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Harvard Fires Librarian for Tearing Down Israeli Hostage Poster
Demonstrators take part in an “Emergency Rally: Stand With Palestinians Under Siege in Gaza,” amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, Oct. 14, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Harvard University has fired a librarian who was filmed tearing down a poster showing the faces of Israelis hostages who remain captives of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, The Harvard Crimson reported on Monday.
Jonathan S. Tuttle, a steward of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study’s 150,000 volumes of books, films, and other media, clawed and destroyed the poster during an anti-Zionist demonstration staged by the campus group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine. Other posters highlighting the situation of the Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel had been placed around campus by Harvard’s local Chabad chapter.
Following the incident, which became a viral sensation on social media and reinforced a widely held perception that the university has not done enough to combat antisemitism on campus, Harvard diversity and inclusion officer Sherri A. Charleston denounced Tuttle’s behavior as “hateful” and a violation of “the university and community values that unite us.”
On Monday, Harvard University spokesperson Jason A. Newton told The Crimson that Tuttle is “no longer affiliated with the university.” The Crimson added that Harvard has scrubbed any trace of the librarian from its websites. Prior to that announcement, Newton reported that Tuttle’s conduct was being investigated “as a bias related incident.”
This was one of many antisemitic incidents to take place at Harvard University since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, and its affiliates have maintained that the administration’s response to the issue has been unsatisfactory.
“Harvard continues its failure to effectively address antisemitism,” former Harvard University president Larry Summers said on March 3, writing on the X/Twitter social media platform. “Despite [current Harvard president Alan Garber’s] clear and strong personal moral commitment, he has lacked the will and/or leverage to effect the necessary large-scale change.”
Summers isn’t Harvard’s only critic in the Jewish community. Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a “Campus Report Card” in which Harvard’s antisemitism policies were given a “C” grade. ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement accompanying the report that every school assessed by the organization should have received an “A.”
Harvard University was on Monday named as one of 60 schools the US Department of Education will investigate over allegations that it violated federal civil rights law by refusing to correct a hostile environment caused by antisemitic discrimination.
“The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement announcing the news. “US colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by US taxpayers. That support is a privilege, and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Harvard Fires Librarian for Tearing Down Israeli Hostage Poster first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Military Spokesperson Issues Evacuation Warning for Residents in Gaza City
Smoke and flames rise as an Israeli airstrike hits a house, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson on Sunday issued a new evacuation warning for residents in a building in Gaza City and surrounding tents, as Israel called again for Hamas to surrender.
It was the second warning for the same building and tents housing displaced families in little over 24 hours.
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Hezbollah Says Lebanon Move on Army Plan Is ‘Opportunity,’ Urges Israel to Commit to Ceasefire
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and members of the cabinet stand as they attend a cabinet session to discuss the army’s plan to disarm Hezbollah, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon, September 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati told Reuters on Saturday that the group considered Friday’s cabinet session on an army plan to establish a state monopoly on arms “an opportunity to return to wisdom and reason, preventing the country from slipping into the unknown.”
Lebanon’s cabinet on Friday welcomed a plan by the army that would disarm Hezbollah and said the military would begin executing it, without setting a timeframe for implementation and cautioning that the army had limited capabilities.
But it said continued Israeli military operations in Lebanon would hamper the army’s progress. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lebanese information minister Paul Morcos stopped short of saying the cabinet had formally approved the plan.
Qmati told Reuters that Hezbollah had reached its assessment based on the government’s declaration on Friday that further implementation of a US roadmap on the matter was dependent on Israel’s commitment. He said that without Israel halting strikes and withdrawing its troops from southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s implementation of the plan should remain “suspended until further notice.”
Lebanon’s cabinet last month tasked the army with coming up with a plan that would establish a state monopoly on arms and approved a US roadmap aimed at disarming Hezbollah in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
Qmati said that Hezbollah “unequivocally rejected” those two decisions and expected the Lebanese government to draw up a national defense strategy.
Israel last week signaled it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if the army took action to disarm Hezbollah. Meanwhile, it has continued its strikes, killing four people on Wednesday.
A national divide over Hezbollah’s disarmament has taken center stage in Lebanon since last year’s devastating war with Israel, which upended a power balance long dominated by the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group.
Lebanon is under pressure from the US, Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s domestic rivals to disarm the group. But Hezbollah has pushed back, saying it would be a serious misstep to even discuss disarmament while Israel continues its air strikes on Lebanon and occupies swathes of territory in the south.
Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem last month raised the specter of civil war, warning the government against trying to confront the group and saying street protests were possible.
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UK Police Arrest Dozens at Latest Protest for Banned Palestine Action
Demonstrators attend the “Lift The Ban” rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Jasso
British police arrested dozens more people on Saturday under anti-terrorism laws for demonstrating in support of Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group banned by the government as a terrorist organization.
Britain banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged military planes. The group accuses Britain’s government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Police have arrested hundreds of Palestine Action supporters in recent weeks under anti-terrorism legislation, including over 500 in just one day last month, many of them over the age of 60.
On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered near parliament in central London to protest against the ban on Saturday, with many holding up signs that said: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers had begun arresting those expressing support for Palestine Action. Police did not say how many arrests were made but a Reuters witness said dozens of people were detained.
Palestine Action’s ban, or proscription, puts the group alongside al-Qaeda and ISIS and makes it a crime to support or belong to the organization, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
“I can be unequivocal, if you show support for Palestine Action – an offense under the Terrorism Act – you will be arrested,” Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said on Friday. “We have the officer numbers, custody capacity and all other resources to process as many people as is required.”
Human rights groups have criticized Britain’s decision to ban the group as disproportionate and say it limits the freedom of expression of peaceful protesters.
The government has accused Palestine Action of causing millions of pounds worth of criminal damage and says the ban does not prevent other pro-Palestinian protests.