USA
Jewish former student suing Harvard decries antisemitism at Ivy League college
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a registered Democrat and Orthodox Jew, was welcomed with cheers as he condemned ‘rising tide’ of far-left antisemitism
July 18, 2024 14:51
Shabbos Kestenbaum, a registered Democrat and Orthodox Jew, was welcomed with cheers as he condemned ‘rising tide’ of far-left antisemitism
July 18, 2024 14:51Shabbos Kestenbaum, the Harvard University graduate suing his alma mater for its failures to address campus antisemitism in the wake of October 7, addressed a cheering audience at the Republican National Convention, where the registered Democrat decried the “illiberalism” of one of the US’s most prestigious institutions.
“I came to Harvard to study religion, the foundation of western civilisation,” Kestenbaum said. “What I found was not theology but a contempt for it. My problem with Harvard is not its liberalism, but its illiberalism; too often students at Harvard are taught not how to think, but what to think.”
Kestenbaum energetically told RNC crowds that he is a “proud first-generation American,” a “proud Orthodox Jew,” and the “proud plaintiff suing Harvard University for its failure to combat antisemitism.”
The lawsuit brought about by Kestenbaum and five other Jewish students who sued the university in January helped spur congressional hearings where incisive questions from Republican lawmakers forced the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay.
