Harvard to host Palestinian professor who said Hamas’ Oct 7 attack was ‘just a normal human struggle for freedom’ and blamed Israel for ‘making us take their children and elderly as hostages’
- Dalal Saeb Iriqat is an associate professor at the Arab American University
- She will speak March 7 at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
- Iriqat shared cartoons comparing Israel to the Nazis and blamed the country’s “right-wing extremist government” for the Hamas attack
Harvard will host a controversial Palestinian professor who said Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack was “just a normal human struggle” and accused Israel of “letting us take their children and elderly people as hostages.”
Dalal Saeb Iriqat, associate professor at Arab American University, will appear March 7 at Harvard’s Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Her performance is part of a series titled Middle East Dialogues, billed as conversations to “understand what is happening and expose them to the best thinking about how peace can be achieved.”
However, Iriqat came under fire in the aftermath of the terror attacks after posting online that the resulting 1,200 deaths and hundreds of kidnappings were “just a normal person fighting for freedom.”
Dalal Saeb Iriqat has been invited to speak at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School on March 7.
Her performance is part of a series entitled Middle East Dialogues, designed to explore how peace can be achieved. However, Iriqat has openly blamed Israel for the October 7 Hamas attack
She doubled down despite the criticism and shared another post blaming Israel for the next day’s attacks.
βWe will never forgive the Israeli far-right government for allowing us to hold their children and elderly hostages,β she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“The Israeli public must realize that their own government caused all this bloodshed and that they are still responsible for this escalation and loss of civilian lives.”
Her invitation comes as Harvard struggles to rebuild its reputation after being accused of failing to act against anti-Semitism on campus since October 7.
The university parted ways with former president Claudine Gay amid a backlash over her public statements about her school’s approach to anti-Semitism.
This included a disastrous congressional hearing in which she failed to declare that calling for a Jewish genocide would constitute hate speech.
Jewish students have also filed a lawsuit accusing the school of enabling anti-Semitism.
In the months since the attack, about 25,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli retaliatory strikes.
Iriqat called the terror attack that killed about 1,200 people “just a normal person fighting for freedom.”
Her actions come as Harvard continues to reckon with its failure to address anti-Semitism on campus
On October 30, Iriqat shared graphic cartoons on her Facebook page comparing Israel to the Nazis.
She has also pushed conspiracy theories that Israel lied about what happened on October 7, including that the bodies burned by Hamas were not Israelis.
Harvard promoted the events and acknowledged the controversy surrounding its handling of the conflict.
βAt a time when much attention has been paid to our university and its perceived failures to promote dialogue on difficult and divisive issues, we have worked quietly to demonstrate that this is, in fact, a place where open inquiry, deep debate and honest conversations can take place. and it does happen,β the school said.
Other speakers scheduled to appear include Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner, Salam Fayyad, the former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Einat Wilf, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, and Matt Duss, Bernie’s foreign policy adviser Sanders. .
DailyMail.com has contacted Harvard and Iriqat for comment.