Israeli hostage posters at Harvard vandalized with antisemitic messages
New York (CNN) — Israeli hostage posters that were hung up at Harvard University had been vandalized with antisemitic messages just as students returned from winter break.
Posted — UpdatedFootage shared with CNN by Harvard student Alexander Kestenbaum shows a handful of hostage posters defaced with messages such as “Israel did 9/11.” A poster of a four-year-old Israeli hostage was defaced, while “LIES FAKE” was scrawled over another hostage poster.
Photos and videos geolocated by CNN indicate the vandalized posters were hung just outside Holworthy Hall, a first-year student dorm located on the northern edge of Harvard Yard.
It’s not clear whether the posters were vandalized by students or outsiders on campus, which is located in the middle of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visitors are able to walk through the gates into Harvard Yard. It’s also not clear how widespread the vandalism was.
Kestenbaum, a Harvard student who was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit recently leveled against the university over antisemitism, alerted Harvard officials to the vandalism on Sunday night, according to emails Kestenbaum shared with CNN.
Harvard’s Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (OEDIB) responded to Kestenbaum in an email on Monday afternoon saying officials are investigating the matter and explaining how bias-related incidents and formal complaints on discrimination can be filed. The university did not provide a comment in response to CNN’s requests for comment.
The incident comes as Harvard is hoping to turn the page on a tumultuous period marked by soaring tensions over the Israel-Hamas war, a backlash from donors and politicians and the sudden end of Claudine Gay’s tenure as university president.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, called the hostage poster vandalism a “truly depraved and hideous act” and demanded Harvard leaders speak out on the incident.
“This is not political speech, but pure, unadulterated, inexcusable evil,” Greenblatt told CNN in a statement on Tuesday. “This needs to be called out forcefully by all, but especially by the Harvard leadership, particularly because the university has failed time and again when faced with similar instances.”
Harvard representatives not provide a comment in response to questions from CNN.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
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