(Cambridge, MA — September 13, 2020) — The StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism strongly condemns Harvard University’s appointment of Saeb Erekat as a fellow within the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Erekat, who is known as a chief Palestinian negotiator, also serves as the secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Since 2000, Erekat has been involved in each of the attempted—but failed—peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. In his capacity at Harvard, Erekat will draw on this “expertise” to work directly with students, serving as a mentor and seminar leader in the school’s “The Future of Diplomacy Project.”
A brief look at Erekat’s track record, however, demonstrates that the irony—and danger—of this appointment cannot be overstated:
Carly Gammill, director of the StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism stated, “Giving someone with Erekat’s history of supporting Palestinian terrorism, denying Israel’s right to exist, and blatantly lying a platform educating the next generation of world diplomats is inexplicable. Forcing students into the position of becoming a captive audience for this type of indoctrination—much of which qualifies as blatant antisemitism under the consensus International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition—does a grave disservice not only to those students but also to the greater cause of international diplomacy.”
While some may point to last year’s appointment of former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to a similar position as justification, this would be a false equivalence. Her record simply does not compare to Erekat’s or suggest a similar risk of systematically misleading students.
As one of the nation’s preeminent educational institutions, Harvard should do better. We encourage stakeholders—including students, parents, and alumni—to contact the University administration and demand that it correct its grievous mistake by rescinding this appointment immediately. We also urge the university to make clear that Erekat’s record of harmful rhetoric is antithetical to the mission of the Harvard Kennedy School.
About StandWithUs
StandWithUs (SWU) is an international, non-profit and non-partisan Israel education organization that works to inspire and educate people of all ages about Israel, as well as challenge misinformation and fight against antisemitism.
Through university fellowships, high school internships, middle school curricula, conferences, materials, social media, educational films and missions to Israel, StandWithUs supports people around the world who want to educate their schools and communities about Israel.
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Los Angeles, the organization has chapters and programs on 5 continents, including the U.S., Israel, UK, Canada, South Africa and Brazil.
For the last 7 years, SWU has consistently received the highest possible ratings from Charity Navigator (4 stars) and Guidestar (Platinum).
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