Harvard President Should Use His First Amendment Right to Condemn The Harvard Crimson's Antisemitism by Alan M. Dershowitz  •  May 9, 2022 at 12:00 pm       The Crimson editors justify their bigotry by subtly invoking the classic antisemitic trope of Jewish "power," and by presenting a one-sided history that places no fault on the Palestinian leadership, ignores the threats faced by Israel from Palestinian terrorist and Iranian nuclear threats, and mendaciously omits the numerous Palestinian rejections of Israel's offers to accept a two-state solution. Would a similar refusal to condemn explicitly other bigoted editorials that singled out other groups or nations be deemed acceptable by the Harvard community? Such as: An editorial supporting the overruling of Roe v. Wade and calling for the banning of all "baby killing" abortions; An editorial blaming race-based affirmative action for lowering standards throughout the country... [I]t was less than 90 years ago that the Harvard Crimson supported giving an honorary doctorate to the official spokesperson for Hitler's Nazi Germany. Harvard's then president, James B. Conant, did not condemn the editorial. Indeed, he himself supported Nazi Germany in many ways. An editorial singling out Black African nations for human rights violations that are worse in other parts of the world; An editorial declaring Donald Trump the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. The question [Harvard President Lawrence] Bacow should ask himself is whether he would refuse to comment on any of the hypothetical editorials were The Crimson to publish them. Harvard cannot have a double standard regarding matters Jewish or the nation state of the Jewish people, even if some radical students demand it. Bacow should reconsider his no comment stance and use his bully pulpit to say what I'm sure he believes in his heart: that The Crimson's editorial was a bigoted, mendacious and irresponsible attack on the nation state of the Jewish people and its supporters. Pictured: Harvard President Lawrence Bacow. (Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images) The President of Harvard — a proud Jewish supporter of Israel and a good person— has thus far refused explicitly to condemn The Harvard Crimson's blatantly anti-Semitic editorial singling out Israel for a political boycott. The Crimson editors justify their bigotry by subtly invoking the classic antisemitic trope of Jewish "power," and by presenting a one-sided history that places no fault on the Palestinian leadership, ignores the threats faced by Israel from Palestinian terrorist and Iranian nuclear threats, and mendaciously omits the numerous Palestinian rejections of Israel's offers to accept a two-state solution. The former president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers condemned the editorial as antisemitic in both "intent and effect." But Harvard President Lawrence Bacow refused to condemn the editorial, limiting himself to the following: Continue Reading Article