Harvard president calls students ‘ignorant’ on Israel-Palestinian conflict

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The president of Harvard says he is "disappointed" by the Ivy League student body's ignorance and divide over the Israel-Palestinian conflict, as well as what he described as apathy toward understanding it.

"If you’re going to have strong views about an issue, I would hope that at a university you would have the curiosity to learn the facts," Harvard President Alan M. Garber said at an event in Manhattan, The Harvard Crimson reported.

The student newspaper reported that his remarks "mark a shift in emphasis for Garber, who has spent much of the past year warning about deteriorating conditions for free expression on campus." Garber previously said Harvard "went wrong" with faculty speaking out on political opinions in the classroom.

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Anti-Israel students gather at Harvard University at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 14, 2023.  (Joseph Prezioso/AFP)

The Harvard Crimson reported that Garber on Monday said he believes the issue goes beyond faculty, calling some student attitudes "disturbing" and "ignorant."

He said he was particularly concerned that some students lack a full understanding of the issue and are unwilling to engage in debate.

"What I really felt was most disturbing as a Jewish president, but also somebody who cares personally a lot about the issues that were being discussed, is the level of ignorance among people on all sides of this issue," Garber said.

He added, "The lack of knowledge and this unwillingness to have open dialogue pain me even more."

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Harvard Universty. (Zhu Ziyu/VCG)

Harvard has faced criticism following the university’s messaging regarding Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. The Department of Justice in March filed a lawsuit against the school "for race and national origin discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students."

The lawsuit alleges that the university did not protect its Jewish and Israeli students by being "deliberately indifferent to a level of hostility on its campus so well-known across the nation that members of Congress were writing about it" and refusing "to enforce its campus rules against students who harass their Jewish and Israeli peers."

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Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledges an extended round of applause during Harvard University's commencement ceremonies, Thursday, May 29, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Garber last week said several of the claims in the lawsuit are "quite meritless."

Fox News Digital reached out to Garber and Harvard for comment and was directed to previously reported remarks cited by The Harvard Crimson, including that "Garber has long framed his presidency as an opportunity to rebuild a robust campus discourse and healthy environment for free speech at Harvard. Just last month, Garber painted disagreement and competition between diverse viewpoints as ‘a prerequisite for academic rigor’ and central to the University’s academic mission in an address at Harvard’s annual Community and Campus Life Forum." 

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Garber took over as president in 2024. Previous Harvard president Claudine Gay resigned that year amid a plagiarism scandal and criticism of the school's handling of antisemitism.