Jewish student harassed by Harvard Law review editor, anti-Israel mob on campus

The video showed the mob of people encircling and attempting to trap the Jewish student, shoving keffiyehs in his face.

By Di0n J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Anti-Zionism at Harvard University escalated to apparent antisemitic harassment when a mob of anti-Israel activists — including Ibrahim Bharmal, editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review — followed, surrounded, and intimidated a Jewish student on campus, according to new videos that went viral across social media.

“Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!” the crush of people screamed in a call-and-response chant into the ears of the student who —as seen in the footage — was forced to duck and dash the crowd to free himself from the cluster of bodies that encircled him.

No one appeared to intervene to stop the altercation, which circulated social media on Wednesday. The Algemeiner could not immediately confirm the exact date of the incident.

The video showed the mob of people encircling and attempting to trap the Jewish student, shoving keffiyehs — traditional headdresses worn by men in the Middle East that in some circles have come to symbolize Palestinian nationalism — in his face. After the video went viral, Bharmal was identified by antisemitism watchdog groups and other sources on social media as part of the crowd.

Jewish leaders and activists in the fight against antisemitism condemned the incident.

“This isn’t activism — this is intimidation and incitement against Jewish students at Harvard,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted. “This video makes me cringe. This video makes me explode. Administrators at universities across the country need to act URGENTLY [sic] against the raging antisemitism on our campus.”

The Combat Antisemitism movement similarly posted on the X/Twitter social media platform: “Shame on you, Harvard, for not doing more to protect Jewish students on campus.”

“Unbelievable scenes from Harvard!” added Israeli-American philanthropist Adam Milstein. “A Jewish student is assaulted even while trying to get away from the ‘free Palestine’ mob. This movement is not about Palestinians, it is about legitimizing antisemitism in the Western world. It must be stopped.”

The video from Harvard is the latest anti-Israel or antisemitic incident to emerge from the Ivy League, which has been a hub of seemingly pro-Hamas support since the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel and massacre of 1,400 people in the deadliest single-day attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas’ brutal treatment of civilians — which included rape, torture, and beheading of children — shocked the world and led to international condemnation. Israel and Hamas, which rules neighboring Gaza, have been at war since the terror group’s onslaught.

Since the attack, professors at Cornell University and Columbia University have cheered Hamas’ violence, with one saying he was “exhilarated” by it and another describing the terrorists who paraglided into a music festival to murder and rape the young people there as “the air force of the Palestinian resistance.”

Cornell University made news again over the weekend, when someone threatened on a social media forum to commit acts of murder, rape, and mass shooting against Jewish students and a kosher dining ball on campus. Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old engineering student at Cornell, was arrested on a federal complaint on Tuesday for allegedly making the threats. He faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 fine.

At Harvard, extreme anti-Zionism on campus has for years been the subject of numerous news stories and reports. Last year, the Harvard Crimson, the university’s flagship newspaper, endorsed the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. In September, to start the 2022-2023 academic year, a student and anti-Israel activist interrupted a convocation ceremony held by the school, shouting at Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana, “Here’s the real truth — Harvard supports, upholds, and invests in Israeli apartheid, and the oppression of Palestinians!”

Shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis, 31 student groups at Harvard issued a statement blaming Israel for the attack, accusing the Jewish state of operating an “open air prison” in Gaza, despite that the Israeli military withdrew from the territory in 2005.

“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” said the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee. “In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.”

Following the letter, the Wexner Foundation, a prominent philanthropic organization, announced that it was terminating a longstanding partnership with Harvard. The foundation’s announcement followed reports, first disclosed by eJewishPhilanthropy, that Harvard alumni and other major donors, shocked by the university’s response to Hamas atrocities, are considering ceasing their financial support for the university.

Harvard University President Claudine Gay has said that students who support Hamas should not be punished, citing the school’s commitment to “free expression.” However, Harvard has an “abysmal” track record of protecting free speech, having fired three professors for uttering statements or publishing work containing controversial stances, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE),

Most recently, the Harvard Kennedy School was accused of protecting an antisemite in a searing legal letter calling for disciplinary measures against a professor whom the school months ago determined had “denigrated” several students for being “Israelis and Jews.”

anti-SemitismHarvardIbrahim Bharmal