This July 14, 2020, file photo shows a view of the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A Harvard University student organization advocating for Palestinian resistance says it has postponed a vigil Tuesday "due to credible safety concerns and threats against student security."
The Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee made the announcement a day after its controversial letter saying Israel is "entirely responsible for all unfolding violence" — signed by dozens of other student groups — sparked an outcry against the school.
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The organization did not provide any further information about the threats it says were made.
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Multiple lawmakers and others have criticized the group's letter, as well as Harvard's first public statement about the violence unfolding in the Middle East — a letter to students the school shared on social media more than two days after Hamas invaded Israel Saturday.
"You can stand up for Palestinian rights while condemning Hamas terrorists, just as you can fiercely criticize the extremist, anti-democratic actions of the Netanyahu government while supporting the nation of Israel's right to defend itself from people, terrorist groups and states that want it wiped out of existence," Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts, said in a statement Monday.
"I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today," former Harvard President Larry Summers wrote on social media, criticizing the groups solely blaming Israel, as well as Harvard's silence to that point.
Monday's letter from school officials did not address the earlier message from the Palestine Solidarity Committee.
"Instead of moral clarity and courage, they offer word salad approved by committee," Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Massachusetts, said on social media. "I am ashamed of my alma mater."
Harvard President Claudine Gay released a new statement Tuesday following criticism of the school's response.
"As the events of recent days continue to reverberate, let there be no doubt that I condemn the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. Such inhumanity is abhorrent, whatever one's individual views of the origins of longstanding conflicts in the region," she wrote.
She added that while students have the right to speak out and share their opinions, no student group speaks for the school or its leadership.
Monday's letter from the Palestine Solidarity Committee said Israel is an "apartheid regime" and has forced Palestinians to live in an "open-air prison" in Gaza.
"Today's events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison," the statement said. "Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years" through the systematic seizure of land, airstrikes and more.
The statement also called on Harvard's community to stop the "annihilation of Palestinians."
"The letter from the Harvard student groups is depraved, it represents a complete lack of not just understanding but of empathy," Auchincloss told NBC10 Boston Tuesday.
He said he's ashamed of his alma mater for not condemning the letter.
"Harvard’s leadership has failed," Auchincloss said. "Jews are being dragged from their homes and shot. It should not be a hard decision to condemn that and to condemn the student groups who celebrate and support those atrocities."
NBC10 Boston reached out to Harvard for a response to continued calls for its administration to condemn the letter but has not yet heard back.
