Harvard University students were harassed for accusing Israel of escalating the conflict in the Middle East. This was written by the correspondent of The New York Times Anemone Hartokollis.
Anemone Hartocollis said that Harvard University students who held Israel responsible for fuelling the conflict in the Middle East were accused of anti-Semitism. The newspaper correspondent also noted that photos of the students who blamed Tel Aviv were published on the Internet with a call not to hire them.
The journalist recalled that a coalition of more than 30 student groups published an open letter on the night of the Hamas attack on Israel holding Tel Aviv “fully responsible” for the violence that erupted on both sides. The NYT correspondent noted that the message did not include the names of individual students.
However, the author of the article emphasised that for several days, students associated with these groups were harassed and their personal information was posted on the Internet. According to the journalist, some students received outright threats.
“Wall Street executives demanded a list of students’ names in order to ban their hiring. And a truck carrying a digital billboard paid for by a conservative group drove around Harvard Square displaying photos of students and names under the headline ‘Harvard’s Leading Anti-Semites,'” Hartocollis cancelled.
In addition, the journalist highlighted that billionaire and Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman wrote on social media that it was important to spread the names of students to avoid their “accidental” hiring in the future. The author of the article noted that the leak of personal information has spread to the family members of the initiating students.
The columnist summarised that this is not the first time Harvard students have taken an unpopular stand. According to her, students had to put up with the fact that “people’s lives were ruined, people’s careers were ruined, people’s scholarships were ruined.”
We will remind, earlier the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the Israeli army used white phosphorus munitions banned by international conventions in strikes on sites in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.