Harvard’s New Antisemitism Task Force Co-Chair Accused of Antisemitism
Harvard can’t seem to get a handle on their antisemitism problem.
A newly created task force convened to fight antisemitism on campus has already come under fire after comments from the co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism, Jewish history professor Derek Penslar, have come to light.
The New York Post reports that a passage in Penslar’s 2023 book declares, “Veins of hatred run through Jewish civilization.”
“Israel’s dispossession of Palestinians from their land and oppression of those who remain have made it one of the most disliked countries on the planet,” Jewish history professor Derek Penslar claimed in his tome, “Zionism: An Emotional State,” in which he wrote, “Jewish culture was steeped in fantasies (and occasionally, acts) of vengeance against Christians.”
Penslar also signed onto a letter from a group called Academics4Peace in August of 2023 suggesting Israel is a “regime of apartheid,” guilty of “Jewish supremacism.”
The letter also accused Israel of attempting to “ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population.”
.@Harvard continues on the path of darkness. https://t.co/b2TWTHLfBs
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 19, 2024
Background on Derek Penslar, Harvard professor named today by interim president Alan Garber as co-chair of an antisemitism task force. I think Penslar is a terrible selection to co-chair this task force. Here is why: 1) Signed August 4, 2023 “Elephant in the Room” letter about…
— Ira Stoll (@IraStoll) January 19, 2024