The student group at Harvard University that blamed the Jewish state for Hamas's Oct. 7 terrorist assault is now working to combat media "misinformation" on the war in Israel—by promoting alternative news sources that disseminate Hamas propaganda.
The school's Palestine Solidarity Committee, which penned the infamous student group statement that held Israel "entirely responsible" for Hamas's attack, last week criticized American news sources for pushing "misinformation" on the "violence in Gaza." The group urged its followers to instead get their news from Gazan "journalists," who the group said are "working on the ground to convey the reality of being Palestinian in Gaza right now."
Those so-called journalists, however, have for weeks shared false and misleading claims on the war, some of which has come from Hamas itself. Nearly all of the Palestine Solidarity Committee's suggested news sources, for example, parroted the now-debunked Hamas claim that Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of innocent civilians in the process. Another committee-endorsed source—a Twitter account called "Times of Gaza"—has used years-old photos from Syria to claim that Israel is using white phosphorus in its retaliatory attacks on Hamas.
The Palestine Solidarity Committee's promotion of Hamas-aligned news sources in Gaza reflects the proliferation of anti-Semitic activism seen at Harvard and other Ivy League schools following Hamas's terror attack.
The student group just hours after the attack released a statement holding Israel and its "apartheid" regime "entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." It went on to organize an Oct. 18 "die-in" protest that saw attendees shove and accost a first-year Israeli student at Harvard Business School who filmed the demonstration. One of the accosters, Harvard University graduate student Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, was removed from his role as a freshman proctor after the Washington Free Beacon released footage of the incident.
The Palestine Solidarity Committee did not return a request for comment.
In addition to its promotion of "Times of Gaza," the committee included in its list of "unbiased" journalists anti-Semite Mohammed El-Kurd, who serves as the "Palestine correspondent" for the Nation. El-Kurd has praised Palestinian terrorists as "martyrs," referred to Israelis as "rabid dogs" and "sadistic barbaric neonazi pigs that claim to be indigenous to our land," and argued that "Zionism is genocide." El-Kurd is no stranger to Ivy League campuses—Princeton University's English department earlier this year hosted him at a campus event, during which El-Kurd called for violence against Israelis.
"What else would you do if there is an occupying power in your backyard beating the shit out of your family?" El-Kurd said, according to audio of the event reviewed by the Free Beacon. "Of course you're gonna throw stones."
Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee also encouraged its followers to consume news from Ahmed Hijazi, a self-described Palestinian "video creator" whose Instagram bio calls for a "free Palestine." Hijazi in a Nov. 2 Instagram post shared a video that he said proved Israel targeted Gazan schools "with white phosphorus and artillery shells." The video actually shows a smoke canister being thrown from a roof above Hijazi onto the street below.
In addition to El-Kurd and Hijazi, other committee-endorsed "journalists" have accused Israel of blocking ambulances from operating in Gaza. Magen David Adom, an Israeli humanitarian group, has sent at least 1,500 ambulances to the Gaza Strip.
While many of the Palestine Solidarity Committee's favorite news sources are merely social media accounts that post staged videos, the committee did endorse one professional media network. But that network, Al Jazeera, is controlled by the Qatari government, which shelters senior Hamas leaders in Doha. The network often hosts Hamas officials and openly defends the terrorist organization, prompting Secretary of State Antony Blinken to ask Qatar to "turn down the volume on Al Jazeera's coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement," according to an Axios source.