(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Left-wing concepts such as “cancel culture” and the “ESG movement” have long given heartburn to conservatives, libertarians and even classical liberals who believe in the importance of a free society.
In the past, such practices have been deployed to promote anti-Semitism, as in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.
However, following Hamas’s devastating terrorist attack on the Jewish nation–state, radical leftists are getting a dose of their own medicine as wealthy investors pull the plug on those espousing solidarity with the evildoers on college campuses and elsewhere, BizPacReview reported.
In particular, Harvard University’s wealthy donors are continuing to jump ship after 31 campus organizations came out in support of Hamas, on the very day that Muslim extremists slaughtered more than 1,300 innocent Israelis—many of them brutally raped, mutilated and tortured—and took nearly 200 hostages, including at least 26 children, back to Gaza to use as human shields.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” wrote the redundantly named Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine. “Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. … The apartheid regime is the only one to blame
A group of @Harvard students released a statement that begins, "We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."
The statement continues, but that’s all you need to know.
Israelis – young and old – were… pic.twitter.com/h2hHJuBaou
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) October 8, 2023
In response, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman announced that he would be blacklisting the signatories and a “doxxing truck” displayed the names and faces of those who were behind the effort.
That led some of the group members to backpedal and denounce the statements that the groups had issued, apparently without soliciting their input.
They further whined that they were being subjected to “harassment” as the result of their prior tacit support of the anti-Semitic genocide.
Meanwhile, some powerful individuals faulted the school for its tepid response to the episode after Harvard President Claudine Gay refused to denounce it, insisting that the school had no say in what the groups did.
On Thursday, shipping magnate Idan Ofer, believed to be the wealthiest person in Israel, resigned from the executive board of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, the Daily Caller reported.
The Wexner Foundation, a pro-Jewish philanthropy bankrolled by Bath & Body Works founder Lex Wexner, also announced that it would be pulling its funding.
Fantastic news – the next Ivy League domino falls as Wexner Foundation (led by Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner) cuts off all funding to Harvard stating –
“We are stunned and sickened at the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand… pic.twitter.com/eqI1np9cnq
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 16, 2023
Aside from announcing that they were “stunned and sickened” by the news, the upper level management of the Wexner Foundation condemned the university for failing to teach its students about what they perceived to be the necessity of supporting Israel.
“In the absence of this clear moral stand, we have determined that the Harvard Kennedy School and The Wexner Foundation are no longer compatible partners,” they wrote. “While we intend to develop new strategies and initiatives to develop Israel’s civil service leaders, The Wexner Foundation is formally ending its financial and programmatic relationships with Harvard and the Harvard Kennedy School.”
In their explanation, Wexner leaders cited a difference in “core values,” noting that Harvard Kennedy School “is no longer a place where Israeli leaders can go to develop the necessary skills to address the very real political and societal challenges they face.”
The Wexner Foundation says its mission to develop and inspire “leaders in the North American Jewish Community and the State of Israel” through “pluralistic, cohort-based educational programs.” The foundation also commits itself to “Jewish Peoplehood.”
Harvard was also among four universities receiving heat from the federal government.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., demanded that the Justice Department launch an investigation into students at the school—along with those at the University of California-Los Angeles, Columbia University and the University of Virginia—over recent pro-Hamas demonstrations that may be traced back to the terrorist group.
“It is entirely possible that many of these student organizations, at some level or another, are enmeshed in [terrorist] networks—whether as recipients of funding from these malicious actors or as conduits for it,” the senator wrote, as reported by the New York Post.
The U.Va. event also was being investigated by Republican state Attorney General Jason Miyares, following a report that anthropology professor Tessa Farmer had offered her students extra credit to attend it.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
