https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvards-hamas-confusion-israel-palestine-terrorism-anti-semitism-higher-education-2b9dda00?mod=opinion_lead_pos8
As Israel began exchanging Palestinian prisoners for Israeli moms and children, Harvard was dealing with its own ultimatum.
A week ago pro-Palestinian students gave university President Claudine Gay until Monday to respond to three demands. They were: that Harvard divest from any investments in “illegal settlements in Palestine”; that the university reinstate a proctor suspended for taking part in a mob that surrounded and harassed a Jewish student; and—of course—a promise from Harvard that “pro-Palestinian students and workers engaging in non-violent protest” would face no disciplinary action.
There you have it. The ethos of our modern best and brightest in a nutshell: We are taking a brave stand—but we demand that we pay no price for it.
In fairness, Harvard is no worse than most other universities here. Then again, that’s the scandal: It ought to be. Today the places that are supposed to be exemplars of how a civilized community behaves have become prone to loutish behavior as well as incoherent in their responses.
The ordinary citizen, by contrast, has little trouble recognizing that targeting innocent civilians instead of soldiers makes you a war criminal, not a soldier. Americans are consequently appalled by the pro-Hamas sentiment they see on so many campuses. The confusion has two parts.
The first is the way protest has morphed into a threat to speech. It isn’t only a matter of physical assaults or vandalism, though there’s been plenty of that. Harvard’s suspended proctor, graduate student Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, was captured in a video as part of the mob that blocked a Jewish student’s way while shouting “Shame!” at him. Mr. Tettey-Tamaklo was joined in this by Ibrahim Bharmal, an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
This isn’t speech. Students have the First Amendment right to espouse any idiocy they wish, such as the idea that Israel is entirely responsible for Hamas’s atrocities. But at a university ideas ought to be subject to civilized debate. Unfortunately, the purpose of the demonstrations these days is largely to make honest debate impossible by silencing, inconveniencing or intimidating those with opposing views.
