Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary and Harvard University president, blasted the Ivy League school’s administration over its lack of response to dozens of student groups who blamed Israel for Hamas’ surprise attack this weekend.
“In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today,” Summers, the former Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton who later went on to advise Barack Obama in the White House, wrote on his X social media account.
“The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel.”
“Instead, Harvard is being defined by the morally unconscionable statement apparently coming from two dozen student groups blaming all the violence on Israel,” he wrote, adding: “I am sickened.”
Summers reacted on Monday to a statement signed by more than 30 Harvard student organizations who said they were holding Israel “entirely responsible” for Hamas’ mass slaughter.
Larry Summers, the former Harvard University president, is demanding that the school’s administration officially condemn a student letter blaming Israel for the attacks by Hamas. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images“I cannot fathom the Administration’s failure to disassociate the University and condemn this statement.”
He added: “To be clear nothing is wrong with criticizing Israeli policy past, present or future.”
“I have been sharply critical of [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. But that is very different from lack of clarity regarding terrorism,” Summers wrote.
Summers wrote that he hopes a condemnation of the student groups’ statement “will soon be forthcoming.”
The Post has sought comment from Harvard.
Summers noted that Harvard President Lawrence Bacow issued a statement condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year.
The school even hoisted the Ukrainian flag over Harvard Yard in solidarity, noted Summers, who lamented that there was “no official Harvard statement at this time of moral testing.”
The image above was taken by the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee. Harvard College PSC
Summers reacted on Monday to a statement from more than 30 Harvard student organizations who said they were holding Israel “entirely responsible” for Hamas’ mass slaughter. Harvard College PSCThe statement by the student groups sparked outraged condemnation and calls by a congresswoman for the Ivy League school to denounce the “abhorrent and heinous” support of “evil and terrorism.”
In a letter titled “Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine,” 31 student organizations — including the Ivy League’s affiliate of Amnesty International — condemned Israel, even as its residents are kidnapped and more than 700 have been killed by the terrorist organization.
The groups claim Hamas’ attack “did not happen in a vacuum,” and the Israeli government has forced Palestinians to live in an “open-air prison for over two decades,” according to the letter obtained by The Post.
Thirty-four student groups at Harvard signed the letter, though five of them have officially renounced their affiliation with the missive.
Israeli authorities say that more than 900 soldiers and civilians were killed in Hamas’ surprise assault on Saturday morning. APAmnesty International at Harvard, Harvard College Act on a Dream, the Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association, the Harvard Islamic Society, and Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo all withdrew their endorsements, according to the campus newspaper Harvard Crimson.
The student groups that signed the letters are African American Resistance Organization; 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 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; and Society of Arab Students.
Additional Reporting by Melissa Koenig
