A group of 101 faculty members at Harvard have signed on to a public letter that defended a phrase associated with the genocide of Israelis and criticized university President Claudine Gay for issuing statements condemning antisemitism.

The letter, billed as a response to Gay's Nov. 9 letter, "Combating Antisemitism," accuses the institution's president of undermining academic freedom by siding with people who consider criticism of Israel to be antisemitic.

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"The University's commitment to intellectual freedom and open dialogue seems to be giving way to something else entirely: a model of education in which the meaning of terms once eligible for interpretation is prescribed from above by a committee whose work was, on Tuesday, described to the faculty as only beginning," the letter says.

The letter went on to defend criticism of Israel, saying, "There must ... be room on a university campus for debate about the actions of states, including of the State of Israel" and that accusations that Israel is engaging in "genocide" or "ethnic cleansing" could not be considered "ipso facto antisemitic."

"It is understandable that in the shadow of the twentieth-century history of Europe, Palestine, and Israel, as well as the attacks of October 7 and the ongoing catastrophe in Gaza, you would want to remind members of our community that their words have meaning," the faculty wrote. "And yet, at a moment when an affiliate of the University has with apparent impunity stood in the yard and accused students of supporting terrorism, your delineation of the limits of acceptable expression on our campus is dangerously one-sided."

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The letter to Gay comes after the university president has sustained intense national criticism for her response to a series of pro-Hamas statements from student groups made in the wake of Hamas's terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.

Gay's delayed response, which did not initially condemn the students for their statement, has led to calls for her resignation from prominent Harvard alumni, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.