Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine

We, the undersigned student organizations, 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.


The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.


Today, the Palestinian ordeal enters into uncharted territory. The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation. We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.



This statement was co-authored by a coalition of Palestine solidarity groups at Harvard. For student safety, the names of all original signing organizations have been concealed at this time.



https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1HfMvVpey18ArAnVHtp8UlqT_8V5zaR9sFE5ohC4Ls7U/mobilebasic



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Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine


We, the undersigned student organizations, 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.


The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.


Today, the Palestinian ordeal enters into uncharted territory. The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation. We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.



African American Resistance Organization

Amnesty International at Harvard

Bengali Association of Students at Harvard College

Harvard Act on a Dream

Harvard Arab Medical and Dental Student Associationp

Harvard Chan Muslim Student Association

Harvard Chan Students for Health Equity and Justice in Palestine

Harvard College Pakistan Student Association

Harvard Divinity School Muslim Association

Harvard Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association

Harvard Graduate School of Education Islamic Society

Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine

Harvard Islamic Society

Harvard Law School Justice for Palestine

Harvard Divinity School Students for Justice in Palestine

Harvard Jews for Liberation

Harvard Kennedy School Bangladesh Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Muslim Women’s Caucus

Harvard Kennedy School Palestine Caucus

Harvard Muslim Law School Association

Harvard Pakistan Forum

Harvard Prison Divest Coalition

Harvard South Asian Law Students Association

Harvard South Asians for Forward-Thinking Advocacy and Research

Harvard TPS Coalition

Harvard Undergraduate Arab Women’s Collective

Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo

Harvard Undergraduate Muslim Women’s Medical Alliance

Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Students Association

Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee

Middle East and North African Graduate School of Design Student Society

Neighbor Program Cambridge

Sikhs and Companions of Harvard Undergraduates


Society of Arab Students



https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1HfMvVpey18ArAnVHtp8UlqT_8V5zaR9sFE5ohC4Ls7U/mobilebasic





Senator Cotton Urges Mayorkas to Deport Foreign Nationals Who Support Hamas

By DAVID ZIMMERMANN
October 17, 2023 9:57 AM
Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) urged Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to deport any foreign national who has expressed support for Hamas since the militant group attacked Israel ten days ago.

I write to urge you to immediately deport any foreign national—including and especially any alien on a student visa—that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel,” Cotton wrote to Mayorkas in a letter dated Monday. “These fifth columnists have no place in the United States.”

The term “fifth column” refers to a group of people that attempts to undermine a nation’s solidarity from within by supporting its enemies.

The Republican lawmaker cited the Immigration and Nationality Act as grounds for the immediate deportation of non-citizens from the country.

“Federal law is clear that any alien who ‘endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization’ is inadmissible and must be deported,” he said.

The request comes after many student groups on campuses across the country issued statements blaming Israel for Hamas terrorism.

On the same day the terrorist group attacked the Jewish nation, 34 student-led organizations at Harvard University signed a pro-Palestinian statement, blaming Israel for the atrocities. Other colleges such as George Washington University, the University of Virginia, and the University of California, Berkeley soon followed suit. At least nine of Harvard’s student groups have since retracted their signatures, and the statement has since then been deleted.

Many other students on college campuses have signed similar statements and organized anti-Israel protests in response to the Middle Eastern conflict. At Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., for example, students mourned the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas, despite the latter’s initial attack a few days prior.

“The appalling explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States over the past few weeks should disturb anyone who shares American values,” Cotton concluded. “While American citizens may have a First Amendment right to speak disgusting vitriol if they so choose, no foreign national has a right to advocate for terrorism in the United States.”
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https://www.nationalreview.com/news/senator-cotton-urges-mayorkas-to-deport-foreign-nationals-who-support-hamas