‘Student Intifada’ : Anti-Israel Harvard Student Groups Commemorate ‘One Year of Genocide’

Four Harvard University student organizations released a joint statement on Monday denouncing the university and further claiming that the October 7 attacks on Israel showed “apartheid cannot stand.”

“One year ago today, Gaza broke through Israel’s blockade, showing the world that the ongoing Nakba and apartheid cannot stand,” reads the statement released on October 7. “Every day since, the Israeli regime has escalated its 76-year-long occupation into a now 365-day-long genocide.”

The student organizations condemned Harvard University, claiming that it is “funding slaughter” and “continues to defend its investments in this genocidal regime” despite objections from students and faculty. 

“Student power is what shut down universities until they divested from South African apartheid. Student power is what forced the U.S. government to end its imperialist war in Vietnam,” the statement continues. “It is in this tradition that the student intifada rises to demand that Harvard end all support for death and colonialism in Palestine and beyond.”

The statement was shared jointly on social media by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee, the Harvard African and African American Resistance Organization, the Harvard Jews for Palestine group, and the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine group. 

Those four student groups were among the Harvard associations that shared an infographic on Sunday, October 6 urging people to participate in an “international day of action” by joining a “rally for Palestine, Lebanon, and our martyrs.” The student groups met on Harvard’s campus and then traveled to Boston to join a protest commemorating “one year of genocide” and “one year of resistance.”  

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee was placed on probation in March and temporarily suspended in April for failing to register a protest and violating guidelines on the responsible use of space, National Review previously reported. Harvard’s Dean of Students Office reinstated the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee as a recognized campus organization in September, ending a five-month suspension.

National Review reported in February that the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and the African and African American Resistance Organization jointly posted images with antisemitic tropes. The groups later deleted the images and issued apologies. 

In the since-deleted Instagram posts, the Harvard organizations shared an image that included a drawing of a hand with the Star of David and a dollar sign holding ropes around the necks of two non-white men. There is a second arm wielding a machete to cut the rope. The words beside the arm say “Third World,” while the machete says “Liberation Movement.” The cartoon was published in a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s June-July 1967 newsletter.

“In an earlier version of this post we shared an image that was not reflective of our values as organizations,” reads the apology jointly released by the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and the African and African American Resistance Organization. “We reiterate our unending support for solidarity between Black and Palestinian communities and have updated our post to reflect what we stand for. Our mutual goals for liberation will always include the Jewish community — and we regret inadvertently including an image that played upon antisemitic tropes.”

Harvard University provided a statement in February to National Review via email.

“The University is aware of social media posts today containing deeply offensive antisemitic tropes and messages from organizations whose membership includes Harvard affiliates,” said a Harvard spokesperson. “Such despicable messages have no place in the Harvard community. We condemn these posts in the strongest possible terms.”