(DailyWire) Harvard University will host a summer program where students will be briefed on “settler colonialism” at a Palestinian university that called for “glory to martyrs” after the October 7 terrorist massacre in Israel and has a student body that overwhelmingly elected a Hamas-affiliated bloc to run its student government.
The embattled Ivy League institution’s “Palestine Social Medicine Course” will send Harvard students to Birzeit University in the West Bank, according to the program’s website. It explains that the “three-week intensive summer course is designed to introduce students to the social, structural, political, and historical aspects that determine Palestinian health beyond the biological basis of disease.”
Harvard faces mounting criticism for its response to blatant anti-Semitism on its campus since the Hamas terrorist attack. Several Harvard students told The Daily Wire they were concerned about their school’s relationship with Birzeit University, given its history and alignment with terrorist groups.
The curriculum content will include hearing from health practitioners, academics, and activists about various topics including “Settler colonialism and its manifestations in Palestine” and “Health and racism,” the website adds.
A spokeswoman for Harvard defended its program in a statement to The Daily Wire, stating that Birzeit “is a public institution governed by an autonomous Board of Trustees with no political, religious, or sectarian affiliation,” and that the program was co-developed by the World Health Organization.
Birzeit University’s students pledge allegiance to Hamas, are arrested for terrorist activities
Birzeit University’s student population voted overwhelmingly for a Hamas-affiliated bloc in its student government elections for a second year in a row in May. The Islamic Bloc won 25 of the 51 seats with 4,481 votes in the race that had a 77% voter turnout, according to the Jerusalem Post. The Bloc said its victory proves students favor “the option of resistance” against Israel, and disapprove of the Palestinian Authority’s policies.
Students of Birzeit University, supporting Hamas, Fatah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), gather for a debate held prior to the Student Council Elections, in Ramallah, West Bank on May 23, 2023. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh praised the victory and spoke to participants at its celebrations over the phone, claiming the victory shows Hamas is “unbreakable” in the West Bank, Middle East Monitor reported.
The campus elections are closely watched as a peek into the political leanings of Palestinians in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has not held national elections since 2006.
The student government president, Abdulmajid Hassan, and seven other students were arrested by the Israel Defense Forces during a raid in September, according to the university. The group is accused of planning a terror attack to which some of the suspects confessed, according to the Times of Israel.
