Anti-Israel protesters at Harvard University hoisted Palestinian flags on Saturday where an American flag usually flies on the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In storied Harvard Yard, by a statute of John Harvard, protesters hoisted three Palestinian flags at about 6 p.m. when an American flag and any others flying there had been taken down for the evening.
In a little over half an hour, security was called to take down the flags, according to The Harvard Crimson.
Protesters yelled “Shame!” and chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Video of Harvard students raising the Palestinian flag.
They did this an hour after the dean reiterated that participants in the encampment would be disciplined.
They’re making a mockery of Harvard — if that’s even possible anymore. https://t.co/plEaLIzYq3 pic.twitter.com/YvIiIwYNbS
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) April 27, 2024
Harvard spokesman Jonathan Swain said in a statement Saturday night that raising the flags was “a violation of University policy and the individuals involved will be subject to disciplinary action.”
The university has been scanning the IDs of student protesters and has warned of disciplinary action that could include withholding degrees at commencement.
“For well over 200 days, Harvard has ignored the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Until they agree to meet our demands to disclose and divest from Israeli apartheid and occupation, we will make Palestine unavoidable. We will continue this liberated zone and fly the spirit of Palestine!” Harvard protesters said in a post on social media.
The Harvard protest is part of anti-Israel protests that began at Columbia University in New York and have since spread to other colleges.
Last week, a protester with a Palestinian flag at George Washington University was photographed with a placard bearing the words “final solution,” according to the New York Post. Those were the words used by Nazi Germany when it sought to exterminate the Jewish people.
No mask can hide the fact that college students are openly supporting terrorists. pic.twitter.com/uUktnySjgC
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) April 26, 2024
A New York Post editorial said students have become pawns of anti-Semitic haters since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.
“Israel’s war is entirely just; the protest movement consists entirely of the malevolent and the idiotic: Nazi equivalents and their enablers. And it’s the ones who know what they’re doing who are calling all the shots,” the Post wrote.
In an Op-Ed in The Jerusalem Post addressed to “the Silent Ones,” Israeli-American Columbia University grad student Becca Baitel said the time has come to call out hate and stand up for what is right.
“To my silent friends, I have seen you watch my social media stories, championing other causes in the name of social justice and so passionately engaging in discourse,” she wrote. “Yet, as antisemitic violence and pro-terror rhetoric emboldens our very college campuses, you are suddenly nowhere to be found. Your ignorance, avoidance, and cowardice is omnipresent.
“Students are being physically assaulted by angry mobs, ones which continuously celebrate Hamas’ atrocities and undermine the collective mourning and trauma of our people.”
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Baitel said, “We should not have to beg for your empathy because you are too afraid. We do not ask for pity, rather, seek recognition of our community’s ongoing pain and recurring battles we must fight every day as not only Columbia students, but Jews navigating a post-10/7 world.
“While unintentional, it is the silence of those too timid to call out Anti-Semitism who have allowed these demonstrations to escalate in both scope and intensity. To those I beg the question, ‘What are you so afraid of?’ I implore you to rise above your apathy and fear before it is too late.”
“I am tired of rationalizing and justifying the silence for the sake of your comfort,” she wrote. “There has been far too much of it and I have reached my limit. Many of us have.”
Retreat, Baitel said, is not an option.
“As Jews, we will not cower and submit to the hateful narratives being perpetuated around us on a daily basis,” she wrote. “We will stand firm in our place, embracing Jewish joy as resilience. No force, group, or administration can strip us of our unwavering determination and everlasting spirit.
“This is a narrative deeply embedded in our history, yet we, as Jews in the diaspora, are rewriting it. But we can’t do it without the help of our loved ones and friends.”
