Harvard Jews for Palestine Demonstrate Against New Disciplinary Guidelines

Roughly twenty students stood outside Widener Library on Monday afternoon to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and to protest new disciplinary guidelines adopted under the University’s settlement of two antisemitism lawsuits.

The demonstration — organized by Harvard Jews for Palestine, an unrecognized pro-Palestine student group — came around one week after the University adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which labels certain criticisms of Israel as antisemitic, as part of the settlements.

The agreement sparked fierce criticism from faculty and students who said they fear the broad definition could make it easier for the University to crack down on speech critical of Israel.

Unlike past pro-Palestine protests, Monday’s demonstration did not feature call-and-response chanting. Instead, students stood at the base of the library steps mostly in silence for more than two hours holding banners that read “Jews Against Zionism” and “The Holocaust Does Not Justify the Nakba.”

At the end of the demonstration, the protesters recited the Mourner’s Kaddish — a Jewish prayer for the dead — “in remembrance of the Jews killed in the Holocaust and Palestinians killed in the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” according to a J4P press release.

The group distributed a pamphlet at the demonstration that criticized Harvard’s decisions to establish ties with an Israeli university and to apply its non-discrimination policy to Zionists, two conditions of the settlements.

“We condemn this University’s embrace of Zionism, which we understand as inextricable from the displacement of Palestinian people, destruction of Palestinian homes, and denial of Palestinian history,” the group wrote.

“We reject the memory of the Holocaust being abused to justify another holocaust,” they added.

Under the new guidelines, which were added to the University’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying Policies and Procedures “Frequently Asked Questions” page on Friday, speech that targets Zionists can be considered discriminatory harassment. The page includes “applying a ‘no Zionist’ litmus test for participation in any Harvard activity” as an example of such conduct.

Harvard J4P organizer Violet T.M. Barron ’26 said in a Monday interview that the group’s pamphlet compares the Holocaust to Israel’s war in Gaza and likely violates Harvard’s NDAB policies.

“The language pretty explicitly violated certain examples provided for an IHRA definition,” Barron said.

“Harvard probably still has a choice as to how they can enforce the rules,” she added.

Previous Harvard J4P protests have also included chants that may violate the updated NDAB policies.

At a November rally outside Harvard Hillel, Harvard J4P protesters chanted “Zionists not welcome here” and faced criticism from both Hillel leadership and the Harvard Chaplains Executive Committee.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton declined to comment on the protest, but referred The Crimson to earlier statements regarding the settlement.

“The University stands strongly for reasoned dissent and the free exchange of ideas, beliefs, and opinions,” Newton wrote. “This commitment to free speech and open inquiry is enshrined in the University-wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities.”

Barron said the new rules will not deter the group from organizing protests.

“Even before they adopted this definition, there was arbitrary rule-making and rule enforcement,” Barron said. “I’m not any more afraid than I already was. I don’t think anyone else is.”

“We are just emboldened to demonstrate just how ridiculous the terms of the settlement were,” she added.

—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.

—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.