An Israeli graduate of Harvard Business School has launched a lawsuit against the university, alleging that the Ivy League institution protected students who assaulted him and enabled what he describes as a pattern of systemic antisemitism on campus. The complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Massachusetts, accuses Harvard of obstructing justice, shielding perpetrators and violating civil rights laws.
Yoav Segev, 26, who earned his master’s degree from Harvard earlier this year, claims the school failed to discipline a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who attacked him in October 2023, just 11 days after Hamas launched a massive cross-border attack on Israel. According to the filing, the assault occurred when Segev, wearing a bracelet that identified him as Israeli, walked past an anti-Israel protest organized by student activist groups on Harvard Yard.
As he filmed the demonstration on his phone, Segev says he was confronted by self-described “safety marshals” from the protest. The lawsuit details how one student shoved a Palestinian keffiyeh headdress into his face, while another—masked and wearing a black hood—lunged at him. More demonstrators surrounded him, pressing keffiyehs and protest signs against his head and face. One placed an arm around his neck as others shoved him backward. Segev recalls pleading with them to stop, attempting to deescalate the situation, but the harassment intensified. Video clips later circulated online, which Segev says confirm his account.
The incident, the lawsuit argues, was only the beginning. Segev alleges that after the attack, he faced a campaign of harassment and humiliation by fellow students and even faculty members. Some, he says, went so far as to blame him for provoking the confrontation—despite video evidence to the contrary. The filing claims Harvard acted not only with “inaction and indifference” but “did everything it could to defend, protect, and reward the assailants; to impede the criminal investigation; and to prevent Mr. Segev from obtaining administrative relief.”
The lawsuit accuses Harvard of deliberately obstructing a local criminal inquiry and directing its campus police to halt their investigation. The university allegedly introduced a new internal policy, asserting it could not initiate disciplinary measures during a pending criminal case, then failed to act even after law enforcement closed the matter. Instead of accountability, the complaint says, some of the alleged attackers were celebrated. One received a prestigious $65,000 Harvard Law Review fellowship and was profiled by university publications. Another was appointed as a “marshal” at graduation—a ceremonial honor typically reserved for distinguished graduates.
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Beyond the assault, Segev claims Harvard compounded the harm by blocking him from filing an anonymous complaint and stonewalling his administrative appeal for over a year. When he eventually sued under a pseudonym to protect his identity, Harvard’s legal team allegedly submitted filings that exposed his name and personal information, “effectively outing him” and amplifying the reputational damage. According to the lawsuit, these actions inflicted severe emotional distress and caused lasting professional harm.
“Harvard’s antisemitic discrimination against Mr. Segev is not an isolated incident,” the complaint declares. “It is part of a much larger pattern and practice of institutionalized antisemitism and mistreatment of Jewish students.” It asserts that Harvard’s conduct breached its contractual obligations and violated both state and federal civil rights statutes, depriving Segev of “a safe learning environment guaranteed by law and by school policy.” The filing seeks significant monetary damages, though it does not specify an amount.
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Pro-Palestinian demonstration at Harvard University
(Photo: Boston Globe, GettyImages)
In interviews cited in the filing, Segev describes feeling “betrayed” by an institution that claims to champion equity and inclusion. The complaint juxtaposes Harvard’s handling of this case with its swift responses to discrimination affecting what it calls “favored minority groups,” suggesting a double standard in enforcement of campus policies.
The lawsuit surfaces against a backdrop of rising tension on U.S. campuses following Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Since then, anti-Israel demonstrations and encampments have swept across elite universities, including Harvard. Earlier this year, Harvard’s own antisemitism task force released a sobering report acknowledging that Jewish students had endured “severe disruption to their academic and social lives” due to harassment and hostility. That report came amid mounting criticism from lawmakers, alumni, and donors over the school’s response to antisemitism.
Federal authorities have also taken aim at Harvard. In June, the Trump administration concluded the university had violated civil rights.
law by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students, echoing allegations in previous lawsuits that Harvard quietly settled. Those settlements resulted in promises to strengthen protections for Jewish students—a pledge critics now say was hollow. The administration has since revoked billions in federal funding earmarked for Harvard and is pressing in court to bar the university from enrolling international students, a move Harvard is vigorously contesting. A judge recently allowed the school to continue admitting foreign students while the case proceeds.
For Segev, the lawsuit is as much about accountability as it is about damages. It accuses Harvard of fostering a hostile environment where antisemitic rhetoric and intimidation go unchecked and, in some cases, rewarded. “These violations and the hostile environment on campus deprived Mr. Segev of a safe learning environment,” the complaint states. “It has also caused him serious emotional, reputational, and professional harm.”
Harvard has not yet responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit. The case now moves to federal court, where it is likely to draw national attention as part of a broader reckoning over campus antisemitism, free speech, and institutional responsibility at America’s most prestigious and wealthiest university.