In what can have a far-reaching effect on top Ivy League universities in the United States of America, Israeli shipping magnate Idan Ofer, who possesses a substantial multi-billion-dollar wealth, along with his wife Batia, has resigned from their positions as board members at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Their decision to step down is a form of protest against what they view as the university’s inadequate reaction to a letter from student organisations.
This letter squarely assigned complete responsibility to the Israeli government for the recent attack carried out by Hamas operatives, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,000 people. The primary source of their discontent stems from the sluggish and unenthusiastic response from the university’s president, Claudine Gay.
Israeli billionaires Idan and Batia Ofer donated more than $20 million to the last capital campaign of the Harvard Kennedy School. Now, they’ve just announced they are QUITTING the school’s board after Harvard’s “shocking” response to Hamas’s mass butchery of Israeli civilians.…
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 13, 2023
Idan and Batia Ofer had donated more than $20 million to the last capital campaign of the Harvard Kennedy School. and now they stand appalled and decided to quit the school’s board after Harvard’s “shocking” response to Hamas’s mass butchery of Israeli civilians.
Another top donor Bill Ackman is now demanding the names of pro-Hamas students to blacklist them from Wall Street. Prominent Wharton donor Marc Rowan made a public appeal to fellow donors to suspend their financial contributions.
What has now unfolded is that Hamas’s brutality which is now out in the open has also shown the world along with the powerful academic left’s support of such a terror organisation supplanted by their antisemitism and equally hideous support now stands exposed and has finally opened many eyes to the level of control the left has in America’s campuses.
According to the news site TheMarker a Hebrew-language-based outlet, the couple said that they quit the board “in protest of the shocking and insensitive response by the president of the university, who did not condemn the letter by student organizations that blamed Israel for the massacres.”
Leading American newspaper The New York Post has reported that Claudine Gay is under immense pressure from the powerful Harvard alums, including former school president Larry Summers, who soundly criticised the “delayed” statement from the office of the university’s president, Claudine Gay’s response to the student letter.
In his tweet from his official X handle, Summers said, “I yield to no one in my revulsion at the statement apparently made on behalf of 30 plus Harvard student groups. But please everybody take a deep breath. Many in these groups never saw the statement before it went out. In some case those approving did not understand exactly what they were approving. Probably some were naive and foolish. This is not a time where it is constructive to vilify individuals and I am sorry that is happening.”
I yield to no one in my revulsion at the statement apparently made on behalf of 30 plus @Harvard student groups. But please everybody take a deep breath. Many in these groups never saw the statement before it went out. In some case those approving did not understand exactly…
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) October 11, 2023
It must also be noted that Harvard University which is plush with hundreds of millions of dollars in donations and endowments is also supported by many of its Indian alums. Author and leading Hindutva activist Rajiv Malhotra in his post on social media platform X said, “Despite my pleas for more than a year, Indian billionaires like Anand Mahindra, Piramal, Mittal, Bajaj, Murthy, etc have failed to reject Harvard’s breaking India activities. Sending Indian money to fund anti-India activities in the name of human rights is a crisis of moral character. Now that Israeli billionaires are rejecting Harvard, will Indians finally get the self-esteem to stand up? How long will they suffer inferiority complex? Read #SnakesInTheGanga for details.”
Despite my pleas for more than a year, Indian billionaires like @anandmahindra, Piramal, Mittal, Bajaj, Murthy, etc have failed to reject Harvard’s breaking India activities. Sending Indian money to fund anti-India activities in the name of human rights is a crisis of moral… https://t.co/WruRiAtlZF
— Rajiv Malhotra (@RajivMessage) October 13, 2023
What has led to such outrage was after a letter was signed by around 30 Harvard student organizations on Sunday in in which they held the state of Israel responsible and showed sympathy with Hamas. that had murdered, raped, mutilated and decapitated innocent men, women, children and old people.
The letter said the groups “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”, and millions of Palestinians are forced to live in an “open-air prison” with no means of escaping retaliatory air strikes that have killed more than 1,000 and displaced many more as entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble by the Israeli military. They also called on people to post, “We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians,” the letter concluded.
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