Harvard decision “Profoundly troubling” for human rights and academic freedom
JVL Introduction
The American Civil Liberties Union has condemned as “profoundly troubling” the refusal of a fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School to Kenneth Roth, the former head of Human Rights Watch, over the organisation’s criticism of Israel. Chris McGreal’s report in the Guardian also cites PEN America, which advocates for freedom of expression, saying the move raises serious questions about one of the US’s leading schools of government.
McGreal writes: ‘Roth told the Guardian that Harvard’s move was a reflection of “how utterly afraid the Kennedy School has become of any criticism of Israel” under pressure from donors and influential supporters within the school of Israel’s rightwing government.’
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Sun 8 Jan 2023. Read the original here.
Harvard Kennedy School condemned for denying fellowship to Israel critic
Leading civil rights organisations have condemned Harvard Kennedy School’s denial of a position to the former head of Human Rights Watch over the organisation’s criticism of Israel.
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This is not just grotesque – but even more bizarre than it seems.
On Feb. 28, 2022 the Harvard Law School issued a legal analysis declaring Israel an apartheid state: http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IHRC-Addameer-Submission-to-HRC-COI-Apartheid-in-WB.pdf
So, we have an institution whose Law School is of the legal opinion that Israel is an apartheid state, but which refuses to appoint someone because his organisation’s legal opinion is that Israel is an apartheid state!
I’m wondering whether there is such a thing in the USA, UK and EU as a legally defined legal right to free speech and proper, affordable legal protections (eg sanctions) against being silenced and / or punished for exercising it?
If there isn’t, we need to campaign for one.
We pride ourselves on freedom of expression but there seem to be some double standards in play when anyone exercises a right to speak out about injustices inflicted on Palestinians – and this isn’t even a matter of opinion but fact. Sometimes things don’t make sense.