Over fifty student groups at Harvard University placed the blame Sunday for the Hamas terror attack at the feet of Israel.
The groups issued a letter over the weekend stating that Israel’s supposed oppression of Palestinians is the main catalyst for the murder of 600 Israelis by Hamas militants, per the letter.
This is the final crack in my broken heart – a joint statement from @Harvard students. I could be sitting in class with these students, watching children brutally murdered, raped, kidnapped and their mutated bodies torn apart by a jeering crowd – and hear why it’s justified. pic.twitter.com/UTi60Y2omJ
— Yael Bar tur (@yaelbt) October 8, 2023
“For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promise to ‘open the gates of hell,’ and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced,” the letter reads. (RELATED: ‘Significant Military Activities’ Authorized After Israeli Security Cabinet Confirms War Status)
“The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden,” the letter continues.
The letter added that Palestinians will face brutal attacks by the Israeli government in the coming days and urged Harvard students to stand in solidarity against Zionism.
“The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation. We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians,” the letter said.
Hamas, operating from the Gaza Strip, sent a barrage of over 2,000 rockets in Israel early Saturday. The terror organization also infiltrated the country, killing civilians and children and taking hostages, per reports. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Israel was in a state of war in the hours after the attack, which the Israeli Security Cabinet affirmed to authorize “significant military activities.”