An antisemitic protest targeted the Hillel building, the center of Jewish religious and communal life, at Harvard University on Monday night, as it hosted a lecture by a former spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“Zionists are not welcome here!” protesters chanted, along with “From the river to the sea/Palestine will be free,” which is a call for the destruction of Israel. A “Zionist” is someone who believes in Israel’s right to exist; over 90% of Jewish people subscribe to that belief, meaning that if “Zionists” are not welcome, neither are Jews in general.

The Harvard Crimson reported:

Protesters held two banners that read “Hillel Hosts War Criminals” and “IOF Out of Campus Out of Gaza” — referring to the IDF as the “Israeli Occupation Forces.” They briefly chanted “Shame on Hillel,” “From the River to the Sea,” “Israel is a terrorist state,” and “Zionists not welcome here.”

Executive Director of Harvard Hillel Jason B. Rubenstein ’04 wrote in an emailed statement that “Harvard Hillel is and will always be the home of Zionism, and every form of Jewish life, at Harvard.”

…

“Zionism, the pursuit of Jewish self-determination in the land of Israel, is a central element of the religious identity of thousands of Jewish Harvard affiliates. ‘Zionists not welcome here,’ a call for discrimination against much of our community due to our sincerely held beliefs, is bigotry,” Rubenstein wrote. “I hope that everyone here, no matter your positions on Israel or the current war, will recognize it as such.”

The Hillel building itself is not technically on Harvard’s campus, but it is the center of religious life for Harvard students, especially undergraduates. It houses several different religious congregations and nightly kosher meals.

The protest was organized by a group calling itself Harvard Jews for Palestine, which was not a recognized student group as of last year. Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Committee allowed unrecognized student groups to take the lead in campus protests last year after its radical tactics put it in danger of being disciplined. (The Palestine Solidarity Committee was suspended by the university in April, amid “encampment” protests, and reinstated in September.)

Harvard has been a hotbed of antisemitism over the past year, since a consortium of student groups blamed Israel for the October 7 terror attack. Former president Claudine Gay resigned amid her mismanagement of the ongoing crisis.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.