(DCWatchdog.com) – Former Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers slammed the school’s silence regarding the recent deadly attack on Israel by the Islamic militant group Hamas.
In a Twitter thread, Summers sharply criticized Harvard’s failure to respond to the attack, which involved launching thousands of rockets from Gaza into southern and central Israel.
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.
Summers, who has a long history of affiliation with Harvard, stated that he has never felt as disillusioned and alienated from the university as he does now.
He voiced his concerns about Harvard’s silence on the issue and highlighted the contrast with the university’s swift actions in response to other international and domestic events.
He pointed out that the university had immediately flown a Ukrainian flag after Russia’s invasion in 2022 and had issued a “powerful statement” regarding political violence following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
In his thread, Summers criticized the absence of an official statement from Harvard addressing the situation in Israel, even though student groups at the university had made statements blaming Israel exclusively for the conflict.
He expressed deep disappointment and called the student groups’ statements “morally unconscionable.”
Summers urged Harvard’s administration to disassociate the university from the student groups’ stance and to condemn their statement.
He emphasized the importance of publicly condemning terrorism while also offering constructive criticism of specific Israeli policies.
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.
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) October 9, 2023
