by WorldTribune Staff, October 11, 2023
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists on paragliders descended on a music festival in southern Israel and slaughtered at least 260 festival attendees.
Soon after, the Black Lives Matter Chicago chapter tweeted an image of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag and the caption “I Stand With Palestine.”
More than 1,000 Israelis were massacred by the Hamas terrorists. That included young children and babies, some of whom were reportedly decapitated.
At Harvard University, 34 student groups signed onto a statement that said they “hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
The backlash was immediate and intense.
Responses to the BLM post:
“The guy with the parachute raped, tortured, kidnapped and murdered people … including 40 babies,” posted Chicago talk-radio station AM 560 The Answer. “That’s who BLM Chicago is standing with.”
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote in his daily email: “Look at the progressives right now, please. BLM is sending out graphics of Hamas paratroopers with Palestinian flags claiming to support them. Hamas parachuted into a music festival in Israel and killed over 200.”
Conservative filmmaker Robby Starbuck posted, “BLM Chicago, like many leftists, comes out in support of slaughtering innocent people they don’t like. Now ask yourself this: Do they like you? Unless you’re an extremist, they probably don’t. Consider the future ramifications of that for your family.”
Elon Musk replied: “Exactly.”
BLM Chicago reacted by removing the post from X and issuing a statement: “Yesterday we sent out msgs that we aren’t proud of,” posted BLM Chicago. “We stand with Palestine & the people who will do what they must to live free. Our hearts are with the grieving mothers, those rescuing babies from rubble, who are in danger of being wiped out completely.”
The Harvard statement was authored on Oct. 7 by the Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) and originally co-signed by 33 other student groups. It stated: “Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence. The apartheid regime is the only one to blame.”
Responses to the Harvard statement:
Harvard Computer Science professor Boaz Barak called on the University to remove the organizations’ school affiliations, writing in a social media post: “I have a lot of criticisms of Israeli policies, but everyone who signed this statement is condoning terrorism, rape, and murder.”
Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers called the joint statement “morally unconscionable” in a post on X, adding: “In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today. The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel.”
The Harvard Crimson reported the the University’s Jewish center, Harvard Hillel, released a response to the PSC and the groups that signed onto its letter, saying the statement represented “further hatred and anti-Semitism. In the strongest terms, we oppose this outrageous statement that blames Israel for the violence carried out by Hamas terrorists – a group that has opposed peace and called for Israel’s destruction since it was founded. We expect the Harvard community to do better.”
Sanaa M. Kahloon wrote in a statement on behalf of the PSC Monday afternoon that the organization’s members “reject the accusation that our previous statement could be read as supportive of civilian deaths. To restate what should be obvious: the PSC staunchly opposes violence against civilians — Palestinian, Israeli, or other. The statement aims to contextualize the apartheid and colonial system while explicitly lamenting ‘the devastating and rising civilian toll’ in its caption. It is unacceptable that Palestinians and groups supporting them are always expected to preempt their statements with condemnation of violence.”