Harvard University found itself at the center of another antisemitism controversy after an anti-Israel faculty group shared an old antisemitic cartoon on social media.
The Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine reported the cartoon yesterday (Monday) after the cartoon had been posted by the student groups Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and the Africa and African American Resistance Organization, the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson reported.
The cartoon is believed to have originated in the June 1967 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee newsletter, and depicts a hand with a dollar sign in the center of a Star of David holding former Egyptian President Gamal Nasser and legendary boxer Muhammad Ali by their necks in nooses reminiscent of puppet strings.
An arm with the words "third world" was depicted raising a machete with the words "national liberation" to cut the nooses.
The student groups that first shared the cartoon said that the purpose was to show how “African people have a profound understanding of apartheid and occupation.”
Rabbi David Wolpe, who stepped down from the antisemitism advisory committee at Harvard University following then-university President Claudine Gay's remarks at a Congressional hearing that calls for genocide against Jews depended on the "context," said that “the cartoon is despicably, inarguably antisemitic."
“Is there no limit?” he asked.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a Harvard Divinity School student who is suing the university for discrimination against Jews, added, “With professors like these, it’s easy to see why Jewish students don’t feel safe in class.”
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce also condemned the cartoon, stating, "This repugnant antisemitism should have no place in our society, much less on Harvard’s faculty."
The Harvard administration announced that an investigation was being launched following the sharing of the antisemitic cartoon.
“Such despicable messages have no place in the Harvard community,” Harvard wrote in a statement posted on Instagram. “We condemn these posts in the strongest possible terms.”
The Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine group was formed last month by 65 Harvard employees and faculty. The announcement stated that pro-Palestinian voices at Harvard have been silenced since the Hamas massacre of October 7, when over 1,200 people were killed in the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
The group endorses the BDS movement against Israel and called on Harvard "to withdraw investments from the State of Israel and all companies that sustain Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians."
The group apologized on Monday for sharing the post, writing on Instagram, “It has come to our attention that a post featuring antiquated cartoons which used offensive antisemitic tropes was linked to our account."
“We removed the content as soon as it came to our attention,” the group added. “We apologize for the hurt that these images have caused and do not condone them in any way.”