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In wake of Harvard controversy, Tufts student group slammed for apparent pro-Hamas comments
The group said the attack made by "liberation fighters" exhibited "creativity."
A Tufts University student group has now come under fire over an alleged email from the group that supported the attacks made against Israel over the weekend.
A screenshot of the email purportedly from Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine was shared by the Anti-Defamation League of New England on X Tuesday afternoon. The Tufts SJP email, which also promoted a Palestine solidarity rally outside of Cambridge City Hall, said the attack made by “liberation fighters” against Israelis had exhibited “the creativity necessary to take back stolen land.”
In response, the university said it stood against the statement made by Tufts SJP.
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“We strongly disagree with and denounce SJP’s statement and want to make clear that no student group speaks for the university,” wrote Tufts spokesperson Patrick Collins in an email.
Boston.com reached out to Tufts SJP for comment, but the group didn’t respond by press time.
In the tweet from ADL New England, an organization that works to fight against anti-semitism, they called the statement “obscene.” ADL New England said it learned of the statement when it was forwarded the email.
Israel-Hamas War
This is the second university group in the Boston area that has received backlash over support for Palestine or criticisms of Israel amid the ongoing deadly conflict. More than 30 student groups at Harvard University co-signed a letter that blamed the Israeli government for the current violence. The letter garnered national coverage of the criticisms that came from lawmakers from both parties, former and current Harvard faculty, and organizations.
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Some of these critics also called out the university’s administration for not denouncing the letter. A statement from Harvard president Claudine Gay was eventually posted on the university’s website Tuesday that said she condemned “the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas,” and that student groups do not speak for the university administration.
Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee, the main group behind that letter, had originally scheduled a vigil Tuesday evening to mourn the lives lost in Palestine from the conflict, but postponed it because of “credible safety concerns and threats,” it said. Tufts SJP held a similar vigil Tuesday evening, according to the group’s Instagram.
As of Wednesday, officials said that the death toll has reached more than 1,000 in Gaza and more than 1,200 in Israel. Thousands more were injured.
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