Harvard prof who signed letter accusing Israel of running 'regime of apartheid' appointed to anti-Semitism task force
A Harvard University professor who accused Israel of running an apartheid regime has been appointed to the institution's anti-Semitism task force.
A Harvard University professor who accused Israel of running an apartheid regime has been appointed to the institution’s anti-Semitism task force.
Harvard’s Interim President Alan Garber made the announcement in an email to community members on Friday, stating that Professor of Jewish History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Derek Penslar will co-chair the task force.
Penslar signed a letter in August that accused Israel of running a “regime of apartheid.”
”Without equal rights for all, whether in one state, two states, or in some other political framework, there is always a danger of dictatorship. There cannot be democracy for Jews in Israel as long as Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid, as Israeli legal experts have described it,” the letter states.
Penslar also told JTA earlier in January that he thinks the anti-Semitism at the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution is real, but being exaggerated.
“Yes, we have a problem with antisemitism at Harvard, just like we have a problem with Islamophobia and how students converse with each other,” Penslar said. “The problems are real. But outsiders took a very real problem and proceeded to exaggerate its scope.”
As pointed out by Jewish Insider, Penslar also told the Harvard Crimson in late December 2023 that the amount of media focus on anti-Semitism at Harvard has “obscured the vulnerability of pro-Palestinian students, who have faced harassment by actors outside of the University and verbal abuse on and near campus.”
A spokesperson for Harvard told Jewish Insider that Penslar “is widely respected across the Harvard community as someone who approaches his research and teaching with open-mindedness and respect for conflicting points of view and approaching difficult issues with care and reason.”
“He is deeply committed to tackling antisemitism and improving the experience of Jewish students at Harvard,” the spokesperson said.
The decision to appoint Penslar to the task force was immediately met with criticism.
Former Harvard President Larry Summers wrote in a post on X that he’s “lost confidence” in Harvard leadership.
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”After Friday’s new anti-Semitism task force announcement, I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish,” Summers wrote. “I have no doubt that Prof Penslar is a profound scholar of Zionism and a person of good will without a trace of personal anti-Semitism who cares deeply about Harvard.”
”However, I believe that given his record, he is unsuited to leading a task force whose function is to combat what is seen by many as a serious anti-Semitism problem at Harvard,” Summers added. “Prof Penslar has 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. While he does not support BDS he has made clear that he sees it as a reasonable position.”
Campus Reform reached out to Harvard for comment.
