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Sign the Statement
in Response to The Harvard Crimson's Endorsement of BDS Against Israel.
ONLY HARVARD UNIVERSITY FACULTY
SHOULD SIGN THIS STATEMENT
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All rights reserved Copyright © HarvardFacultyStatement.com
As members of the faculty of Harvard University, we are dismayed by The Crimson Editorial Board’s enthusiastic endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. While we may not agree with every point in this statement, and there are many diverse perspectives among us on issues of Israeli policy, the boundaries of academic freedom, and the role of universities as political actors, we are united in our opposition to BDS and The Crimson stance.
We are deeply concerned about the long-term impact of this recent staff editorial on the morale and well-being of Jewish and Zionist students at Harvard, some of whom have already reported that they have become alienated from the newspaper on account of the inhospitable culture that prevails there.
We extend our full support to these students who may now be feeling marginalized and demoralized. We also express our steadfast commitment to Harvard’s ties with Israel, a country that is home to some of the world’s best universities. Our research and teaching missions benefit from these educational exchanges, and we encourage Harvard to grow them further.
While acknowledging the right of those within our campus community to endorse and advocate for BDS, we stand firmly opposed to this movement. In addition to calling for a wholesale boycott of Israeli academia, BDS compromises educational goals by turning the complex and intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a caricature that singles out only one side for blame with a false binary of oppressor versus oppressed.
We believe that many well-meaning people with no hate in their hearts, including those at Harvard, gravitate to this movement believing that it offers a means for advancing Palestinian rights and peace in the Middle East. But the reality is that BDS merely coarsens the discourse on campus and contributes to antisemitism. In seeking to delegitimize Israel through diplomatic, economic, academic, and cultural isolation, and by opposing the very notions of Jewish peoplehood and self-determination, BDS is disrespectful of Jews, the vast majority of whom view an attachment to Israel as central to their faith identity.
Contrary to the Crimson editorial, and despite its claim to be a movement for social justice, BDS does not advocate for coexistence, peace building toward a two-state solution, or even dialogue with Israel’s supporters on our campus. BDS negates the importance of Israel for Jewish continuity and as a refuge and safe haven for Jews who need one. It excludes Israel’s remarkable achievements as a post-colonial nation after independence, ignores the country’s relative successes in integrating waves of multi-ethnic and multi-racial communities, and neglects Israel’s own efforts at peace. Because of the movement’s rigid policy of “anti-normalization,” BDS casts Israel as uniquely malevolent among nations, with any and all attempts at mutual understanding to be resisted.
We are saddened and disheartened that both the Crimson and the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), to which the Editorial Board gave full-throated support in its editorial, are creating spaces on campus where Jewish and Zionist students are targeted and made to feel unwelcome. In its “Wall of Resistance” art installation at Harvard Yard, callously displayed over the Passover holiday, the PSC equated Zionism with “racism” and “white supremacy.” Such language is shameful and has no place at Harvard. We call out this rhetoric for what it is: anti-Jewish hate speech that is antithetical to the values of any academic institution.
Zionism— the right of the Jewish people to a homeland and self-determination—is a millennia-old tradition, with deep roots in Jewish history and religious practice. It is also a more recent political response to the utter failure to produce freedom and safety for Jews living in most places in the world. To treat Zionism as an illegitimate and oppressive movement, as BDS does, is to ignore history and to deny empathy, respect, and dignity to Jews.
We at Harvard have a responsibility to recognize the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to acknowledge the lived experiences, traumas, hopes and dreams of all peoples impacted by it. The mission of our great university is to rigorously interrogate and debate complex problems. We are at our best when we consider and evaluate competing perspectives, focus on facts, acknowledge nuances, and avoid simplistic, monocausal explanations.
Proposing disengagement from Israel, in rhetoric that harshly characterizes the Jewish national project, has consequences here at Harvard too. At a moment when antisemitic incidents, often including violence, have reached an all-time high, it is more important than ever for us to model a respectful and inclusive learning environment.
We urge the Crimson Editorial Board to reach out to Jewish peers so that they can begin to repair the damage caused by writing such a divisive staff editorial, adding insult to injury by thoughtlessly publishing it the day after Yom HaShoah—Holocaust Remembrance Day.
We encourage Crimson’s editors to take advantage of the many resources and educational opportunities that Harvard has to offer for learning more deeply about Jewish identity and Israel, the diversity of the Jewish experience, and the multifaceted nature of contemporary antisemitism, including how it manifests on campus.
We also hope that the students who report and write for Harvard’s treasured and beloved Crimson, the oldest continuously published campus daily in the United States, will turn to us for more information and insight into the issues and concerns that we have raised in this statement. Our doors are always open.
Gabriella Blum, Rita E. Hauser Professor of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Harvard Law School
Jesse Fried, Dane Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology
Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus
Additional signatories:
Martin Abrahamson, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Michael Agus, Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Eva Ascarza, Associate Professor, Marketing, Harvard Business School
Oren Bar-Gill, Professor, Harvard Law School
Terry Bard, Lecturer on Pastoral Counseling in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Lucian Bebchuk, James Barr Ames Professor of Law, Economics, and Finance, Harvard Law School
Carolyn Becker, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jennifer Bellon, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Herbert Birnbaum, Assistant Professor, Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Ron Blankstein, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Ilana Braun, Assistant Professor , Harvard Medical School
Stephen Brown, Associate Professor, Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Joan Brugge, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Raphael Bueno, Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Harold Bursztajn, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jeffrey Bussgang, Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School
Elliot Chaikof, Professor and Chair, Beth Israel Deaconesses Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Shaye Cohen, Nathan LIttauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy, Harvard University
Amy Comander, Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Jason Comander, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University
Kirk Daffner, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Leemore Dafny, Bruce V. Rauner Professor, Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School
George Demetri, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Alan Dershowitz, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Law School
Bruce Donoff, Past Dean and Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Distinguished University Professor of Service, Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Carol Ehrlich, Senior Physician-Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Mark Feinberg, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Joshua Finkel, Instructor of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School
Krisztina Fischer, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Shira Fischer, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
David Fisher, Professor and Chair, Dermatology, Harvard Medical School
Naomi Fisher, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Gary Fleisher, Egan Family Foundation Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jeffrey Flier, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and former Dean of Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School
Steven Flier, Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School
Dinah Foer, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Bernard Friedland, Associate Professor, Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Dave Friedman, Lecturer, Harvard Law School
Elizabeth Gaufberg, Associate Professor, Medicine and Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Jeffrey Gelfand, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Daniel Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
Jordan Glicksman, Lecturer, Otolaryngology, Harvard Medical School
Joel Goldberg, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Hilary Goldberg, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Samuel Goldhaber, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Paul Gompers, Eugene Holman Professor, Harvard Business School
Robert Graham, Associate Professor, Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Jerry Green, John Leverett Professor in the University, Harvard Business School
Shane Greenstein, Professor, Harvard Business School
Robin Greenwood, Professor, Harvard Business School
Steven Grinspoon, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Jerome Groopman, Recanati Professor, Harvard Medical School
Richard Grossman, Visiting Scholar, Harvard University
Daphne Haas-Kogan, Professor and Chair, Harvard Medical School
Rachel Haims, Instructor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Jeffrey Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art & Culture, Harvard University
Mark Hammer, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Anat Hanono, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Mark J. Hauser, Instructor, Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Elhanan Helpman, Galen L. Stone Professor on International Trade, Harvard University
Yael Hoffman Sage, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Jacob Holzer, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Charles Homer, Associate Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School
Margo Hudson, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Esther Israel, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Elliot Israel, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Ayelet Israeli, Marvin Bower Associate Professor, Harvard Business School
Barbara Kahn, George Minot Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
C Ronald Kahn, Mary K Iacocca Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Benjamin Kann, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Robert Kaplan, Professor, Harvard Business School
Louis Kaplow, Professor, Harvard Law School
Daniel Katz, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Aubrey Katz, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Elizabeth Keenan, Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School
Steven Kelman, Weatherhead Professor of Public Management, Harvard Kennedy School
Louise King, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Isaac Kohane, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Daniel Kohane, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Joshua Korzenik, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Paul Kosmin, Philip J. King Professor of Ancient History, Harvard University
Baruch Krauss, MALE, Harvard Medical School
Joshua Krieger, Assistant Professor of Mangement, Harvard Business School
Abraham Lebenthal, Instructor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Meryl LeBoff, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Jonathan Leeman, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jon Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard Divinity School
Cheryl Levin, Lecturer, Harvard Medical School
David Levine, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Nomi Levy-Carrick, Vice Chair, Clinical Programs, Harvard Medical School
Avi Loeb, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, Harvard University
Dan Lusthaus, Research Associate, Harvard University
Bertha Madras, Professor of Psychobiology, Harvard Medical School
Harvey Mamon, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Asaf Maoz, Clinical Fellow / Postdoctoral Fellow, Medical Oncology, Harvard Medical School
Eleftheria Maratos-Flier, Professor Emerita, Harvard Medical School
Karen Marcus, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Joshua Margolis, Professor, Harvard Business School
Gad Marshall, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Ralph Metson, Professor HMS, Harvard Medical School
Dror Michaelson, Donald Kaufman Chair in Medical Oncology, Harvard Medical School
Thomas Michel, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Robert Mnookin, Williston Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Eric Nelson, Robert M. Beren Professor of Government, Harvard University
Elisa New, Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature, Harvard University
Michael O'Leary, Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Walter O’Donnell, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Darren Orbach, Associate Professor, Radiology, Harvard Medical School
Gary Orren, V.O. Key, Jr. Professor of Politics and Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
Itai Pashtan, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jorge Plutzky, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jack Nusan Porter, Associate, Harvard University
Jacob Pourati, Lecturer, Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Mark Poznansky, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Marilyn Price, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Rosemary Reiss, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Harold Rosen, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
David Rosenberg, Professor of Law, Emeritus, Harvard Law School
Richard Ruback, Baker Foundation Professor, Harvard Business School
James Russell, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Emeritus, Harvard University
Raffaella Sadun, Professor, Harvard Business School
Suzanne Salamon, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Adrian Salic, Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School
Anthony Samir, Assistant Professor, Service Chief, Harvard Medical School
Daniel Schacter, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor, Harvard University
Jeffrey Schnipper, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Thomas Schwarz, Professor, Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Eric Secemsky, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Arthur Segel, Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice & Poorvu Family Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School
Steven Shavell, Samuel R. Rosenthal Professor of Law and Economics, Harvard Law School
David Shaywitz, Lecturer, Harvard Medical School
Marc Shell, Irving Babbitt Jr. Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University
Ron Shiloh, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
David Sloane, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Wake Smith, Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School
Martin Solomon, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Michael Stein, Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School
Matthew Stephenson, Eli Goldston Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
David Stern, Harry Starr Professor of Classical Hebrew and Jewish Literature, Harvard University
Isaac E. Stillman, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
Jacob Taylor, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
James Tulsky, Professor, Harvard Medical School
Brian Wainger, Associate Professor, Anesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Mark Weinfeld, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Sharon Weinstein, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Ruth R. Wisse, Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature, Emerita, Harvard University
Jonathan Yudelman, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University
Ben Yudkoff, Medical Director, Harvard Medical School
Richard Zeckhauser, Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School
Mark Zeidel, Herrman Blumgart Professor of Medicine, Physician in Chief and Chair, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School