The seismic aftershocks of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel were being felt on American campuses, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been one of the most passionate and controversial subjects on campus. The prestigious Harvard University was particularly hard hit. In a joint statement published on Sunday, October 8, more than 30 Palestine solidarity groups from a wide range of departments declared that Israel's "apartheid regime" was "entirely responsible" for the current violence. Stressing that the population of Gaza was living in an "open-air prison," the text asserted that "Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years."

"I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today," said economist Larry Summers. The former university president blamed the school's current management for its inability to distance itself from the statement and condemn it. It is true that its first text on the subject, published on October 9, was quite vague.

Acknowledging the extent to which the Hamas attack and its aftermath had aroused "feelings of fear, sadness and anger" in the student community, the management proposed that everyone "deepen our knowledge of unfolding events and their broader implications for the region and the world" in the name of "our common humanity and shared values." The words "dialogue," "empathy" and "compassion" were well-intentioned, but they fell short of a direct response to the inflammatory text of the pro-Palestinian groups.

The controversy intensified. Republican representatives, such as Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (New York) and Senator Ted Cruz (Texas), a graduate of Harvard Law School, also questioned the management. Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss (Massachusetts) took the same line.

At Harvard, another text has emerged, supported by thousands of students and alumni, as well as some of the faculty. It described the pro-Palestinian statement as "completely wrong and deeply offensive," calling on the signatories to withdraw their names from the list. Billionaire Bill Ackman, who runs the Pershing Square Capital Management investment fund, reacted on X (formerly Twitter) by saying that the list of signatories should be made public. He said he had been contacted by other bosses wanting to avoid "inadvertently hiring" any of them.

On the other hand, Cornel West, a renowned former Harvard professor and now an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, denounced a kind of "double standard" among the critics of this controversial statement. Interviewed by Politico, West highlighted the war crimes committed by both sides. "Palestinians have a right to defend themselves in the same way that Israel has a right to defend itself," he said. "There's no doubt about that. But neither has the right to kill innocent people."

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