Amid Harvard University's refusal to condemn the letter from student groups who blamed Israel for the heinous Hamas attack on civilians earlier this month, The Wexner Foundation announced on Monday that it was ending financial support to the institution after 35 years.
More stories:
“We are stunned and sickened at the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists last Saturday, the Sabbath and a festival day,” the foundation wrote in a letter signed by the Wexners, President Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson and Ra’anan Avital, the director general.
“In the absence of this clear moral stand, we have determined that the Harvard Kennedy School and the Wexner Foundation are no longer compatible partners,” the Wexner letter stated.
"The apartheid regime is the only one to blame," wrote the organizations, which include a Progressive Jewish Union and a chapter of the human rights organization Amnesty at the educational institution. "We hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the letter representing 35 groups of students, mostly Muslim and from North African and Far-East countries wrote.
After the letter was published, Leslie Wexner wrote the University, demanding its president, Claudine Gay, clarify her position on the atrocities committed by Hamas and on the letter written by students, after a vague initial response, or the foundation would end its relations with Harvard.
“Our University rejects hate — hate of Jews, hate of Muslims, hate of any group of people based on their faith, their national origin, or any aspect of their identity,” Gay said in her first comments on the letter.
Wexner was among the most prominent benefactors of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and has a building named after him on campus.
The Wexner Alumni community and officials of the Foundation in Israel and the U.S. also write Harvard demanding a clear condemnation be made and when that was not forthcoming, asked the Wexner family to take definitive steps.
The Wexner Foundation is aמ American, Jewish and Zionist Foundation which operates along with the Israeli public service authority and the IDF, two leading leadership programs at Harvard.
The Wexner Israel Fellowship takes 10 Israeli public sector directors and each year to work toward their master's in public administration degree at Harvard Kennedy School in exchange for a commitment to remain in public service for at least three years, and the Wexner Senior Leaders program which offers a month-long management course to 45 senior managers a year.
In a statement, the Foundation said it continues to be committed to the state of Israel and its public service and will support it through professional training for executives and academic programs in other choice institutions.