The Patriot Post® · Harvard: Another Anti-Semite on the Way

Harvard has an anti-Semitism problem, as do many of the Ivy League schools. One would think perhaps it had learned its lesson after the disgraceful conduct of former President Claudine Gay at a congressional hearing regarding anti-Semitism on campus, but no.

Harvard decided for its next trick that it’s going to appoint Derek Penslar, a professor of Jewish history, as co-chair for its anti-Semitism task force. This task force is also supposed to address instances of so-called Islamophobia, which is ridiculous on its face, as it’s not the Muslim students who are facing calls for the genocide of their people.

Penslar is an expert in modern Jewish history. According to his Harvard biography, he “takes a comparative and transnational approach to modern Jewish history, which he studies within the contexts of modern nationalism, capitalism, and colonialism.” In other words, he looks at Israel through the eyes of a modern leftist whose worldview is centered on a DEI model. From what can be gleaned from his books and works, the tone and tenor are very anti-Israel and frankly anti-Jew.

Penslar has underlined this tendency in recent years through his actions and commentary. He signed an open letter entitled “The Elephant in the Room” that has several troubling aspects to it. First, it claims that “there cannot be democracy for Jews in Israel as long as Palestinians live under a regime of apartheid.” Then it states, “As Israel has grown more right-wing and come under the spell of the current government’s messianic, homophobic, and misogynistic agenda, young American Jews have grown more and more alienated from it.”

So Palestinians have no responsibility for the economic and political state of their own country, according to these esteemed academics? And Heaven forbid Israel turn toward a more right-wing approach to governing.

Then there are Penslar’s personal writings. In his book Zionism: An Emotional State, he claims that the “veins of hatred run through Jewish civilization.” The context for this particular comment had to do with the biblical claims of the Jews. Reminder: Jews are the indigenous people of Israel.

Penslar was also one of the Harvard faculty who rallied around Gay after her lapse of good leadership during the infamous congressional hearing and, in doing so, tried to minimize the growing and pervasive anti-Semitism on campus.

Journalist Ira Stroll has a more in-depth analysis of why Penslar is a problematic choice here.

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

Penslar is not a reasonable choice to chair this task force, as his own sentiments seem to skew anti-Semitic.

Meanwhile, Harvard students returning from Christmas break were greeted with more grotesque anti-Israel and anti-Jew hate on campus. Posters of the Jewish hostages taken on October 7 had been posted around campus. However, after the break, those posters were covered in anti-Jew slurs. The defilers blamed Israelis for 9/11, called the posters of hostages a lie, and otherwise defaced them.

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a returning student, filmed the evidence and stated, “I am a visibly Jewish student, and when Jewish students say they don’t feel safe, let alone welcomed, it’s because of actions like this, and we have no faith that Harvard will do anything to stop it.”

Harvard supposedly has some of the brightest minds working there. Surely they knew that being under the microscope of public scrutiny thanks to the Claudine Gay scandal, their continued missteps in this direction would be detected. It really seems like a “screw you” not only to their Jewish students but to the public at large. Harvard is a disgrace.