Harvard's 'Apartheid' Prof and the Antisemitism Task Force - WSJ Editorial

Harvard University has been embroiled in a public brawl over antisemitism, causing much reputational harm. So how does the school propose to get past this mess, reassure Jewish students and restore comity on campus? Well, how about appointing to lead an antisemitism task force a professor who believes Israel operates a “regime of apartheid” that employs “Jewish supremacism”?

We wish we were kidding. Last week Harvard announced a new Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism, and its co-chairman is Derek Penslar, a history professor. Mr. Penslar’s work on the history of Zionism isn’t uniformly extreme, but it shares an emphasis on “settler colonialism” with the protesters who have harassed Jewish students on campus.

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The apartheid lie echoes the old Soviet anti-Israel propaganda. Then, as now, its purpose was to mark Israel as beyond the pale, outside the community of nations, and thus legitimate to attack, even with terrorism. In a 1982 United Nations resolution, the Soviet and Arab blocs grouped Israel with South Africa to affirm “the legitimacy of the struggle . . . by all available means, including armed struggle.”

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By the way, Harvard simultaneously announced a task force to fight Islamophobia, in keeping with the new habit on the left that antisemitism can’t be condemned by itself. Most Americans will shake their heads and wonder how many degrees you need to behave as foolishly as Harvard’s leaders.

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