Harvard president distances school from student groups blaming Israel for Hamas attack

The president of Harvard University on Tuesday categorically condemned the brutal terror attacks against Israel by the Gaza-based Hamas and insisted that a coalition of pro-Palestine student groups do not speak for the school as a whole.

Over the weekend, Hamas launched a large-scale incursion into Israeli territory, seized hostages, and inflicted considerable civilian casualties. The sheer scale of the operation appeared to catch the Israel Defense Forces flat-footed, but the IDF has since mounted major retaliatory strikes on Gaza and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

"As the events of recent days continue to reverberate, let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one’s individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region," Harvard University President Claudine Gay said in a statement. "Let me also state, on this matter as on others, that while our students have the right to speak for themselves, no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership."

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee on Saturday published a statement insisting they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."

"For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced," the statement continued. "In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence. The apartheid regime is the only one to blame."

In total, 33 other Harvard student groups signed the statement.

Israel and myriad Palestinian factions have engaged in intermittent warfare since the 1948 expiration of the British Mandate of Palestine.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.