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‘Offensive’: Harvard President Criticizes Student Group’s Pro-Hamas Oct 7 Statement

Harvard University president Alan Garber attending the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 23, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Harvard University president Alan Garber appeared to denounce a pro-Hamas student group which marked the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre by praising it as an act of revolutionary justice that should be repeated until the State of Israel is destroyed.

On Monday, the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) issued a statement awash in antisemitic insinuations, saying, for example that, “Zionism seeks the complete erasure of anyone who dares to stand in the way of its colonial rampage” and referring to Israel numerous times as the “Zionist entity,” a demonizing phrase frequently used by Islamist terrorists to dehumanize Israeli civilians and justify mass casualty events.

Calling itself the “student intifada,” a clear reference to terrorism, it added that “Now is the time to escalate…As the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen persevere in the face of the genocidal Israeli state, we must learn from them. Resistance will ultimately break the shackles of the Zionist entity.”

Speaking to The Harvard Crimson earlier this week, Alan Garber hit back at the group, saying, “I would remind everyone that they speak for themselves.” However, he cut the idea short, noting that while “there are aspects of [the statement] I find personally offensive — I am not about to make university statements about matters of public affair that are not part of the core of the university.”

Garber’s explanation for not commenting further alluded to Harvard University’s recently adopted institutional neutrality, which ostensibly means it will no longer take sides in polarizing political debates. The idea was the final recommendation of a report issued by a faculty group which Garber, serving then as “interim” president, convened to study whether Harvard “should use its official voice to address matters of social and political significance.” The committee agreed that it should not, explaining that Harvard’s “integrity and credibility” are “compromised” when it privileges one point of view over another and that doing so sometimes offends groups it aims to “comfort.” Moreover, it stressed that Harvard’s business is education, not politics.

Monday’s momentary abeyance of the policy reflects its frailty as a guardrail against the proliferation and increasing intellectual respectability of antisemitism, an issue experts such as Peter Wood of the National Association of Scholars (NAS) have discussed with The Algemeiner before.

“These institutional neutrality policies sound wholesome in the abstract, but I fear they are often just attempts to by college administrators to avoid taking a stand against antisemites, communists, and other radicals who attempt to hijack the university’s credibility to advance their own agendas,” Wood, the author of several books and hundreds of articles on higher education, said during an interview in August. “The ideal has proved delusional, and as a weapon it is easily used against reform as for it… Hamas’ massacre of Israelis [on Oct. 7] has stripped us of many illusions … We must say forthrightly what virtues we wish our universities to champion. And if we wish our universities to fight once more on the side of the angels, the swiftest way to that goal is to teach them how to speak with courage by speaking so ourselves.”

Even what Garber did say is wanting in principle and consistency, former Harvard president Larry Summers told The Harvard Crimson the following day. Summers, who has publicly criticized Harvard’s alleged indifference to pro-terror and antisemitic sentiment on campus, noted that Garber previously proclaimed that “antisemitism will not be tolerated at Harvard.”

“I am confused about how the PSC is a recognized university organization with access to university listservs, with potential funding through university fees,” Summers continued. “That seems like more than tolerating.”

Garber, however, has said more than former Harvard president Claudine Gay did when the same group praised the Oct. 7 massacre last academic year. Gay declined to denounce them, setting off a series of events which ultimately led to her being outed as a serial plagiarist and resigning from office. Despite this, his administration’s handling of campus antisemites has been ambiguous and described even by students who benefited from its being so as “caving in.”

During summer, The Harvard Crimson reported that Harvard downgraded “disciplinary sanctions” it levied against several pro-Hamas protesters it suspended for illegally occupying Harvard Yard for nearly five weeks, a reversal of policy which defied the university’s previous statements regarding the matter. Unrepentant, the students, members of the group Harvard out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP), celebrated the revocation of the punishments on social media and promised to disrupt the campus again.

“Harvard walks back on probations and reverses suspensions of pro-Palestine students after massive pressure,” the group said. “Harvard has caved in, showing that the student intifada will always prevail … This reversal is a bare minimum. We call on our community to demand no less than Palestinian liberation from the river to the sea. Grounded in the rights of return and resistance. We will not rest until divestment from the Israeli regime is met.”

Now, anti-Zionists and pro-Zionists at Harvard are demanding complete details of the university’s institutional neutrality policy, according to the Crimson. Garber has said that they are forthcoming, the paper added.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post ‘Offensive’: Harvard President Criticizes Student Group’s Pro-Hamas Oct 7 Statement first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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With Jihadist Mass Murderer Dead, Israel Takes Another Stride Forward

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on as Palestinian Hamas supporters take part in an anti-Israel rally over tension in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City, Oct. 1, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

JNS.orgThe elimination of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s top military-terrorist and political chief and the architect of the Oct. 7 invasion—the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust—marks a major turning point in the battle to degrade the Iranian-backed jihadist network surrounding Israel.

IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari explained on Thursday that Sinwar had been attempting to flee from house to house, moving between structures in Rafah. Hagari noted that Sinwar “was in flight,” and at one point, after the entourage protecting him had been fired upon by the IDF and split up, Sinwar fled alone into a building.

Sinwar’s death, achieved by fighters from the 450th battalion of the IDF School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders (known by its Hebrew acronym, the Bislamach Brigade) occurred in Rafah on Oct. 16.

Two tank shells directed by the force at the building where he was hiding led to Sinwar to first being injured, and then killed by the second shell. In between the two shell strikes, a squad commander with soldiers who attempted to search the building encountered grenades, retreated, and sent quadcopters inside to gather intelligence. One of the quadcopters filmed Sinwar sitting in a room, injured, hurling a plank at the drone (and missing it). The tank shell that eliminated Sinwar soon followed.

Sinwar’s attempt to flee, Hagari said, was driven by the pressure exerted by Israeli forces, who had been closing in on him in Rafah over a prolonged period. Hagari also mentioned that Sinwar had been using tunnels and the cover of civilians to avoid detection. His DNA had been found in a tunnel located a few hundred meters from the site of where Hamas murdered six Israeli hostages in late August.

The elimination significantly weakens Hamas’s operational capabilities and disrupts its leadership structure. Sinwar’s removal is not only a tactical victory but also a strategic achievement that vindicates Israel’s refusal to agree to premature withdrawals that would have allowed Hamas to regroup and rearm. This achievement moves Israel significantly closer to neutralizing the Iranian-jihadist vision of a “ring of fire” around its borders.

Since his release in the 2011 Shalit deal, Yahya Sinwar was the primary architect behind Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure and strategy in Gaza. He was the mastermind behind the genocidal attack on southern Israel a year ago, and his elimination sends the messages to terrorists and their backers throughout the Middle East that Israel will settle accounts with all who target its people.

According to Hagari, Sinwar’s was located after months of intelligence efforts by the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

“We closed in on him over a period of months, and despite not knowing his precise location at times, we continued our determined pursuit,” the admiral said.

In recent months, Hamas has ceased functioning as a centralized terror army, devolving instead into a decentralized network of guerilla terrorist cells. While the elimination of Sinwar will not entirely dismantle Hamas, it accelerates its transformation into a less coordinated and more fragmented organization, removing its ability to plan and conduct large-scale terror operations out of Gaza.

These developments send a clear message to the entire region: Israel will not tolerate a return to the status quo where Hamas is left intact to rebuild its terrorist army.

Unprecedented leverage

The death of Sinwar also provides Israel with unprecedented leverage in negotiations concerning the remaining 101 Hamas-held hostages. He was known for his hardline stance and unwillingness to compromise on his demands; his absence opens the door to possible approaches by surviving Hamas members holding the hostages.

Israel now has the opportunity to offer immunity or other deals to lower-ranking Hamas terrorists in exchange for the safe release of hostages. With their morale degraded and Israel’s determination to prevent them from retaking Gaza clearer than ever, the remaining Hamas leaders may be more willing to negotiate, offering Israel a new path to secure the return of its citizens.

While Sinwar’s elimination is a significant victory, it does not signal the end of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The goal to prevent Hamas from regrouping and reconstituting its terrorist capabilities remains.

Col. (res.) Amit Assa, a former senior member of the Shin Bet intelligence service, stated in a call organized by Media Central that eliminating terrorist leaders is crucial, especially during wartime, when it is more difficult for an organization to replace its leadership efficiently.

Assa highlighted that Sinwar had expected Iran and Hezbollah to join Hamas in the initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack but that the timing wasn’t right for the Iranian axis to join an all-out attack. This despite the fact that Hezbollah had prepared its own mass murder ground assault from Southern Lebanon, whose infrastructure is now being destroyed by the IDF.

Sinwar’s elimination will help “people in Gaza, also terrorists, know that this is the end of the Hamas. And if it’s the end of the Hamas, they have no advantage keeping the hostages,” said Assa. “I think what will happen now is as the time will go by, we will see hostages getting free and we hope every one of them.”

Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former IDF international spokesperson, highlighted the implications of Sinwar’s death, stating, “When I scan the horizon of Hamas leadership and I look at who is next in line …, they are way down, many levels down the food chain from where Yahya Sinwar was.”

He named Sinwar’s brother Muhammad as a lead candidate to replace him.

For the broader Middle East, Sinwar’s death could serve as a catalyst for change. Without Hamas’s iron grip on Gaza, there is potential for Palestinian factions and civilians to explore new possibilities for governance and cooperation.

“I think that this poses a lot of opportunities for Israel, but most importantly for Palestinians, for those who want to seize opportunity and get free of Hamas rule and oppression of Gaza and perhaps turn the page on a better future for Gaza,” said Conricus.

Ultimately, the elimination of Sinwar is more than the death of a terrorist mastermind. It is a significant milestone in Israel’s broader fight against Iranian-backed jihadist movements that seek to destroy the Jewish state and take over the Middle East.

Israel has not only weakened its enemies; it is creating new possibilities for the wider region.

The post With Jihadist Mass Murderer Dead, Israel Takes Another Stride Forward first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iran: Sinwar’s Death Bolsters ‘Spirit of Resistance’ in Muslim World

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran, Nov. 2, 2022. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS

JNS.orgThe killing of Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar will strengthen the “spirit of resistance” in the Islamic world, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Thursday.

“When Muslims look up to martyr Sinwar standing on the battlefield—in combat attire and out in the open, not in a hideout, facing the enemy—the spirit of resistance will be strengthened. He will become a model for the youth and children who will carry forward his path toward the liberation of Palestine,” the mission tweeted.

“As long as occupation and aggression exist, resistance will endure, for the martyr remains alive and a source of inspiration,” it added.

Sinwar’s predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran in July.

Last week, The New York Times reported that Hamas pleaded with Iran to join its Oct. 7, 2023, attack months in advance, citing documents seized by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza back in January.

According to the report, the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, informed Mohammed Said Izadi, head of the Palestinian Office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, of the plot in July 2023, in Lebanon.

Although the Iranians denied any involvement in the Oct. 7 invasion, Hamas leadership meetings, obtained in transcribed form and verified by the Times, reveal that al-Hayya asked Izadi to strike sensitive sites in Israel in “the first hour” of the attack.

The documents further reveal that Hamas also intended to convene with Hezbollah’s then-leader Hassan Nasrallah, but that the meeting was postponed. It was not clear whether a later meeting was held in person.

According to the recordings, Izadi said that Iran and Hezbollah sanctioned the attack in principle, but that more time was needed “to prepare the environment.”

The post Iran: Sinwar’s Death Bolsters ‘Spirit of Resistance’ in Muslim World first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Confirming Sinwar’s Death, Hamas Says Will Only Release Hostages Upon War’s End

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah meets with top Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on July 5, 2024, Lebanon. Photo: Hezbollah Media Office/Handout via REUTERS

i24 NewsHamas chief Khalil Al-Hayya, regarded as the second-in-command in the group’s hierarchy behind the late Yahya Sinwar, confirmed on Friday that the jihadist kingpin was killed by the Israeli military.

Trey Yingst, Fox News’s chief foreign correspondent, wrote on Friday, “Text this morning from senior Hamas official Dr. Basem Naim, reacting to the death of Sinwar: ‘It seems that Israel believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggle of the Palestinian people.’ Naim goes on to say… ‘Yes it’s very painful and distressing to lose beloved people, especially extraordinary leaders like ours, but what we are sure of is that we are eventually victorious; this is the outcome for all people who fought for their liberty.’”

The post Confirming Sinwar’s Death, Hamas Says Will Only Release Hostages Upon War’s End first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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