Harvard president condemns Hamas attacks on Israel after backlash, student group cancels vigil
CAMBRIDGE – Outrage from alumni forced Harvard University president Claudine Gay to issue a new statement condemning Hamas Tuesday, though she stopped short of rebuking students who blame Israel for the deadly surprise attacks.
Hours later, in what was supposed to be a vigil for the lives lost in attack and a show of solidarity for Palestinians, was postponed due to safety concerns.
Thirty campus organizations signed a statement that said Israel was "entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."
"This is outright terrorism, and terrorism is never justified," Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton, a Harvard alum, told WBZ-TV.
Moulton said he can't recall a moment when he was more embarrassed by his alma mater.
"I think young Americans on college campuses need to live up to American values and be willing to have a really important honest debate, but not censor," Moulton said.
"We can have a healthy intellectual debate that holds up Palestinian rights, while also criticizing the barbarous acts of terrorism by Hamas," Moulton said.
At first, Harvard's president sent out a statement about the conflict, but it did not directly address the student groups' statement. On Tuesday, Gay released a new statement.
"As the events of recent days continue to reverberate, let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one's individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region," Gay said. "Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership."
Some students like Elizabeth Ulanova questioned why the university leadership stayed silent for days before finally responding to the outrage.
"I think the university's response was quite late, given that it had been a few days," said Ulanova, whose boyfriend lives in Israel. "I'm always on the side that's against unnecessary human suffering, I just see a lot of unnecessary violence especially that concerns civilians in the middle."