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Harvard Excludes Rather Than Includes the Jews
Supporters of the Palestine Solidarity Committee at Harvard University. Photo: Harvard PSC
JNS.org – As the nation saw during a recent Dec. 5 House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing, the leadership of Harvard University, which claims to be one of the world’s most elite institutions, struggles with common sense when it comes to antisemitism. Harvard president Claudine Gay was unable or unwilling to state the obvious: Calls for the genocide of Jews should not be welcome on college campuses. Fortunately for Gay, the Harvard Corporation fellows turned out to be equally incapable of leadership and her job was saved.
The day after the Harvard Corporation said it stood behind Gay, news emerged that the university had instructed Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi to pack up and hide the group’s menorah after the Hanukkah lighting “because there will be criminal activity [they] fear and it won’t look good.” In case it isn’t clear, Harvard is afraid antisemites on campus will vandalize the menorah, and that wouldn’t be a good look for the university.
All this took place at a university where, according to one analysis that said its figure was likely a dramatic undercounting, at least 98 staff are assigned to various diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices. The average annual wage in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard is located, is $153,504 according to city officials. Assuming the 98 staff reflect the average, that’s more than $15 million spent just on DEI salaries.
Yet despite hiring so many presumably brilliant minds and sinking millions into addressing the issue of diversity, equity and inclusion, the best answer to antisemitism the university could come up with was “hide the Jews.”
Put simply, the university prioritized maintaining a false image of inclusivity by deciding to exclude from campus a display of Jewish life. It chose not to practice actual inclusivity by promoting and protecting the right of students and staff to be openly Jewish. Rather than stand up to the bigots who have created the climate of antisemitism on campus, the university chose to become the antisemites’ enforcement arm.
Here’s a commonsense solution to the problem: Fire whoever’s idea it was to hide the menorah and use the money saved to hire a security guard. For the salary range advertised on a LinkedIn job posting for “Associate Director, Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging” at the Harvard Kennedy School, the university could hire three security guards to protect the menorah and any other displays of Jewish life on campus. The three guards would accomplish far more for “diversity, equity and inclusion” at Harvard than all the 98-plus DEI staff members combined and for approximately one one-hundredth of the cost.
The post Harvard Excludes Rather Than Includes the Jews first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.