Larry Summers: 'I Have Lost Confidence' in Harvard Leadership After Professor Who Called Israel ‘Regime of Apartheid’ Was Made Antisemitism Task Force Co-Chair

Harvard Professor and former Harvard President Larry Summers reacted to a professor who called Israel a “regime of apartheid” recently being tapped to serve as chair of the school’s Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism, saying that he has “lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish.”

“After Friday’s new anti-Semitism task force announcement, I have lost confidence in the determination and ability of the Harvard Corporation and Harvard leadership to maintain Harvard as a place where Jews and Israelis can flourish,” Summers said in a Sunday X post.

As Breitbart News reported, Derek Penslar — a professor of Jewish history whom interim Harvard president Alan Garber recently tapped to be the chair of the school’s antisemitism task force — signed an open letter alongside hundreds of academics that called Israel “a regime of apartheid.”

“The previously touted advisory committee has disbanded without any ripple, except for the resignation in frustration with the Harvard Administration of its most respected member, Rabbi David Wolpe,” Summers continued in his post.

“Now we are to have a new task force, whose members have remarkably not yet been chosen, but we have been told that Professor Derek Penslar will be a co-chair,” he added.

Summers added that, while he has “no doubt” that Penslar is “a profound scholar of Zionism,” he does not believe Penslar is suited to lead “a task force whose function is to combat what is seen by many as a serious anti-Semitism problem at Harvard.”

“I have no doubt that Prof Penslar is a profound scholar of Zionism and a person of good will without a trace of personal anti-Semitism who cares deeply about Harvard,” he said.

“However, I believe that given his record, he is unsuited to leading a task force whose function is to combat what is seen by many as a serious anti-Semitism problem at Harvard,” Summers added.

Summers continued:

Recall that AMCHA ranked Harvard worst among over 100 institutions on anti-Semitism. Harvard is subject to Title Vi litigation and to both Congressional and Executive Branch investigations over anti-Semitism. Note also that Harvard has suffered worse admissions drop off than any major university in memory because of the events of last semester.

Prof Penslar has publicly minimized Harvard’s anti-Semitism problem, rejected the definition used by the US government in recent years of anti-Semitism as too broad, invoked the need for the concept of settler colonialism in analyzing Israel, referred to Israel as an apartheid state and more. While he does not support BDS he has made clear that he sees it as a reasonable position.

“None of this in my view is problematic for a professor at Harvard or even for a member of the task force but for the co-chair of an anti-Semitism task force that is being paralleled with an Islamophobia task force it seems highly problematic,” Summers said.

“Could one imagine Harvard appointing as head of anti-racism task force someone who had minimized the racism problem or who had argued against federal anti-racism efforts?” he added. “This is yet another example of a double standard between anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice.”

Summers went on to say that he hopes Penslar “will recognize that he can best serve the task force’s objectives by stepping away from serving as co-chair.”

“I also hope Harvard’s leadership will recognize that they have exacerbated Harvard’s credibility problems on anti-Semitism with the Penslar appointment and take steps to restore their credibility,” he added.

“As things currently stand, I am unable to reassure Harvard community members, those we are recruiting or prospective students that Harvard is making progress in countering anti-Semitism,” Summers asserted.

As Breitbart News reported, the task force combating antisemitism was created amid criticism of former Harvard President Claudine Gay declining to say at a recent congressional hearing whether advocating for the genocide of Jews is permissible on campus.

Gay resigned earlier this month following antisemitism scandals at the Ivy League university, the disastrous congressional testimony, and scores of plagiarism allegations being unearthed in recent months.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.