According to a report from The Daily Wire, Harvard has terminated a summer program with a Palestinian institution whose staff and students have supported and worked with Hamas and other terror organizations.
It was planned for Birzeit University to hold the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s “Palestine Social Medicine Course” from July to August. Birzeit University has called for “glory for the martyrs” following Hamas’s terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. However, a spokesperson for the institution informed The Daily Wire that the program has been moved to Jordan “due to security concerns in the West Bank.”
According to the website, the “three-week intensive summer course is designed to introduce students to the social, structural, political, and historical aspects that determine Palestinian health beyond the biological basis of disease.” The program begins this week and ends August 17.
Students will learn about subjects including “Health and racism” and “Settler colonialism and its manifestations in Palestine” from academics, activists, and health professionals.
On October 10, the X account of Birzeit University announced sympathy for student encampments on American college campuses where the members harassed Jewish students and demanded for “glory for the martyrs.”
On the website of the terrorist organization, the account also lamented “with great pride the martyr,” Aysar Safi, a student who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and was murdered in a combat mission against the IDF. Birzeit published a picture of Safi’s on-campus burial, in which participants were seen waving flags from Hamas’s al-Qassam brigade and the PFLP’s student branch.
On October 7, the chairperson of the university’s board of trustees, Hanan Ashrawi, refuted reports that Hamas had sexually abused Israeli civilians. According to CAMERA UK, Ashrawi has also supported the lynching of Israeli soldiers and championed Hezbollah.
A United Nations assessment that found Hamas had committed sexual violence was refuted by Ashrawi in March, claiming the research was invalid because it mostly consisted of interviews with Israelis.
The Palestinian school declares that it is dedicated to using “resistance” to make an impact and refers to itself as a “thorn in the side of the occupation.” A building in Birzeit bears the name of Kamal Nasser, the mastermind of Black September, the terrorist organization that abducted and murdered eleven Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Additionally, Birzeit holds yearly military parades on campus during which students salute Hamas and the PFLP by donning rockets and fake suicide belts and chanting “blow up the settler’s head,” according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Students at the university have sided closely with terrorist organizations. In the 2023 student council elections, the Islamic Bloc, which is associated with Hamas, secured 25 out of 51 seats. The Jerusalem Post reports that the PFLP-affiliated faction won six seats in the contest with a 77 percent voter turnout.
Numerous Birzeit students have been detained for aiding and abetting terrorist organizations. Five members of Birzeit’s student government were detained last week for allegedly attempting to carry out a terror incident involving a gun on behalf of Hamas. At the time of the arrest, the group possessed an assault rifle and thousands of dollars in cash from Hamas, according to the Times of Israel.
