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After leading calls to oust Harvard’s president, Jewish critics take aim at Jewish scholar heading antisemitism task force
(JTA) — Prominent Jewish critics of Harvard University are opposing the appointment of a Jewish studies professor to co-chair the school’s new antisemitism task force, arguing that his views on Israel and antisemitism disqualify him.
The latest controversy at Harvard began on Friday, when Derek Penslar, director of the school’s center for Jewish studies, was tapped to co-lead the new taskforce. Shortly afterward, Penslar came under attack from former Harvard President Larry Summers as well as Bill Ackman, the Harvard alum and hedge-fund activist who previously led calls for the resignation of former Harvard President Claudine Gay. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, soon joined them in their criticism.
In response, the school has doubled down on Penslar’s appointment, and a group of Jewish academics is speaking out in his defense.
The debate is erupting one month after a similar dispute played out at Stanford University, where the co-chair of the antisemitism task force, Ari Y. Kelman, stepped down from his role following nearly identical lines of criticism.
Together, the episodes demonstrate that antisemitism task forces — which a number of universities have announced since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war — are turning into another front for debate. They point to an intra-Jewish divide over the questions that lie at the heart of fighting antisemitism, and which Jews get to answer them.
The new task force at Harvard replaces an antisemitism advisory group that Gay had formed following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, and that had drawn criticism from Jews on the left for excluding Penslar — a scholar of modern Jewish history, Zionism and Israel. Harvard President Alan Garber announced the new task force on Friday, alongside one focused on Islamophobia, and said it would be co-chaired by Penslar and business professor Raffaella Sadun.
Summers and Ackman argued that Penslar holds views that are out of step with the Jewish mainstream. They object to a letter Penslar signed, prior to October, that used the word “apartheid” to refer to Israel’s control of Palestinians. They also mentioned his comment, made to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency earlier this month, that some voices have “exaggerated” the level of antisemitism at Harvard.
In addition, they cited his criticism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s definition of antisemitism, which includes some forms of Israel criticism. The definition has been adopted by hundreds of governments and other entities, but its opponents say it could chill legitimate criticism of Israel.
On X, formerly Twitter, Summers called Penslar’s appointment “highly problematic.” He accused Penslar of having “publicly minimized Harvard’s anti-Semitism problem, rejected the definition used by the US government in recent years of anti-Semitism as too broad, invoked the need for the concept of settler colonialism in analyzing Israel, referred to Israel as an apartheid state and more.”
Last May, the Biden administration announced a strategy to counter antisemitism that recognizes the IHRA definition as the “most prominent” framing of antisemitism but did not adopt it exclusively.
Ackman wrote on the platform that “Harvard continues on the path of darkness,” and reposted Summers’ arguments against Penslar.
Greenblatt tweeted that the task force offered “Lessons in how NOT to combat antisemitism, Harvard edition. Start by naming a professor who libels the Jewish state and claims that ‘veins of hatred run through Jewish civilization’ to your antisemitism task force. Absolutely inexcusable. This is why Harvard is failing, full stop.”
Greenblatt appeared to be quoting a passage from Penslar’s 2023 book, “Zionism: An Emotional State,” in which he noted that Jews who lived as a small and often persecuted minority in Europe frequently fantasized about vengeance against Christians. Penslar also writes that other emotions also coursed through Jewish communities that would later adopt Zionism, including love, hope, honor and solidarity.
In a statement to JTA in the wake of the weekend’s criticisms, Penslar said he was “dedicated to the education and well-being of our students.”
He added, “I see in the Task Force on antisemitism an important opportunity to determine the nature and extent of antisemitism and more subtle forms of social exclusion that affect Jewish students at Harvard. Only with this information in hand can Harvard implement effective policies that will improve Jewish student life on campus.”
Harvard is also standing behind Penslar’s appointment, calling him “a renowned scholar” who is “highly regarded as a leading authority in his field” in its own statement to JTA.
The statement added that Penslar “approaches his research and teaching with open-mindedness and respect for conflicting points of view and approaching difficult issues with care and reason,” and “is deeply committed to tackling antisemitism and improving the experience of Jewish students at Harvard.”
As Summers’ and Ackman’s criticism spread online, a prominent consortium of Jewish scholars has also spoken out in Penslar’s defense. In a statement to JTA on Monday, the American Academy for Jewish Research said it was “dismayed” by the attacks on Penslar, adding that they “could result in long-term damage to the field” of Jewish studies.
“Professor Penslar is a prolific scholar with a stellar international reputation, whose numerous books address the historical development of many of the topics raising rancor at our universities today: antisemitism, Zionism, Jews and the military, and the history of Israel,” the group said. “It is precisely this kind of expertise that is needed in the current moment.”
This is not the first time that Harvard’s efforts at combating antisemitism have drawn backlash. Summers, Ackman and other critics had initially slammed Gay for what they called a tepid response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Gay was later pilloried after a congressional hearing in which she, along with the leaders of two other elite schools, declined to say that calling for the genocide of Jews violated campus rules.
In the days after Gay’s Congressional testimony, Rabbi David Wolpe stepped down from the antisemitism task force she had assembled. Wolpe, for decades a prominent congregational rabbi in Los Angeles, said the body was an inadequate response to the enormity of the task of fighting antisemitism. In its announcement of the new task force on Friday, the school said that Gay’s advisory group had “wrapped up its work.”
A federal Title VI civil rights investigation has been opened at Harvard for its handling of an alleged antisemitic incident on campus; Congress has also launched its own investigation into antisemitism at Harvard.
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The post After leading calls to oust Harvard’s president, Jewish critics take aim at Jewish scholar heading antisemitism task force appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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