Harvard University has created a task force to combat antisemitism on campus – and the effort is already embroiled in controversy.
The school’s newly appointed co-chairman of the President’s Task Force on Combating Antisemitism once declared a “vein of hatred runs through Jewish civilization,” according to his 2023 book.
“Israel’s dispossession of the Palestinians from their land and oppression of those who remain has made it one of the most disliked countries on the planet,” Jewish history professor Derek Penslar claims in his book, “Zionism: An Emotional State,” in which he writes , “Jewish culture is filled with fantasy (and sometimes, action) of revenge against Christians.”
The task force, announced Friday, comes as the university continues to grapple with the fallout from recently ousted president Claudine Gay.
“Reports of antisemitic and Islamophobic acts on our campus have grown, and the sense of belonging among these groups has been undermined. We need to understand why and how it happens—and what else we can do to prevent it,” Harvard interim president Alan Garber said in a statement announcing the new initiative.
The newly named co-chair of Harvard’s antisemitism task force has accused Israel of an “apartheid regime.” Harvard University
In the days after Gay’s resignation, Penslar publicly downplayed the campus antisemitism he was now charged with investigating, telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency outsiders had “exaggerated” the issue.
In August 2023, Penslar signed a letter from a group called Academics4Peace, in which Israel was derided as an “apartheid regime,” guilty of “Jewish supremacy.”
The letter, signed by 2,900 people, also accused the country of trying to “cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian inhabitants.”
Harvard has been rocked by campus antisemitism since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. Reuters
Harvard’s fiercest critic, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, slammed the decision to appoint Penslar to the task force.
“@Harvard continues down the path of darkness,” Ackman said.
“Harvard will double down on its anti-Semitism. Shooting Gay just shuffled the deck chairs on the Titanic. The problem remains the racist and anti-Semitic DEI ideology,” added Ted Frankdirector of litigation at the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, a nonprofit law firm.
Harvard has faced numerous antisemitic incidents since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The university’s response has sparked a donor revolt and a full-scale congressional investigation.
Reps for Harvard and Penslar did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Post.
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