The Wexner Foundation supports up to 10 Israeli “outstanding government and public service professionals” to study in a one-year, mid-career master’s degree in public administration at the Harvard Kennedy School, per the philanthropy’s website. The goal of the Israel fellowship, per Wexner, is “providing Israel’s next generation of public leaders with superlative training.”
The webpage, which notes Harvard’s “rich environment that is conducive to reflection and dialogue about Israel’s policy challenges and the diverse leadership strategies that could address those challenges,” will need updating.
Wexner told the Harvard Kennedy School on Oct. 16 that it is cutting ties after more than 30 years. “We believed that at its core, HKS was a school with moral purpose, matching the core values we embrace in our own work,” wrote three Wexner leaders: Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson (president), Ra’anan Avital (director general, Israel) and Abigail and Leslie Wexner (chairmen).
“We have observed that this cherished tolerance for diverse perspectives has slowly but perceptibly narrowed over the years. A disappointing consequence of this trend is that our Wexner Israel Fellows are increasingly marginalized, their voices and views even shouted down,” the philanthropy leaders wrote. “Disappointingly, HKS has been slow to craft a strategy to enable Israeli students to engage in productive—even if difficult—dialogue within the school. We believe this is an unfortunate trend for the entire MPA student community.”
Following Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis, the Wexner leaders were “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,” they wrote.
“Since then, many of our Israel fellows no longer feel marginalized at HKS. They feel abandoned,” the leaders wrote. “Our core values and those of Harvard no longer align. HKS is no longer a place where Israeli leaders can go to develop the necessary skills to address the very real political and societal challenges they face.”
Gilad Erdan, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, praised Wexner’s decision. “The leadership of Harvard have proven they have lost their moral compass. Not only do they allow Jew-hatred and pro-terror rhetoric to permeate their campus, but they cannot bring themselves to immediately condemn terrorism,” the diplomat wrote. “I call on every North American Jew and supporter of Israel to send this message to every university that behaves similarly.”
“If your child’s university thinks twice before condemning the murder of innocents or allows a culture of hate to grow on campuses unhindered, then it cannot receive one more cent from any of you,” Erdan said. “Whoever stays silent after the massacre of children does not hold the moral credibility to educate our children.”
“It shouldn’t have taken this long to realize what a morally compromised institution Harvard has become, but ... better late than never,” wrote Jeff Jacoby, a columnist for The Boston Globe.
Last week, Idan Ofer, an Israeli billionaire, and his wife Batia quit Harvard’s executive board. “We denounce those who seek to place blame on the people of Israel for the atrocities committed by the terrorist organization, Hamas,” the couple said.
