The resignation of Claudine Gaythe former rector of Harvard University who before the US Congress he had declared that anti-Semitism depends on the context and that he had plagiarized works, those without context, did not stop the ongoing controversies both within the university and, and above all, in local and national politics in the United States. Because if the principle that anti-Semitism, racism and hatred towards others depend on a context and that they are not to be condemned regardless were to pass in the largest democracy in the world, science fiction nightmare scenarios would open up.
Now, it is clear that there are many imbeciles, haters, racists and anti-Semites in every latitude, just as it is clear that we have the obligation to certify their ignorance and the low intelligence quotient with which they are endowed. We must certify this, and not the contexts during which the ignorance and lack of intelligence of the subjects mentioned above do damage. To most people this reasoning should seem so logical as to be useless, but be careful, These days we try to clear customs for everything, even the pineapple on the pizza or the drop of lemon in the coffee. Stuff that would make a camel vomit.
In any case it was logical to expect that after the attacks on Jewish and Israeli students within the most important campuses and after demonstrations of clear support for Hamas (recognized by all as a terrorist organization affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood), there would have been legal consequences which promptly arrived.
“Crowds of pro-Hamas students and faculty marched by the hundreds across the campus of Harvardshouting vile anti-Semitic slogans and calling for the death of Jews and Israel, and those crowds occupied buildings, classrooms, libraries, student lounges, squares and study halls, often for days or weeks, promoting violence against Jews“. This can be read in the documents of the lawsuit that a group of students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, filed against Harvard University. And this even though the rector in office in those days, as already written, resigned, even if she did so only after having suffered strong pressure from some US politicians and the Jewish community who accused her of not having taken positions sufficiently clearly against incidents of anti-Semitism. Her plagiarism, discovered shortly thereafter, was just the icing on her cake.
The rector’s office has decided not to comment on the facts, because disciplinary actions are underway for violations of the protest rules relating to pro-Palestinian activities against a dozen students. An answer that did not, and objectively could not, satisfy those who in those days were unable to attend campuses or classrooms for fear of attacks which, in any case, were recorded. Own these attacks brought the entire elite of Harvard University to trial, not only the former rector, with the serious accusation of supporting the rampant anti-Semitism on campus. The complaint alleges that the university enforces selectively discriminatory policiesfails to protect Jewish students from harassment, and employs professors who advocate anti-Jewish violence or anti-Semitic propaganda.
The charges also allege that Harvard is treating Jews as “unworthy of respect and protection” compared to other groups, therefore there is a request for an injunction against the alleged violations by the university under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The demands range from compensation for the students attacked, some of whom even ended up in hospital, to the suspension or expulsion of students who practice violence and anti-Semitism.
In the meantime, the rector of Harvard, kindly, has warned students not to engage in anti-Semitic and racist behavior of any kind to avoid incurring disciplinary measures. According to some observers, Harvard University has become “a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment“, but it is not the only one, similar lawsuits have also been filed against the Art Institute of Chicago, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
It is no coincidence, as I reported in one of my previous articles, that Israeli universities have opened their doors to Jewish and Israeli teachers and students who teach or study abroad, giving them the opportunity to finish their courses in Israel degree or master’s degrees in which they are engaged. However, this is unfortunately to the detriment of foreign students who wanted to study in Israel who now see the places available to them significantly decrease.