'I Am Sickened’: Larry Summers Lambasts Harvard Over Student Groups’ Israel Statement

The former US Treasury Secretary and Harvard University president responded angrily to a joint statement of student groups at the Ivy League school, blasting his alma mater’s lack of response.

Former Harvard president Larry Summers sharply criticized the university in a thread on the X platform Monday, faulting their lack of official response to a student statement holding the Israeli government “entirely responsible” for the current violence in the Middle Eastern country.

“In nearly 50 years of Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today,” said Summers. “The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups’ statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel.”

The silence from Harvard’s leadership, so far, coupled with a vocal and widely reported student groups' statement blaming Israel solely, has allowed Harvard to appear at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel.

— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) October 9, 2023

“Harvard is being defined by the morally unconscionable statement apparently coming from two dozen student groups blaming all the violence on Israel. I am sickened.”

Summers, an economist who served as treasury secretary during the final years of the Clinton Administration and an advisor under President Barack Obama, was responding to a statement from more than 30 student organizations on the Harvard University campus.

The statement read, in part, “We… hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence. Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum. 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. Palestinians in Gaza have no shelters for refuge and nowhere to escape. In the coming days, Palestinians will be forced to bear the full brunt of Israel’s violence.”

Although polling shows a majority of people in the United States still view Israel favorably, Americans are becoming increasingly polarized on the issue by age. People over 50 in the United States are strongly favorable towards Israel, but 56% of people under 29 view the country unfavorably. Americans from age 30 to 49 are almost evenly split.

That division was on display in New York City on Sunday as dueling groups of pro- and anti-Israel protesters descended on Times Square. Activists from the Democratic Socialists of America and other progressive organizations chanted “Palestine will be free” as police separated them from pro-Israel protesters who came out in response.

Protests and vigils have been organized in response to events in Israel in cities throughout the United States and throughout the world.