hamas terrorist attack on Israel more than two months ago. It is also apparently not the only prominent university to put the onus on victims to prevent further vandalism or violence.
According to flyers posted on the campus of New York University, officials refused to allow Jewish students to participate in an “annual Hanukkah lighting” ceremony.
For his part, Zarchi concluded that the underlying problem is that Jews do not have the support of administrators, citing Gay as a prime example.
“We in the Jewish community are longing for the day when we can refer to the president — and all of Harvard — as our too, that Harvard indeed not only has our back, not only allows us to put up a menorah but doesn’t force us to hide it at night when they witness hateful calls to the death of Jews,” he said. “You don’t walk by and say nothing; you speak. You don’t remain silent.”
